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WHAT CAN BE FOUND UPTOWN

Some of Moundsville's "Uptown" businesses -Jefferson Avenue from Second to Fifth streets:

• Absolutely Refreshed Massage & Tanning

• All About You

• Allen's Bootery

• Arts & Living

• Auto Choice

• Cheers

• City Cafe

• Country Lane Crafts

• Dale's Electronic

• Dragonfly

• Family Vision Clinic

• Fay's Jewelry

• Grisell's Funeral Home & Crematory

• Hair-itage House

• Helping Hand Medical Supplies

• Hillbilly's Pub & Grub

• J.K. Sign Studio

• Ken Blake Photography

• Kick Back Cafe

• Lil Wascals

• Lisa's Peso

• Old Town Coffee

• Precious Pup Grooming

• Rosalyn E. Rhodes State Farm Insurance

• Rosebuds

• Shear Friends

• Uniquely Yours

MOUNDSVILLE - Looking for a one-of-kind piece of jewelry for Christmas? Perhaps you need to be fitted for a quality pair of shoes in a narrow size. Or how about a new hairstyle for you and one for your pet?

Believe it or not, you can find all of this and much more in Moundsville's uptown business district.

But how can Moundsville - with an estimated population of 9,109, according to the U.S. Census Bureau - support a business district with upwards of 25 shops and restaurants while larger cities like Wheeling struggle to bring retailers in?

Opinions vary:

• David Knuth, executive director of the Marshall County Chamber of Commerce, believes the addition of Wal-Mart to the north end of the city in 2006 has attracted additional customers to the city's stores.

• City Manager Allen Hendershot said the community works with property owners to enforce zoning regulations and keep uptown storefronts full and appealing to visitors.

• And shopkeepers think it is the unique products and personal service they offer.

The winning combination likely is a marriage of all these factors.

Shirlene Omear and Colleen Morris work at Allen's Bootery on Jefferson Avenue. The shoe store has been in business for 63 years and now operates under second-generation owner Jim Pettit. Omear has been there for 15 years. Morris worked there 18 years, left for a 30-year nursing career at Reynolds Memorial Hospital and returned to the bootery about a year ago to work part-time.

Both said service and selection are what keep people coming back to the store again and again. In addition to carrying high-quality shoes like the SAS brand and special sizes for narrow feet and others, the staff at Allen's will measure your foot and attempt to find you the perfect fit. It's a service people seem to appreciate.

"I had one woman say, 'Oh, I feel like a princess,'" Morris said of a recent fitting.

Neither they nor Fay Bissett, owner of the nearby Fay's Jewelry believe Wal-Mart has helped increase their business, as Knuth suggested, but they said the big box retailer hasn't harmed their sales, either.

"Things are going well; they could be better," Omear said. "Wal-Mart is no competition."

Both Allen's and Fay's are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday; and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday - fairly typical hours for the "uptown businesses" found within easy walking distance of each other between Second and Fifth streets on Jefferson Avenue with a few more on Seventh Street between Jefferson and Lafayette avenues. Many are closed on Sunday, but the proprietors don't think that's a disadvantage for them.

"It's an old tradition, Morris said of the stores being closed on Sunday.

"You need time to have a day off," Omear added.

"That's enough through the week, Bissett agreed. "You go to church on Sunday. It's a day set aside for that."

Richard King, owner of Uniquely Yours, which offers gifts, candles, decorative items and more, also is chairman of the Moundsville Business and Cultural District. He said the organizations eight members work together to advertise and develop joint projects like the banners and signs that welcome shoppers to the uptown business district.

"We try to do the best we can to survive," he said.

He noted association members met with Wal-Mart officials when the store moved to town. As a result, he said, Wal-Mart employees happily refer patrons to the uptown shops for items that might not be available at their own store.

"They send people to our area to do business, and we appreciate that," he said, noting the shop owners themselves refer customers to neighboring businesses on a regular basis.

He said city and chamber officials work with business owners and the Mounds-ville Economic Development Council to promote tourism in the city and to help each other succeed.

"I think it's just our service and the small town atmosphere ... ," he said of the district's success. "It impresses people. We get people from Pittsburgh on penitentiary tours, and we hear a lot of good comments."

King also agreed if the routes were altered to pass more businesses and homes in the city, OVRTA's services would benefit Moundsville. He suggested buses leaving the Kroger plaza on the South end of the community travel east on 12th Street and north on Jefferson Avenue, rather than returning on the same route north via W.Va. 2.

Knuth said the city has multiple business districts, offering different shopping experiences. A shopping plaza at 12th Street and Lafayette Avenue includes a Kroger Food & Drug store, along with Peebles, which offers casual clothing and formalwear. Big Lots has a location there, along with Family Dollar and Hallmark Cards & Gifts.

Other shops can be found just around the corner from some of the official shopping districts. Hometown Floral is at 610 Tomlinson Ave., and Ace Hardware is at 1003 Fourth St.

The Busy Beaver/Save A Lot plaza on the north end of the city along Lafayette Avenue offers addition hardware, building supplies, discount groceries and more.

"Just about anything you need you can buy here," Knuth said. "We have a lot of specialty shops that present the need for people to shop there."

But not everyone who shops in the city comes for that purpose, Knuth said. He believes the area's many tourist stops draw crowds that then spend their money in the community's shops. These attractions include the former West Virginia Penitentiary, where the annual "Dungeon of Horrors" Halloween event alone draws about 10,000 visitors to the city; the Grave Creek Mound, for which the city was named; the Marx Toy Museum, the Fostoria Glass Museum and others.

Knuth said the presence of Wal-Mart in the city draws customers from Powhatan Point, Shadyside and Bellaire in Ohio as well as from Glen Dale, McMechen and Benwood in West Virginia. He believes that without Wal-Mart, those people would be more likely to head to the Ohio Valley Mall and Ohio Valley Plaza in St. Clairsville or The Highlands in Triadelphia to make their purchases.

Noting the existence of the Wal-Mart store is "one of the main reasons the Ohio Valley Regional Transportation Authority opted to implement trial bus runs to the city, Knuth added the public transportation system's Moundsville stops are less than ideal for attracting ridership. He said the people who would use the bus to travel to "points north," such as Wheeling and The Highlands, have no way to get to the limited number of locations where they could catch the bus in Moundsville.

Many uptown workers agreed the trial bus service has had little impact on their business. Bissett, however, said she believes business along "the avenue would increase if OVRTA buses traveled uptown."

Hendershot said uptown business owners in Moundsville were not intimidated that Wal-Mart was moving into the city and worked with the international retail giant right from the start. As a result, he said the small, local shops are doing "surprisingly good business."

"They have been able to thrive through some difficult times," he said.

Hendershot also believes the city's location has a lot to do with that success. Situated along the Ohio River, Moundsville has a major bridge at 12th Street that allows easy access for those traveling from southern Belmont County in Ohio.

"I see a lot of Ohio (license) plates in town," he noted.

In addition, Moundsville is the Marshall County seat, requiring many people from outlying parts of the county to do business there. U.S. 250 makes that an easier task for those from Cameron, Limestone and other parts of the county, as it travels directly into the city and merges with First Street, which also features a variety of convenience stores, restaurants and other shops.