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Vital downtown needs more than bars, clubs Ron Bartizek Business LOCAL

Sunday February 14, 2010 | 12:00 AM

HOW MUCH BOOZE can downtown Wilkes-Barre handle? City Council seems to be wrestling with that question as it considers an application by the owner of Frank’s News to sell beer for takeout. Some council members have expressed reservations, fearing an outbreak of paper bag-sucking derelicts on Public Square. Others see the proliferation of beer sellers as inevitable.

It’s not as if the proposed “Six Packs To Go” store would be a breakthrough. Anthracite News on the next corner has been selling beer since 2006 and Rodano’s, which opened last year right across South Main Street from Frank’s, sells takeout brew. Across the Square, Mimmo’s Pizza keeps a low profile but will sell if asked, as it has since opening in 1982.

As colorful as the Square can be, it so far has not become a haven for public guzzling, which would be illegal. Frank’s News owner Harshad Patel told me last week that he would not sell single servings or 40 ouncers, the most likely containers to show up empty on sidewalks the morning after.

It seems like whatever controversy there is surrounding the application comes less from high-minded principles than from competing landlords, Humford Equities for Rodano’s and the strip of bars on South Main and the Pyros family, who Patel writes rent checks to.

There’s a larger issue facing the city than this tempest in a teapot – how to leverage newfound popularity as a dining and drinking mecca into sustainable prosperity. Right now the scales are tipped toward the bar scene, which draws crowds of mostly young people but brings with it the risk of bad behavior that sometimes crosses the line into violence and vandalism. When interviewed for an article about Wilkes-Barre’s response, city officials’ shrugged off incidents that include the assault of a police officer as par for the course in “a typical college town.”

The city’s embrace of students is smart and long overdue; administrations prior to Mayor Tom Leighton’s were indifferent or even hostile to the Wilkes University and King’s College communities, which account for a good chunk of spending that keeps the few remaining downtown stores open. But college bars and clubs are only a part of the mix that makes an area desirable for work, play and living. As much activity as they generate, they aren’t the only businesses that can prosper downtown.

For example, the Caf� Toscana and Thai Thai restaurants opened months before Rodano’s or the new bars and both were busy from the start. Despite the emptiness around it, Wilkes-Barre Movies 14 has thrived by attracting families and teenagers, not just college revelers.

Their continued success depends less on late-night bar crowds that it does on cleanliness, security and a mix of storefronts and services that could make a visit to Wilkes-Barre more than a quick run through Boscov’s or a pub crawl.

Frugal shoppers, demanding lenders and reluctant chain stores make this a challenging time for anyone trying to create a retail complex, whether a city or a mall developer. That difficulty shouldn’t change the goal of restoring Wilkes-Barre’s status as a center of commerce and culture.

If it were my decision I’d rather see Vacation Station still in its ground-floor Public Square office rather than a beer stand there. That’s not a criticism of Patel, who is working hard to build his business, just a vote for the kind of atmosphere that makes a downtown sustainable.

About the Author

Ron Bartizek covers business for the Times Leader. Reach him at (570) 970-7157 or rbartizek@timesleader.com.

Ron Bartizek has more than 30 years' newspaper industry experience, in advertising, news, general management and ownership. He has been business editor of the Times Leader since mid-2005.