Depending on where you stand and when you visit, the Coventry Village retail strip might look like it’s thriving or like it’s merely surviving.
The thriving comes if you’re at the south end of Coventry Road, near Euclid Heights Boulevard. On Sunday mornings, parishioners hurry to make the morning service at City Church in the old Centrum movie theater. On any given weeknight, partygoers file into the Grog Shop and the B-Side Lounge for a live show. Head to the intersection of Coventry and Mayfield roads, and you’ll see a food district, with Pacific East Japanese Restaurant, Koko Bakery and Ellie-May’s Gourmet Cookies.
Walking down the street, though, you’ll see the 1800-1836 building has five vacancies out of 10 retail spots. The Key Bank branch closed, emptying a storefront that has held a bank for more than 100 years. Tommy’s Restaurant and Mac’s Backs are anchors, but the space that housed the Big Fun toy store space has been vacant since the shop left in 2018.
Those unoccupied spots worry Kathy Blackman. She owns the Grog Shop and the B-Side Liquor Lounge.
“I do believe that we have more vacancies than we’ve ever had since I’ve been there,” says Blackman, who has worked in Coventry for more than 30 years. “(Coventry) always had its ups and downs. You know, it’s sort of like a roller coaster. Unfortunately, I would say right now we’re at the bottom of the hill and hopefully on our way up.”
Blackman points to Made Cleveland as the kind of business that does well on the strip. The space features products from 150 regional makers and artisans, selling everything from carved and painted wooden chairs, to jewelry, to locally sourced provisions. Store owner Ash O’Connor opened the brick-and-mortar site in 2020 after building her brand and business with online sales and pop-up events. She lives in the neighborhood and the corridor’s eclectic mix reminded her of South Street in her native Philadelphia.
“Coventry has gone through several iterations and identities over the decades,” she says. “But at its core, it remains a very creative and culturally diverse corridor, which is just so beautiful and wonderful, because there aren’t really any other areas in Cleveland that exist like this.”
Related: New Restaurant Bringing Korean BBQ and Hot Pot to Coventry Village
Brian Anderson, who oversees business development for the City of Cleveland Heights, agrees. While the average visitor might be enticed by the eclectic shops like Passport to Peru and Attenson’s Antiques & Books, Anderson also sees a “main street” district that caters to the densely populated streets surrounding it. The latest census figures place the Coventry shopping district within a neighborhood of roughly 3,700 residents, where the median age of 30 and the mean household income is roughly $63,000.
Anderson lists stores like Marc’s Coventry grocery store and Heights Hardware near Mayfield that serve the residents. They’re as much a part of the corridor’s character as the Grog Shop and Made Cleveland.
But the corridor’s uniqueness isn’t protection from competition, he says.
Now, though, Cleveland districts like West 25th Street, Tremont, Gordon Square and Hingetown are just as walkable and trendy.
One impression to overcome: Rentals along the Coventry strip are more expensive than they are at other locations. Blackman rejects that notion. She says she’s researched rates and the area is comparable to similar corridors in Cleveland Heights. And she’s adamant that landlords will negotiate for the right tenant.
“I do believe the landlords will work with people, “ she says. “(Landlords) want to see the spaces filled.”
Once upon a time, retail spaces in Coventry were more costly than elsewhere, says Anderson. Not anymore.
“Before (Coventry landlords) had as much competition, they were probably able to charge some of the higher rates in the entire Cleveland market,” he says. “So I think the rates are getting more friendly to bring in new folks.”
The real challenge, however, is keeping Coventry, well, Coventry. That means finding a mix of eclectic, unique businesses that will serve the community and visitors who come to the area. O’Connor is upbeat about the future of the strip.
“We are going through a little bit of a period of churn in terms of tenants, but we are seeing new businesses coming in,” she says. “And that is exciting. And I really am hopeful that the landlords continue to have open dialogues with people and are willing to negotiate something that makes sense.”
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