'Change alone is unchanging," the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, so it's seldom a shock when a venerable business or institution bows out. Apollo Travel Service, which has been in the same location on Main Street for 39 years, isn't closing, but the company's decision to become an office-less enterprise will alter the downtown landscape. The travel service's agents will, like more and more workers these days, telecommute and work from home or wherever there's internet service, to help their clients.
There are advantages to using a travel agent instead of booking flights and making reservations online. For one, it makes unpleasant surprises less likely. But the reality is that most people make simple travel arrangements on their own. The frenetic pace of life and longer work hours leave less time to visit a storefront office, and that makes having one less necessary.
The same thing is happening in a host of areas. Computer programmers, web designers, editors, teachers, human resources workers and people in sales often work from home at least part of the time. That development is having a growing effect on the need to have a brick-and-mortar place of business.
Right down the street from Apollo Travel, at least for now, the storefront that was home to Foodee's Pizza for 20 years is empty. Business, during what most people would call a recession, declined to the point where it no longer made sense to stay open, the owner of the franchise said. The restaurant will be missed.
There are other gaps on Main Street, as there are every time the economy takes a downturn. But don't despair. Though the main streets of many cities became dismal places, Concord preserved its historic downtown so well that it's become a regional mecca for shoppers.
The gaps left by Foodee's and Apollo Travel will be filled. The changes that occur will either be good ones or the downtown landscape will change yet again.
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Bring on a Hard Rock Cafe or something like that down town and it will thrive., The Down Town has to be a "Destination" not an after thought!!! Untillthis happens, the down town will continue to go down hill
I abhor driving in Concord, so much so, that I drive to Tilton to shop. The traffic lights are horrible (why can't Concord figure out how to synchronize them like most other cities have done) and the pedestrian crossings are very dangerous...most people crossing the street assume you are going to stop even if you are right on top of the crosswalk when they step into the street...I can't tell you how many screeching stops I've made trying not to hit a person that stepped off the curb in front of me. This city needs a complete overhaul of it's traffic signals and make every crosswalk on Main Street a signalled crosswalk and especially the crosswalk under the parking deck on Storr's Street..it's so dark under there and there are parking spaces so close to the crosswalk that you sometimes can't see a person in the crosswalk until they are well into the street...
Main street Concord is by far a regional Mecca. The sidewalks are rolled up at 9pm promptly every night. Obviously the writer of this letter has never been to Portsmouth, Dover, Manchester, Nashua, or Portland Maine. These cities attract folks to their downtown locations because they actually have venues worth visiting. Downtown Concord is just a skeleton city, with a lack of attractions and loads of potential.
If Concord got rid of their parking meters business would increase. The city could still collect revenue by uping the price of the parking ticket for parking more than the time allowed 1hr or 2 hr. It is just too much of a hassle to feed meters.
I used to be a big supporter of shopping downtown Concord - until the last time I got a parking ticket, two minutes after the meter expired while I was picking up a prescription in CVS. Now I make it a point to only shop downtown when no other option exists, whereas I used to do the opposite. (By the way, I believe that the "regional mecca for shoppers" is actually the Heights.)