Olympics send shops down hill

Downtown retailers say Olympic officials scared away visitors

CHRISTY KARRAS, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

"I'm feeling a little critical of the boosterism of the SLOC (Salt Lake Organizing Committee) people. They kept telling us how great this would be for business. They were wrong. Mostly, I feel like a sucker for believing what I was told." -- Tony Weller, downtown Salt Lake City book seller

SALT LAKE CITY -- Olympic organizers spent the past six months trying to prevent people from clogging downtown Salt Lake City during the games, but now city officials have a different message: Please come back.

Rather than showing how vibrant the city's normally staid downtown can be, the Olympics have kept people -- and their money -- away in droves.

Before the games, organizers warned that highways would be clogged, lines long and parking nonexistent.

They asked businesses to shift employee schedules to keep people out of downtown and told folks in the suburbs to avoid driving here.

Now, patients are canceling doctor and dentist appointments. Restaurants and retailers in a wide radius around downtown are reporting slumping sales.

While people are standing in line to get food inside venues, restaurants immediately outside are empty.

The situation was bad enough to prompt Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson to make a public plea this week asking people to patronize downtown businesses.

"We're hearing from a lot of businesses that people are staying away," Anderson said. "I think people were planning for the very worst. We see now it's not bad at all."

He said the Olympic transportation system is working well to funnel people into downtown.

There doesn't seem to be a particular formula to predict success or failure during the Olympics. Some places thrive while others next door are withering.

"It's unbelievable, our business," said sous chef Jonathan Ruppert of Third and Main Bar & Grill. "We're planning on it just getting busier."

Just up the street, Sam Weller Books has only a few customers browsing.

"We've lost local traffic without it being compensated by visitors," owner Tony Weller said.

Some businesses beefed up staff and hours because the Salt Lake Olympic Committee told them things would be booming during the games. They say the Salt Lake Organizing Committee should have known better.

Atlanta's experience

Atlanta, the last U.S. city to host an Olympics, experienced hit-and-miss success and some major disappointments. In Atlanta, people began venturing out after the first few days and proved going downtown was worth the hassle, but most vendors' profits didn't match expectations.

"I'm feeling a little critical of the boosterism of the SLOC people," Weller said. "They kept telling us how great this would be for business. They were wrong. Mostly, I feel like a sucker for believing what I was told."

Business owners are also upset about planners' grim predictions of gridlock during the games and scare tactics to get people to use the Olympic transportation system.

"People keep announcing that there is no parking downtown and that is false," Weller said. "Of course, navigating is harder. But it's been grossly exaggerated."

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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