MUSCATINE, Iowa —Bette Pelton, 80, meets with her friend, Alice Plemmons, 87, for lunch about once a week at Snackers 2 in downtown Muscatine.

It’s not the downtown they remember. Once a hopping retail district and mingling area, Second Street is turning into a place for people to meet with their lawyers, buy insurance or grab a bite to eat.

Of the approximately 80 storefronts along Second Street, between Chestnut Street and Mulberry Avenue, about 20 house gift shops, retail stores or other businesses. There are at least 15 empty storefronts, and at least one more Second Street retailer expects to be out of business by mid-November.

A count from along the sidewalk indicates two paint stores, three bars, several restaurants, seven law offices, three insurance agencies, a Realtor, an investment company, a travel agent and an office-supply store.

Some storefront are unmarked, their doors locked, and it’s not even clear if a business is being operated there.

After nine years of trying to make it work, Jeff Boldt, owner of A Planet’s Wild toy store at 127 E. Second St., has decided to throw in the towel. Boldt and his wife, Tina, opened the store in 2000 and are going out of business. They expect to have things sold off by Nov. 14.

“If I had it to do all over again, I don’t know that I’d do it in downtown Muscatine. Anywhere but downtown Muscatine,” Boldt said Tuesday. “Muscatine is just not conducive to retail. The mall is hurting just as bad.”

Boldt said his choice to call it quits is due to the economy. There aren’t enough sales to pay the bills.

Times have changedIt wasn’t always that way.

Pelton and Plemmons recall a time when the downtown housed such department stores as Spurgeon’s and JCPenney as well as dress shops and soda fountains that kept a constant stream of shoppers along Second Street for many years from the 1950s through the ‘70s.

“We feel like the city is remiss on trying to get the downtown going,” Pelton said.  “It used to be a place for socializing and shopping. We miss all of that.

“You didn’t have to go out of town to get a dress for a big party,” Plemmons added.

Jeff Boldt said he has tried everything to stay afloat. He said he’s promoted downtown shopping extensively on a local radio show, staged social events to get people on Second Street and even helped create and distribute a free newsletter about the downtown.

A large stuffed gorilla sits at the front door of his business, attracting attention to the colorful storefront — a call to passers-by to come in take a look.

Boldt said there is no leadership in the downtown. Though the Downtown Action Alliance plans to announce the hiring of a new downtown manager this week, Boldt said that for him, “it’s too late.”

One of the many functions of the Muscatine Convention and Visitor’s Bureau is to attract out-of-town group tours to downtown Muscatine for shopping experiences. The group tours dropped from 25 in 2007 to eight in 2009, according to Heather Shoppa, Bureau manager. Shoppa said the economy hasn’t helped the shopping situation but that several things, including Internet shopping and businesses not being open on the weekends or changing their hours also cause a problem.

Boldt rattled off a list of stores that have gone out of business or left the downtown in the past several months.

The Shop 2 Drop upscale consignment shop moved to the mall and Past Time Antiques relocated to Park Avenue. Pastime Pleasure Ceramics and Café opened and closed within a matter of weeks. 

Second Thoughts gift shop went out of business and long-time downtown retailer Marie Lindsay Furniture & Interiors is on it’s way out. ArtSpace left the Pearl Plaza, which is doing generally well compared to other downtown stores, according to Ann Meeker, an owner of the building and director of the Downtown Action Alliance.

Around the Bend Music owners Chris and Melanie Foss have decided to sell off their merchandise and continue business from their Muscatine home because the overhead is too high for their sales volume.

Meeker said that a lot of stores have come and gone. “We’ve had some that just lasted brief moments,” she said.

Many of those businesses were under-funded, the owners didn’t research the market to see what products the community wanted and they had no idea what they were getting into, Meeker said.

“I hope the new downtown manager will be able to provide business advice. Also, the critical role will be communication. We need to keep everybody on the same page and help publicize,” Meeker said.

Still, some are investing in the downtown. One More Round, a bar at 211 E. Second St. opened in April and has expanded to the building next door. Mike Tutor of Bettendorf is moving Cedar Street Pawn to a building being remodeled in the 200 block of east Second  Street. And Dawn and Barry Pence and Herman Ferreira, all of Muscatine, have opened a wine lounge, Wine Nutz, in the Pearl Plaza.

There are people who want to help downtown businesses survive, Meeker said. Persons interested in starting a downtown business can contact Meeker at 563-263-5057 or Shoppa at 800-25-PEARL (257-3275) for information and assistance.