A new video store. Downtown seemed relatively free of vacancies. A year later, all does not look so rosy. One of three grocery stores has closed. Two clothing stores downtown have closed, including longtime fixture Litwin's.
Downtown has vacancies, big and small.
Last week, Ottawa's only travel agency announced it was going out of business. So goes another chapter in the business history of a community finding it difficult as ever to support a strong retail base. But some of the problems are common and well-known. It is hard to survive on Main Street anymore, especially with the pressure of the Wal-Marts of the world, and in Ottawa the highways that take locals so quickly to the city, where the retail grass seems greener to them. This year was not without good news.