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I must agree with Georgia on the Martinsburg description of issues. I am a mother and my husband and I could not afford to buy a home in Northern Virginia so we end up looking at the Eastern Panhandle as an option about 5 years ago. Charles Town was the choice and we are pretty happy. However, we do have to commute for a variety of shops that are not yet here but we just got tired of the "booby shops" as Georgia puts it and the junk store and yards along the way of Martinsburg. Hopefully the Government is going to take action as those kind of "lower grade" places not only are detrimental to society but they pose a risk to growth and development of potential areas such as the WV Eastern Panhandle.
If you are considering relocating this way, look at Charles Town, Harpers Ferry, Shepherdstown and Halltown as you'd only be about 15 to 20 minutes away from Martinsburg.
I visited Martinsburg recently and found it rather disheartening as well as depressing. But it certainly has potential. The downtown needs the obligatory brew pubs, artists and antique shops. And there is a MARC train stop.
I actually like Martinsburg but yes there are problems.
Berkeley County for years has bragged about how they "are the fastest growing county in the state", and yes that is true. But for a county that is about to pass over the 100,000 mark, other than the increaed number of homes, traffic and schools, one really wouldn't know it.
One area Martinsburg does have a problem with is retail. Yes Wal-Mart is there and so is Food Lion but the big box stores still have yet to discover Martinsburg and the Martinsburg Mall, it has been reported is among the "the deadest malls in the nation".
I have always thought that was strange. Fast growing area and yet lacking in retail.
I have heard its mainly due to Winchester and Hagerstown being the choice for many of these chains. But thats not to say Martinsburg didn't have it chances to land some of these chain only to have good ol'boy Martinsburg/Berkeley County politics. stand in their way.
A few years back Martinsburg's WEPM radio reported that the national pharmacy chain Walgreens was coming to Martinsburg. They were going to build a store on west King street right next to WEPM/WLTF ( WKMZ ) radio. Problem? The mayor of Martinsburg had connections to locally owned Patttersons Drug Store, and they played hardball with Walgreens. Well Walgreens took the hint and decided to build in the Winchester area instead. So today what was supposed to be Walgreens is now the home of a City National Bank.
Kohls and Petsmart were two other chains that really wanted to come to Martinsburg. Red Lobster too. But all three of them backed out I heard over county-city politics. Kohls was told that in order to put a store in Martinsburg, they had to shut down their store in Winchester. Did Martinsburg/Berkeley County really expected that chain to do that?
I actually like Martinsburg but yes there are problems.
Berkeley County for years has bragged about how they "are the fastest growing county in the state", and yes that is true. But for a county that is about to pass over the 100,000 mark, other than the increaed number of homes, traffic and schools, one really wouldn't know it.
One area Martinsburg does have a problem with is retail. Yes Wal-Mart is there and so is Food Lion but the big box stores still have yet to discover Martinsburg and the Martinsburg Mall, it has been reported is among the "the deadest malls in the nation".
I have always thought that was strange. Fast growing area and yet lacking in retail.
I have heard its mainly due to Winchester and Hagerstown being the choice for many of these chains. But thats not to say Martinsburg didn't have it chances to land some of these chain only to have good ol'boy Martinsburg/Berkeley County politics. stand in their way.
A few years back Martinsburg's WEPM radio reported that the national pharmacy chain Walgreens was coming to Martinsburg. They were going to build a store on west King street right next to WEPM/WLTF ( WKMZ ) radio. Problem? The mayor of Martinsburg had connections to locally owned Patttersons Drug Store, and they played hardball with Walgreens. Well Walgreens took the hint and decided to build in the Winchester area instead. So today what was supposed to be Walgreens is now the home of a City National Bank.
Kohls and Petsmart were two other chains that really wanted to come to Martinsburg. Red Lobster too. But all three of them backed out I heard over county-city politics. Kohls was told that in order to put a store in Martinsburg, they had to shut down their store in Winchester. Did Martinsburg/Berkeley County really expected that chain to do that?
Actually, the mayor is one of the owners of Patterson's Drug Store
I for one never say I did not like Martinsburg, but with the yoke's that run the county, I can not call it home again when there are so many better locations to live.
One of the largest issues when it comes to shopping is not Martinsburg per say, but the State of WV. Mainly, taxation.
