Is Eagle’s business environment different? It depends on who you ask

Small businesses come and go in just about every small town. There’s a perception among some business owners that Eagle is somehow different.

Realtor David Nudell has worked in Eagle’s commercial and residential markets for more than 25 years. Nudell said with a few exceptions, empty commercial space in Eagle, particularly downtown, actually fills fairly quickly. But the exceptions are noticeable, he said.

In the 200 block of Broadway, a vacant restaurant space across from the town hall has housed several different restaurants over the years. Nudell said he hears frequent interest in the space, but it remains vacant by the choice of the building owner, he said. The building that for years housed the Eagle Pharmacy is also vacant and could be awaiting redevelopment.

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That site is “an amazing opportunity,” Nudell said. The office space next to the vacant restaurant space is currently busy, housing a mortgage company and other businesses downstairs, and six upstairs office spaces available on a month-to-month basis.

“That space is going really, really well,” Nudell said.

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Nudell added that while parking is somewhat limited on Broadway itself, there’s ample parking along Second, Third and Fourth Streets.

Meanwhile, the space at 201 Broadway, once occupied by QuietKat electric bicycles, is now the home of Mountain Market, just opened by a former employee of Knapp Harvest, which recently closed in Eagle Ranch.

“I feel like Eagle Ranch is tricky,” Yeti’s Grind owner Larry Leith said, adding he thinks Eagle Ranch and Broadway are in somewhat similar situations when it comes to small business survival.

Is there a secret?

Over the years, Leith said he’s seen several businesses come and go in town. The ones with staying power have to be a little fortunate, he said, and have to have solid plans for the business itself, serving the public and taking care of employees. But that sometimes isn’t enough.

“In the broader sense, everybody’s facing labor issues, rent issues,” Leith said. Town officials are working on housing from a policy perspective. Responding to emailed questions, Eagle Economic Development and Housing Specialist Nikki Davis wrote that the town is now working to identify publicly-owned land that could be used for future workforce housing projects.

But there’s also the idea that perhaps there just isn’t enough population to support a lot of business in town.

That’s the view of Cameron Douglas, a partner in El Segundo, a restaurant in Eagle Ranch that recently closed. That space has also seen the rise and demise of 7 Hermits Brewing Company.

Douglas said in the year after that restaurant opened, five more restaurants opened in town, and El Segundo’s sales dropped 40%. Eventually, there just wasn’t enough business.

“Profitable businesses don’t close,” he said. “I would love to put a positive spin on it.”

On the other hand, Casey Glowacki remains bullish on Eagle Ranch. Glowacki owns Capitol Public House, Cut and Wild Sage, all in Eagle Ranch. He said he knows what Douglas is talking about, but is willing to wait for more growth to come.

Longtime Eagle Realtor Rick Beveridge said while many people argue about the high cost of rent and other costs of doing business, he said the constants of employee and housing shortages may be bigger factors.

“It’s been a challenge for a long time,” Beveridge said.

There’s also the fact that Eagle is somewhat geographically constrained in its ability to expand its commercial areas. Industrial and service companies have gone to Gypsum, near the Eagle County Regional Airport, Beveridge noted.

There’s also the longtime feeling that Eagle historically hasn’t been a particularly business-friendly town.

Beveridge acknowledged that “In the past, it’s been hard to deal with aspects of the town government. On the commercial side, it’s been a lot of red tape … I’d like to see the town say yes,” and find a way to make new projects work, he added.

Glowacki said his experience with the town’s government has been relatively easy, especially compared with Charleston, South Carolina, where he’s started other restaurant businesses. There, he said, “it’s almost impossible to get a liquor license.”

Beveridge said he was part of a town project intended to reduce red tape for infill development, so staff, instead of Town Council, could approve some projects.

Davis wrote that’s part of a broad effort by town staff to boost business activity in town. Those efforts include the 2021 creation of a downtown development authority. Among the other efforts is researching peer communities “to learn about innovative ideas that would generate fruitful economic impacts” in town. In addition, she added, business owners are approaching staff to share their ideas.

Are there enough people?

There’s also the fact that Eagle’s population hasn’t grown all that much over the past several years.

“When we opened, then three or four more restaurants opened, Eagle added maybe 100 new residents,” Douglas said. “We couldn’t wait another two years” for several hundred more people to move to town, he added.

But that’s changing, Glowacki said.

Glowacki lives in Eagle Ranch, and said he walks his dog every day, and every day he hears the sounds of construction. Population growth has “got to come,” he said, adding that his businesses just need a little more traffic to thrive and are willing to wait.

Those residents are full-time and are a combination of both owners and renters, from the deed-restricted Haymeadow neighborhood to the Pike apartments and 7 Hermits. There’s other construction throughout Eagle Ranch.

Many Eagle residents work elsewhere, which means lunch business isn’t generally great. But, Glowacki said dinners are usually popular, and he’s extended the hours of Cut — a gourmet fish and meat market with fresh-cut cheese — and altered the menus for take-home meals.

Gypsum’s leaders, past and present, have been more aggressive about taking advantage of opportunities to expand the town’s boundaries and commercial tax base, Beveridge said.

There’s also the reality that apart from restaurants, people tend to shop on the internet.

“How many of us order goods (online)? That’s a huge impact to the retailer,” Beveridge said.

Ultimately, Beveridge said, “It’s hard to do business in a small town.”

But Glowacki remains bullish. “If I can just hang on for a year,” he said, he believes he and his businesses will be all right.