Steinwehr Avenue business owner, Tom Crist, is now convinced that the recent move of the Gettysburg Visitor Center is alone responsible for declining sales:
shop owner and president of the street's business organization was, in
fact, "optimistic" tourists would still find their way to restaurants,
souvenir shops and other venues.
Four months later, Crist says there's "no doubt about it."
Businesses haven't just suffered this year because of the
visitor center, which used to be located just down the street from the
popular tourist hub. They've been devastated by it, Crist said.
"It's not just Steinwehr Avenue," he added. "It's all over town."
Eric Uberman, owner of The American Civil War Museum in Gettysburg, is against an admission fee for the new Visitor Center, but if they are going to go ahead with it suggests that it should be higher than $7.50. Why? Because it would allow his site to remain competitive.
Sounds like we are going further down Gettysburg's Rabbit hole. With that in mind let me propose a solution. Since the primary goal of the business owners is profit, why not petition the National Park Service and the town of Gettysburg to re-zone a chunk of the battlefield between the new VC and Steinwehr Ave. for commercial purposes. If they extend the business district closer to the new VC than the people will have a shorter distance to walk for all of their junk.
Read the rest of the story here.
Hi Kevin,
I just posted a review of David Williams’ book “Bitterly Divided”,which you posted about a few weeks ago. thought you might enjoy it.
This would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. Of course, I’d say the same thing about that wax museum (positively awful) and several of those t-shirt shops … the ones selling the little black Confederate soldiers, for example, and the ones with shirts celebrating Nathan Bedford Forrest. There’s a chain of shops selling chopped-up calendars and trinkets: Civil War slock.
At least not all of them are running “Gettysburg” on a continuous loop any more.
I’m tempted to go down Steinwehr Avenue with a camera and show people what they are missing. The unfortunate thing is that there are some really nice stores and restaurants there, and some of my friends work in these establishments. However, let’s understand that these folks who are always whining in the papers care not so much about the blue and the gray as their desire for more green.