CHICOPEE—It’s ten o’clock on a Saturday night, prime time for teenagers and young adults to enjoy a night out in the city. Instead, downtown Chicopee is eerily quiet. Several stores are lit up with open signs, but the sidewalks are empty and there is not a person in sight.
On the other side of the city, people populate Memorial Drive, eating at Panera Bread and waiting in line for a seat at the packed Royal Buffet. People stream in and out of stores like Home Depot and Staples.
Donald R. LaValley, the owner of Cabot Liquors in downtown, said that the shift to Memorial Drive became evident a couple years ago, ever since a reconstruction program intended to improve Chicopee Center ended up impairing his business.
“No parking signs were put up for a while and many people turned away from the store,” LaValley said. “They didn’t want to go through the hassle of finding a parking space that wasn’t even near us.”
Once the construction was completed, LaValley expected his business to pick up, but it didn’t.
“We still get a good number of customers, but it isn’t the same to what it was, say, 10 years ago,” LaValley said. “All the people have moved on from downtown because there isn’t much to do here. Everything’s over on the drive.”
Many businesses are located on Memorial Drive, including the Chicopee Marketplace that features the Wal-Mart Supercenter, which unlike typical Wal-Marts, includes a full-service supermarket, a garden center, pharmacy, and Subway Restaurant.
Emily Corriveau, a part-time employee at the Marketplace’s Payless Shoe Source, says that Wal-Mart constantly has people entering the store, no matter what time of day it is.
“When I’m working [at Payless], all I see are people going into Wal-Mart and coming out with a lot of bags—much more than they can handle,” said Corriveau. “I can’t imagine the lines there, especially around the evening hours.”
Adding to the drive’s current thriving business region will be the Chicopee Crossing complex, which is located right across the street from the Martketplace.
Business owners are seeking out Chicopee Crossing in hopes of making the complex a local destination with shoppers.
Restaurants like Chipotle Mexican Grill have already moved in, while plans for a Residence Inn and a standalone bank are being built in the complex.
Chung Liu, a long-time Chicopee resident, said that Memorial Drive provides a relaxing atmosphere with shopping and dining opportunities.
“I’ve lived in Chicopee for over 20 years and while I’ve had my share of experiences downtown, I’ve been going to Memorial Drive more often now, just to go eat at night instead of staying at home,” Liu said.
Many downtown storeowners know that even though Memorial Drive is becoming more and more like Chicopee central, they hope that Chicopee residents will remember what area of Chicopee is still officially considered the center of the city.
“Some of us have been here for a long time,” LaValley said. “We just hope that people will start coming back so we can be here for many more years to come.”
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