Kelly Cook, owner of Velvet Plum Vintage & Consignments in downtown Noblesville, realized during the Peony Festival she would need to permanently close her store. All businesses on the square, except for the Velvet Plum, decorated their stores with balloon awnings. When asked why she didn’t have one, Cook told a neighboring business she couldn’t afford the cost while sales were down 78%. The next morning, she arrived to work to find balloons.
“I walked to my store, and I closed the door and I stood there and I cried because I love that store,” Cook said. “That store was my heart. And I couldn’t even afford a $100 balloon display, but those people cared enough about me that they bought me one. As grateful as I was to them, I was so sad because I knew then where my business was headed.”
On July 15, Cook will close her store at 894 Logan Street — the “best corner on the square,” she said — after six years. Her location nearby on Conner Street will remain open. The decision was a surprise even to her. In March, she hired staff and had no plans to close. When construction began on Logan Street as part of the “Embrace Downtown” construction project, she thought she would weather it.
But construction “won the war,” Cook wrote in a Facebook post announcing the closure on June 22. From outside, Cook said her store looks closed and dreary. Customers told her coming in through barricades is too much of a hassle.
“I did not want to have to pull money from my husband and my retirement to keep a failing business open,” Cook said. “I knew after much soul searching, many nights crying, spread out paperwork all over my kitchen table trying to work the numbers and figure out how I could do this, I could not come up with an answer.”
Cook said after posting and receiving many supportive comments from customers, she was planning to “quietly ride off into the sunset.” But the following day, Cook was shocked to see Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen call her post attributing the closure to construction “disingenuous” in an IndyStar article.
“I did not say anything that was not true,” Cook said. “The mayor had the gall to say that I was disingenuous, which really was like a slap on the face to me, very hurtful, and I did not deserve that at all.”
How are other Noblesville businesses impacted by construction?
Cook said businesses she talked with had lower sales. Jensen said Noblesville businesses are experiencing record sales. The IndyStar spoke with leadership at three Logan Street businesses — Just Lagom, Alexander’s, and Syd’s — who all said their sales have been good or better than expected, and they are adapting to construction.
Cheryl Schulz, owner of Alexander’s on the Square, said the community has been coming out to support her ice cream parlor. The shop’s new special is a “construction sundae,” served out of a tiny plastic helmet. She has benefited from a stamp program where customers fill punch cards with each purchase and are entered to win local gift cards purchased by the city.
“It’ll be fun to see the impact that we have later this year when it’s all done and we get to go through the holidays with it looking all nice,” Schulz said. “It’s going to be really pedestrian friendly. Probably my biggest thing I need to do right now is find my furniture for outside.”
The goal of the “Embrace Downtown” construction project is to make streetscape and infrastructure improvements, in part to make the area more walkable. The first phase, which covers the block of Logan Street between 8th and 9th Streets, is expected to wrap in November.
Lindsey McVey, owner of Just Lagom boutique, said sales are up 6% compared to last year. She highlighted new programs and events such as Wine Wednesdays, First Fridays, and an upcoming bouquet crawl, and said the city has provided strong support.
“Construction is never easy, but ultimately it’s up to us as business owners to adapt, market ourselves, and continue giving people a reason to visit,” McVey said. “While it’s certainly been an adjustment, we’re choosing to lean into it rather than let it define our season.”
Michael Smith, general manager at Syd’s, said the bar’s owners expected a decline, but are seeing higher sales than last year. He attributed this partially to extended parking limits and more lots, and to Syd’s six-day-a-week entertainment programming. Smith said the stamp program also helped people come downtown and visit multiple stores while there.
Cook said Jensen’s claim that the Velvet Plum did not fully take advantage of programs or engage with the city was untrue. She participated in the stamp program, but said customers would leave after being told they needed to make a purchase to receive a stamp. Jensen has never been inside either of the store locations, Cook said. Instead of saying negative things, Cook said, the mayor should’ve taken the high road and said he was sorry to see them go.
In response, Jensen said he had been inside the Conner Street location and wished the Velvet Plum well.
Aaron Head, Noblesville’s community engagement manager, said businesses are driving excitement through new programs, and in general doing well during construction “especially those that are leaning in and being great partners with the city.” Head’s position, where he supports businesses and events, was created by Jensen as part of a larger platform of improving the business district.
“It’s very easy to look and point at maybe some negativity that happens during those things, but that’s a very, very small percentage versus the large percentage of downtown businesses that are very excited about the improvements and the investment that the city is making in the downtown where they have their shops and restaurants,” Head said.
Head estimates that the construction will be done before the holiday shopping season. In the meantime, he is planning to launch another program incentivizing residents to go to small businesses despite construction. The city’s focus, regardless of what one store says, is on supporting small businesses, Head said.
Cook is now looking to the future for her business: a location on Conner Street and Consigned by Design, a furniture consignment store in Indianapolis which she bought in January. She also said the Conner Street location received double the traffic during construction.
“At this point it’s water over the dam,” Cook said. “I’m packing my things to leave. They’ve leased it to a new person who will move in in the end of the summer. And I just have to say goodbye to my business that I truly did not want to do.”
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Lucy Tobier is the politics reporting intern for the Indianapolis Star. She can be reached at lucy.tobier@indystar.com or on X at @TobierLucy
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Velvet Plum owner says Noblesville mayor’s comments are a ‘slap in the face’
Reporting by Lucy Tobier, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Lucy Tobier, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
