Retail Prospects for South Side Bethlehem (Jim Thorpe: neighborhood, landlord, university)

[Flaneuropa]

I have run a small but successful secondhand bookshop for the last seven years in Jim Thorpe. My landlord is selling his building so I'm considering moving my shop to South 4th Street or another South Side location in Bethlehem. (I'm also considering a new location in Jim Thorpe; just exploring options). Everyone talks about how great the South Side is, but from a business venture standpoint I'm not entirely convinced.

Can anyone here who spends time and money on the South Side comment with some authority on the health of retail there? Do Lehigh students (or another solvent demographic) actually shop, or merely eat/drink - or neither - in that neighborhood?

[JohnZ963]

I suspect you would need a business that can sustain itself on foot traffic. I and a lot of people I know who live elsewhere in the Bethlehem area avoid shopping on 3rd/4th because parking can be difficult and traffic is awful at peak times. You can sit there in line for 10 minutes trying to get through the light at 3rd and New.

[Flaneuropa]

Originally Posted by JohnZ963

I suspect you would need a business that can sustain itself on foot traffic. I and a lot of people I know who live elsewhere in the Bethlehem area avoid shopping on 3rd/4th because parking can be difficult and traffic is awful at peak times. You can sit there in line for 10 minutes trying to get through the light at 3rd and New.

Good point. Thanks John!

[toobusytoday]

Excellent point John. Generally when we go to the South Side of Bethlehem, it's to go to a specific restaurant, the banana factory or Steel Stacks. I don't know anyone that goes there just to wander around shopping, unlike the North side. I'll happily go to the North side with a friend and eat and walk around for a few hours. I would guess that most of the sustainable businesses on the South Side are either very unique and have people that go there just for them or they have something so interesting that pulls the walking by customers in. If you do a book store, you would be competing with the Bethlehem Public libraries South side branch.

[Flaneuropa]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

Excellent point John. Generally when we go to the South Side of Bethlehem, it's to go to a specific restaurant, the banana factory or Steel Stacks. I don't know anyone that goes there just to wander around shopping, unlike the North side. I'll happily go to the North side with a friend and eat and walk around for a few hours. I would guess that most of the sustainable businesses on the South Side are either very unique and have people that go there just for them or they have something so interesting that pulls the walking by customers in. If you do a book store, you would be competing with the Bethlehem Public libraries South side branch.

Thanks for the recon.

I've built up the bookshop to "unique/return customer" status (a necessity for any bookstore to survive today) and many of those customers would follow me to Bethlehem, but walk-ins would be needed; or at least book-lovers willing to park on the street for a good browse.

One hears the South Side touted as "up-and-coming" for 5+ years now but maybe that's just Steel Stacks or LVU PR…? I wonder if Lehigh University students stroll/shop the South side or merely drink there. They'd be the "local" base with disposable income, but do they put their devices down long enough to take in a neighborhood street?