Business owner shares grievances with Council

Other North Locust businesses chime in

Bell Gallery and Garden has been on North Locust Street since April 2006, and co-owner Joanne Bell said she doesn’t see a problem with the way things are, “but if signage was put up, that would be fine too,” she said.

Bell said she “thinks the Town has done a pretty good job” at highlighting Floyd’s business offerings, such as with maps, and said there are “a lot of places that could use” wayfinding signs in Floyd, including along Main Street.

“I appreciate what the Town has done, and I trust them to keep doing the best thing for all of Floyd’s businesses,” Bell said.

Bell echoed Gravely’s statements that the Gallery and Garden “promotes the whole town.”

Ron Campbell, owner of The Maggie Gallery, on the corner of North Locust and Oxford Street, said wayfinding signage to draw attention to just-outside-of-downtown offerings has been a goal of his for several years, and he has approached Council about the matter twice, he said.

Campbell said none of his efforts “returned any result,” so he added feather flags outside of Maggie Gallery to draw visitors’ attention to it.

Campbell made similar statements to Gravely’s about the Town’s investment in South Locust Street businesses.

“The area that visitors think of as Floyd is about four acres, beginning at the steps of the Floyd Country Store. The businesses in these four acres are owned by … a few of the Town’s most influential leaders,” Campbell said.

Campbell said outlying businesses, “a block or more away,” from the stoplight are often overlooked by visitors who, he said, assume the Maggie is “just a well-kept home.” He said they see the courthouse parking lot and assume there’s nothing beyond.

“I have seen the town around the country store packed on a Saturday while not one person visited the Maggie,” Campbell said, adding the feather flags increased foot traffic in 2021 by 35%.

Campbell said he has “long-given up on Town Council as an advocate for growing businesses.”