Merchants' Maxim: United We Survive

As Sales Slide in Old Town Manassas, Businesses Aid One Another

When Old Town Manassas merchant Joanne Wunderly's flowers need watering, it's the people next door at City Square Cafe who bring over the hose.

A block away, when Okra's Louisiana Bistro owner Charles Gilliam is missing silverware, a cup of sugar or even a waiter, it takes just a phone call to a neighboring restaurant and help is on the way.

Like other Old Town merchants, Gilliam and Wunderly said they know something special is going on in the city's eight-block historic district. It is a place where business owners are not competitors so much as friends who rely on one another.

And that, they say, is what will help them stay afloat in these penny-pinching times.

"I say that we have cooperatition, not competition, here," Gilliam said. "No one is in it for themselves, and no one wants to see anybody go anywhere. We know the more vibrant the entire Old Town community is, the more vibrant our businesses will be."

Many merchants said foot traffic started declining this year. Five Old Town stores have closed recently, and the more than 50 businesses remaining said they must carefully scrutinize cash flow.

An economic report from the Manassas Commissioner of the Revenue's office showed that from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of this year, tax revenue on retail sales in Old Town was down almost 13 percent, from $3,620 to $3,165, and tax revenue on meal sales dropped 11 percent, from $123,640 to $109,918.

Citywide, sales tax revenue declined 7 percent from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008, documents show, falling roughly from $1.7 million to $1.6 million.

"Everyone has been hit, but I'm confident we will weather this," said Manassas Economic Development Director Debi Sandlin. "And, knowing our merchants and the way they are, they don't go down easy and don't believe in giving up. In Old Town especially, they have a little family, and it's amazing. They feed off each other, which stimulates business."

Sandlin said the last time Manassas felt the pinch was the early 1990s, when, at one point, almost 30 Old Town storefronts were empty. The merchants collaborated then to revitalize Old Town, and Sandlin said she has no doubt they will do it again.

"If you don't work as a team in the restaurant business, you will die," said Robert Barolin, who owns City Square Cafe with his wife, Susana. "That same idea applies in Old Town. Unity will keep us strong. We aren't here for ourselves; we are here to help each other."

Barolin, who has been in the business 32 years -- the past 19 in Manassas -- said he has watched businesses come and go. But as storefronts change, the one thing that remains is the attitude among merchants, he said.