Business leaders try to revamp once-neglected Middletown business district
The foot traffic on Monday morning seemed to be significant. During News 12's half-hour visit, about 20 customers came through the shop.
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Several new businesses are changing the face of a Middletown neighborhood that investors used to avoid.
Kimberly Serrano, a chef by trade, just started her new Puerto Rican coffee shop, Cafe Con Amor Jibaro, near North Street and Wickham Avenue.
“I’ve been open since Aug. 1. I was actually a coffee truck and actually just transitioned to a storefront," Serrano explained as she brewed a latte.
The foot traffic on Monday morning seemed to be significant.
During News 12's half-hour visit, about 20 customers came through the shop.
“I love it because, again, it's bringing more employment to the community," she said of recent investments in the area, "and also things for us to do. Small businesses opening definitely helps.”
Serrano is renting her spot from Middletown native Seneca King.
King turned a former bank into a business incubator and art gallery.
He told News 12 Monday he helped start three local businesses in the last year and ten businesses over the last five years.
“A lot more foot traffic, more businesses, more food, and a lot more [of an] arts scene here now, since we started the gallery here," he said. "Now we’re starting to see that trend and more artists thriving down here.”
Some shoppers who are also longtime Middletown residents said the area is unrecognizable compared to how it looked in the mid-2000s.
“It’s nice, because now we have so many more options to go have lunch, and there’s so much more to do," lunch customer Sofie Godinez said.
Some business owners said they have been attracting customers from two local breweries and from City Hall.
They have also benefited from this summer's downtown events, including Juneteenth and Fourth of July celebrations.
Their next big event is this Saturday's Run for Downtown, which is expected to draw a significant number of visitors.
Business owners are using the event as another opportunity to showcase themselves to a new pool of potential customers.
