When the owners of the Santa Clara Juicery opened up their storefront on North Main Street in 2018, they hoped to bring hope to a struggling neighborhood.
“We’re the first new storefront in the community in 15 years,” said co-owner Elizabeth Furst at the time. “We want to bring life to a food desert.”
The husband and wife team of Elizabeth and Dave Furst even had dreams beyond the juicery, as they hoped “to develop the entire block, adding in a café, gym, and bike shop to increase employment in the area.”
The Santa Clara Juicery served its community well for a year and a half, but instead of becoming a catalyst for additional business development, the storefront will close on January 6.
Fans of the product will be happy to know that the Fursts will still be making and selling their juices directly as well as on Saturdays at the 2nd Street Market.
But for the stretch of North Main Street where the store is located, it’s yet another blow for a district that has seen countless businesses flee since its decline accelerated in the 1990s. (We looked at the history of the Santa Clara Business District in a recent article.)
In a Facebook post announcing the closing, the owners wrote that “although we loved serving this community … this move is important for bringing balance in our family and to bring more focus on the things we do best.”
Hopefully more entrepreneurs will take a chance on Santa Clara in order to bring new services to area residents and revive abandoned storefronts.
But the closing of such a community staple illustrates the enduring challenges of Dayton’s neighborhoods that were ravaged by the recession and still suffer from high vacancy rates.
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