SARANAC LAKE – Downtown business owners say a mix of factors led to the large number of empty storefronts on Main Street and Broadway, but they’re still hopeful.

Some say the high number of vacancies – around 20 – is a symptom of the Hotel Saranac’s decline. Others tie it to the poor condition of some of the available storefronts. Some also say it has more to do with changes in people’s shopping habits.

Yet most of the local merchants the Enterprise interviewed Thursday say they believe the village remains a viable place to do business, and they’re optimistic many of the empty storefronts will fill up when a restored Hotel Saranac reopens.

“I think we have a bright future in this town,” said Mark Coleman, the owner of Ampersound music store on Main Street and chairman of the Downtown Advisory Board.

Coleman said the number of vacant storefronts downtown tends to be cyclical, but he admitted there’s a “significant number” of them right now.

“It’s a lot of things,” he said. “Some of the vacancies are buildings that haven’t seen any kind of upgrade or maintenance. That’s certainly one aspect. The economy is another. The changing nature of how people shop – big box stores and online captures so much more business than small business does these days. If people don’t see a thriving downtown district, then the willingness of potential business owners and property owners to invest wanes.”

That’s kind of what Ben Chamberlain says happened to him. His business, Blue Line Design and Apparel, used to occupy one of those current empty storefronts downtown, 47 Main St., next to Saranac Lake Discount Liquor. The Keene resident opened his store June 1 and said he had “no sales” that first month. Things improved in July and August when there were more tourists in town, but by fall, business dropped off again and Chamberlain had to get another job. He eventually closed the Saranac Lake store and is trying to set up a new shop in Keene.

“While I don’t want to say nobody came in, there was a real lack of local support from within the community to get me by,” said Chamberlain. “The money is leaving the small community just as fast as it comes in. It’s not being circulated in the correct manner. People will outsource every time. They’ll drive to Plattsburgh to buy something versus getting it here. There’s just not a support system.”

Barb Curtis, who owns the Main Street Exchange consignment store, said she recently got a look at the available storefronts downtown as she hunted for a place to relocate her two businesses, Main Street Exchange and Dorsey Street Exchange, which have now been consolidated into one location at 24 Broadway.

“Affordability is a big issue,” she said. “I think a lot of the spaces are actually priced OK; it’s just that because business has been so slow, you can’t afford them. On top of that, some places charge you for utilities, and if you have to pay for that out of your profits, then it’s difficult.”

The quality of the spaces available is also a factor.

“They’re all pretty rough,” she said. “We had to put a lot of work into it, and that makes it much more difficult.”

Curtis says business has been slow downtown simply because there aren’t enough people here. She hopes the reopening of the new Hotel Saranac will change that.

“I think once it gets up and running, that will bring more people and there will be more people walking the streets, which will be beneficial,” she said. “It’s been off ever since that went downhill.”

The Hotel Saranac was a downtown economic anchor for years until the Arora family bought it from Paul Smith’s College in 2007. The way Sewa Arora ran it didn’t appeal to many locals or visitors, and as its business traffic declined the family closed its restaurant, bar and pub. Groups and organizations stopped going there for meetings and events.

Many have said the Hotel Saranac’s decline was a big blow to downtown, but Coleman thinks it goes back even further.

“When something falls out of favor, like I assume the hotel did with the college, because it was costing them money, they’re certainly not going to put money into it,” he said.

Like others, however, Coleman thinks a new hotel will “absolutely” reinvigorate downtown, but it won’t happen overnight.

“Nothing happens quickly,” he said. “The slowdowns don’t happen quickly. The ramp-ups don’t happen quickly. … But to me, the reemergence of the hotel is hard to believe, one of those too-good-to-be-true kind of things, but it’s happening.”

Business owners and local leaders aren’t just banking on the hotel to improve their fortunes. Village officials have made downtown a priority by seeking grants for facade upgrades and other projects. Coleman said the Downtown Advisory Board is also spearheading several initiatives like a Make it Shine program, which he described as an effort to encourage business owners and residents to improve their properties “in order to present a clean-looking town.”

The DAB is also compiling a packet of economic development resources and information to give to prospective business owners. Adam Harris, a DAB member who owns two Main Street businesses, Grizzle-Ts bar and Borracho Taco restaurant, said he recently compiled a list of vacant storefronts downtown to include in that resource packet.

“When I was going around talking to people, there was a lot of interest,” he said. “There were a lot of people looking. There were storefronts that had filled since the last time somebody put together a list. There is an air of optimism that’s coming in with the hotel that hopefully will carry us.”

Some people, especially lifelong Saranac Lake residents, often compare the current downtown to what it was like decades ago, when the village had several downtown hotels and Main Street and Broadway were lined with filled storefronts. Coleman said he’s seen those pictures in the library.

“It seemed pretty vibrant and pretty alive, but it was a different time,” he said. “You don’t go back to that. You move forward, try to work with what we have and find niches where we can have successful business.”