TOLEDO, Ohio — Thursdays in the summer during lunch hour at Levis Square, is always bustling. Folks tell WTOL 11, lately, it's not just Thursdays.
"Downtown Toledo is up and thriving. It's becoming more of a big city type of feel, which is good," said Toledo resident, Wakeso Peterson.
"I think it's a great place to be, especially working down here. There's a lot of events that go on down here, for example, the food trucks and it gives people the opportunity to kinda get up from their desks and walk around," said Ashlee Flores, who works downtown.
Businesses seem to be sprouting up along the riverfront, following the opening of ProMedica's headquarters on Summit Street. City Egg, Balance Pan Asian, and Starbucks, just to name a few.
A couple blocks west, it appears to be the opposite. Potbelly's on Madison closed a couple months ago and Biggby on Jackson closes Friday.
"There's always going to be transition in any kind of business community," said Bill Wersell, the Small Business Development Center Director with the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce.
He said there's an extremely competitive food market downtown and existing businesses have to figure out how to compete with newcomers.
"There are businesses that just aren't able to bring in enough customers on a daily, weekly basis to be able to sustain themselves,' he said.
There are others who are simply making personal decisions. The owner of PJ's is closing the deli in two weeks. She said business has been good, but after more than thirty years of restaurant life, it's time to retire.
"Unfortunately, I know she's been marketing the business a bit herself, but there hasn't been a buyer who's really shown up for her," said Wersell, about PJ's closing.
Keep an eye out, Wersell said other projects, he can't divulge, are in the works.
