Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/880937
wbjournal.com | October 2, 2017 | Worcester Business Journal 9 Brilliantly powering the future of Worcester | 242 Mill Street, Worcester, MA 01602 508.753.8635 www.ibewlocal96.org Building a brighter future for Worcester and Central Massachusetts. 8.1MW Worcester Solar Landfill AbbVie, Worcester For your next project, make the bright choice... IBEW Local 96. Call Business Manager Thomas J. Maloney at 508-753-8635 to learn more. PHOTO: SEYMOUR LEVY PHOTO COURTESY: WAYNE DION AND MASS. ELECTRIC CONSTRUCTION Downtown closings Elwood Adams is one of two Main Street businesses closing this fall, along with Shack's Clothes, a men's clothing store opened in 1928. Shack's Clothes offcials declined to be interviewed. The hardware store is the latest long- time Worcester business to close in recent years. The Classic Toy Shop on Park Avenue closed in 2015 after 35 years, and the Ben Franklin Bookstore closed in 2011 after 46 years downtown. The automotive business Benson & Wood closed on Park Avenue this sum- mer after 90 years — not because of economic conditions but because its building will soon be sold. Elwood Adams is closing as the stretch of Main Street around it is being overhauled with new pavement, lighting and trees. A few blocks to the north, the former Worcester County Courthouse is proposed to be renovated into 125 apartments in a $53-million project. The Cloutier family, the hands-off owners of Elwood Adams, did not want to be quoted for the story, the store's managers said. Trending in the other direction The trend isn't unique to mom-and- pop stores, or to Worcester, of course. Credit Suisse projects more than 8,000 retailers will close this year, surpassing even the height of the Great Recession. Last year, the Retailers Association of Massachusetts saw its largest drop in membership in at least two decades, an indication of how many have closed their doors here. "This is a scenario that's playing out in every city and town in the common- wealth and to an extent every city and town in the nation," said Jon Hurst, the association's president. It's an uphill climb for so many retail- ers, as sales drop and rents and health insurance premiums rise, Hurst said. Online retailers don't always have to collect sales tax, and don't have to pay time-and-a-half on Sundays and holi- days like shops in Massachusetts do. "Unfortunately," Hurst said, "it's going in the wrong direction." Elwood Adams is closing as work begins on an overhaul of Main Street just outside. P H O T O / E D D C O T E W