The current county government now occupies what was the Prime Outlets developed by Chatfield Taylor a few years back. Then Hagersbush opened their outlets off Exit 29 on 70, and the box stores came to Winchester. And lets not forget all the shopping Outlets in PA, and close to DC. Why would anyone shop in Martinsburg and pay 6% sales tax across the board, when they can shop anywhere else at 5%, 4.5% to zero sales tax? Thus, the store closings etc.
The largest issue with Martinsburg is pride, or lack of. This once great town has slide downward in the last 20 years. Mayor Clohan, was probably the last of the town leadership that actually loved Martinsburg for what it was outside of how it can line the pockets. The same can be said about the County Commission who used to love the county as caring servants to the county, then it morphed itself into a developer and a mobile home salesman.
With the onslaught of the DC'ites the area grew from 21,000 in 1980 to tipping 100,000 today, however, nothing has changed in regard to zoning, updating, and overall public safety. It's still the who knows who instead of who knows what. Sorry, that policy worked when the town was small, but changes must bring change because if ignored any town can turn into what Martinsburg has become.
I must agree with Georgia on the Martinsburg description of issues. I am a mother and my husband and I could not afford to buy a home in Northern Virginia so we end up looking at the Eastern Panhandle as an option about 5 years ago. Charles Town was the choice and we are pretty happy. However, we do have to commute for a variety of shops that are not yet here but we just got tired of the "booby shops" as Georgia puts it and the junk store and yards along the way of Martinsburg. Hopefully the Government is going to take action as those kind of "lower grade" places not only are detrimental to society but they pose a risk to growth and development of potential areas such as the WV Eastern Panhandle.
While I am sure there are quite a few people in and around Martinsburg who wish they could wake up one day and see all those strip bars and other "adult businesses" go away, I have doubts that will ever happen.
Example..Variety Books !! That dirty book store in downtown Martinsburg just a few blocks from the MARC station. For years one of my best friends worked for the Martinsburg Journal newspaper. She was telling me that the city of Martinsbug actually came real close several years back in getting that place closed down. Not due to zoning but rather over a health issue. Being an adult bookstore ( and I am sure it happens in some of the strip clubs though I am sure many of these places deny that), sex is preformed there.
from what she was telling me all the paperwork and such was filed for the city of Martinsburg to close down Variety Books. But the owners more/less said if they ( Martinsburg ) would close the place down then Variety Books would buy several pages of ads in the Martinsburg Journal, Winchester Star amd the Hagerstown Hearld-Mall plus a bunch of airtime on the Martinsburg radio stations ( Lite FM 97.5, Cool 95.9, WEPM and WRNR ) naming the names of those who had visited Variety Books over the years...and what these people had purchased !!. From what she was telling me since the owners of Variety Books consider the place a "private club", one has to show a driver's license to get a membership and pay a small fee. Of course if one does that, Variety Books has a record of everyone who has been inside.
Seems like a lot of well known people were on that list from members of the Martinsburg City Council and Berkeley County to school teachers, owners of local businesses, even a few preachers !! And who knows how many well known people from nearby Charles Town, Winchester and Hagerstown are on that list as well.
From what she was telling me that the just the thought that such a list would be made public was enough for the city of Martinsburg to back off and so Variety Books stays in business.
When Berkeley County passed that smoking ban years ago, only bars I believe were given the OK to allow customers to smoke...and Variety Books !!
Odd and disgusting it may be, I think its a safe bet to say that Variety Books may have more power than any other business, big or small in all of Berkeley County. And I heard the same thing about many of those bars. Too much money is involved. I doubt they will be going away anytime soon.
A few years back Martinsburg's WEPM radio reported that the national pharmacy chain Walgreens was coming to Martinsburg. They were going to build a store on west King street right next to WEPM/WLTF ( WKMZ ) radio. Problem? The mayor of Martinsburg had connections to locally owned Patttersons Drug Store, and they played hardball with Walgreens. Well Walgreens took the hint and decided to build in the Winchester area instead. So today what was supposed to be Walgreens is now the home of a City National Bank.
Kohls and Petsmart were two other chains that really wanted to come to Martinsburg. Red Lobster too. But all three of them backed out I heard over county-city politics. Kohls was told that in order to put a store in Martinsburg, they had to shut down their store in Winchester. Did Martinsburg/Berkeley County really expected that chain to do that?
