Main Street Woes? No MatterApril 23rd, 2009
SLC Main Street merchants wait for better times, but one Scottish business owner has found a way to increase sales by 60 percent
by Richard Markosian printable version of this story
which has become irrelevant due to Gateway
If Eric Gilzean had relied on his physical store front as his sole means of revenue, he would have likely been out of business long ago. But the over-sixty-year-old business owner wasn't intimidated by the Internet like so many seniors are, instead he embraced the technology.
Gilzean has a popular e-commerce store that he says now generates the majority of his sales revenue. He has a full-time web guru who maintains the site and most of the transactions. Gilzean says his rentals bring in the most revenue: a traditional Scottish outfit is 100 percent wool and $1,000 to buy is just $167 to rent, but that includes all of the extras like socks shoes and dangling ropes. Edinburgh Castle sends such outfits all over the United States for weddings, funerals and parties.
Glizean's site is archaic by most web standards. It doesn't look Web 2.0, but it's simple and functional. He smiles as he tells me how he started using Google Adwords to drive more customers to his site, "and it really works, they come from all over the world!"
Eric Gilzean has been at 124 South Main Street in Edinburgh Castle "distinctive gifts from Scotland" for 22 years.
To the south of Gilzean's building, giant earth movers and cranes are building the $1 billion City Creek Center. Across the street properties sit vacant that have been collecting dust for close to 15 years.
Main Street Salt Lake City is waiting in limbo: waiting for the economy to improve; waiting for the City Creek Center to finish; Waiting for something good to come along. But Eric Gilzean is not waiting, he says he's having fun
Main Street Modern History
Gilzean remembers Main Street from 22 years ago when he started. "Inkleys camera store was across the street...the St. Patty's Day parade used to come down here. There were a lot of people walking around. Now it's just empty. Inkleys has been gone 15 years now... But I think the place I miss the most is Einstein's Bagels"
Asked where the St. Patty's parade went, Gilzean replies, "Now it's at Gateway, or the New Main Street," as he called it. "But I think the Gateway is a cheap imitation."
Gateway may be no substitute for an authentic Main Street, but the new lifestyle center five blocks west is filled to capacity and Salt Lake City's real Main Street's 15 foot-wide sidewalks have almost no pedestrians in the middle of the day.
Why Main Street Remains Vacant
Gilzean says that the vacancies on Main Street are due to the high rents that the landlords are still attempting to receive.
"If they think anyone is going to pay such a price for a place that they would have to spend a fortune to remodel, they are dreaming," said Gilzean. "It used to be that the building owners would just tear down their buildings if they sat vacant too long; that way they wouldn't have to pay property taxes. But then the city required the owners to show plans before they tore down, so now all the old buildings just stay empty."
Around Edinburg there are some beautiful buildings. Across the street there is a narrow concert hall, with giant 40 foot ceilings and large dome skylights. Gilzean says the former tenants of that space offered daily live organ performances. But the owners of Larice Music Company realized their business was too small for the space they occupied. When the landlord raised rent, they had no choice but to leave. Gilzean says besides occasional art shows, that space has been mostly vacant for 15 years now.
South of Edinburgh Castle are the Salt Lake City Film Center and the Downtown Rising offices. Both are non-profit entities also located in Zions Bank owned properties.
Gilzean believes Zions is renting to the non-profits likely for free, until things improve. Gilzean says that a few years ago Zions asked him what they could do to keep him around long-term. They negotiated a deal that allows Edinburgh to maintain their immaculate store on Main Street, despite only 40-50 percent of his profits coming from merchandise sold at the store.
Regarding construction, Gilzean doesn't seem bothered. "We used to get a lot of business people who would look around and buy candy bars and gum; we don't get that anymore."
Gilzean immigrated from Scotland 35 years ago but he says, "it seems like just yesterday. The time just flies when you are having fun!"
Read another downtown Salt Lake City business success story »
Other Main Street News
- Next door to Edinburgh the co-founder of the Bayou, Del Vance, is busily working on his "dream bar." His goal is to offer a huge bar with as many Utah beers on tap as humanly possible.
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Comming Soon Main Street Bayou-like bar - McKay Diamonds just South and East of Edinburgh has likely over 100 photographs of happy couples thoughout the ages. Robert McKay has sold wedding diamonds to for the past 42 years on Main Street. Robert's wife was in business with him for most of that time. She now has to stay home because she is ill.
Visit Edinburgh Castle's online store