WalGreens is building adjacent to the CVS on Edwin Miller Blvd. It’s along the proposed Raleigh St. extension route on a commercial site developed by Destiny Baptist church (yes- you read that correctly). It’s a better location in that Walgreens will avoid the silly B&O tax and not have to deal with the public (not political) outcry about them locating on King St.
The Kohl’s and Petsmart and the other commercial sites slated for development across King St./ US 81 has been put on hold in large part by the development site itself. Delmar Orchard Rd. will require quite a bit of work to make commercial development feasible and the developer is, uh, not really inclined to move forward with the current state of the housing market. Roads and infrastructure cost money and if you understand how the states DOH works, they generally don’t do work proactively. It’s the developer that is required to move. That is in stark contrast to our neighboring states which raise bonds to build the infrastructure and then *voila!*, they do come. Imagine that.
Not all of the problems are politically motivated, and I seriously doubt that Kohl’s or any other retail chain was told to ‘shut down’ operations elsewhere in order to come here. That would be the equivalent of fiscal suicide for the city..
Not all of the problems are politically motivated, and I seriously doubt that Kohl’s or any other retail chain was told to ‘shut down’ operations elsewhere in order to come here. That would be the equivalent of fiscal suicide for the city..
Just my .02 cents, for what it’s worth..
About Kohls, actually that came Kohls itself. I used to work for their distrubution center in Winchester. One day several members from the main office in Wisconsin came in and had a Q/A session with us. One of the questions was if they were going to put anymore stores in the area besides Winchester and Hagerstown. They mentioned Charles Town ( Ranson ) and Front Royal. Some lady asked about Martinsburg and they told her that they came real close to getting the former Lowes building on Route 9 (?) but was told by Martinsburg ( they could have meant Berkeley County ) that if they wanted to come to Martinsburg they need to close their store down in Winchester. Kohls said no. Was that really the case? Don't know for sure but that is what Kohls told us.
One chain that Martinsburg told they could not build elsewhere was Outback Steakhouse. Martinsburg got one YEARS before Hagerstown & Winchester got theirs. I believe the deal between Bruce Van Wyck ( or whoever owned the land ) and Outback was they can not build in another location in the area ( Hagerstown and Winchester ) for a period of 5 years. Goal was that if people wanted to eat at Outback Steakhouse then they would have to go to Martinsburg. I remember hearing about this on WRNR back in 1995, maybe 1996.
The key with Outback is that the developer negotiated with them, not the government or municipality. A developer can offer an incentive to a retailer in exchange for a 'no-compete elsewhere' clause for a period of time.
That's pretty standard stuff. The developer wants to increase traffic flows with a proven anchor which will the entice more retail construction which leads to more $$ for him. It's a mutually beneficial agreement.
If a governmental body or official were to impose those restrictions it would be akin to suicide. Try explaining to voters that government interference chased away some much needed commercial tax base. I may be wrong, but I just don't see it happening. Plus the development authority would go ape poo-poo if they heard about that.
Maybe the developer over on Delmar Orchard Rd. tried playing that game with Kohls or Petsmart, but I still doubt it. The key issue with that side of 81 is the lack of infrastructure. Think of it this way- why would a commercial retailer want to locate to a site that has no way of handling the projected traffic?
We moved here in 2005 (not from DC or MD) because we thought it would be a much need change of pace and a wholesome place to raise our kids. It's a great place to live if you have the means to afford a 300K plus home and private school otherwise I'd stay where you are.
I was born in Martinsburg. Still have family there. I always considered Martinsburg to be a "big city wanna be".
A few years back I was reading the Journal and they kept calling the local police there "metro police". WTF ???
The B&O Roundhouse was supposed to be a "civic center". They way the town acted, it would be Martinsburg's answer to some big city sports arena. "...we could get Cher to play here !!". Yeah right !!!!
I left Martinsburg back in 1992. Remember the old WYVN-TV channel 60? They played that "Martinsburg is this huge city" card. I even heard a rumor back then that WYVN begged FOX to have Cops film an episode there to show people how big that town really is. Never happened of course but considering the amount of bar room fights there, Cops would have no problem finding stories to tape there.
Sure the area is growing, but you just can't turn a town of only 16,000 into a city of 516,000 people. Hey, nothing wrong at staying small.
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