A slow and gradual decline in Bristol Borough led to a practically dead main street in 2000. According to Borough Council President Ralph DiGuiseppe, “We had over 50% [storefront] vacancies on Mill Street.” It was around that time borough officials began a concerted effort to repair, renovate and upgrade the town. In 2017, a pair of 250-foot docks opened on the Delaware River at the foot of Mill Street. The $3 million project was 16 years in the making. Around the same time, Bristol Borough won the national Small Business Revolution contest sponsored by the Deluxe Corp. A campaign called “Pick Us,” led by Bill Pezza, president of the nonprofit Raising the Bar, which promotes downtown events and improvements, brought about a pep rally and the win. After Bristol won the contest, Deluxe dispatched a team of marketing and other experts to assist six small businesses in the borough. The company also provided $500,000 to install a waterfront sound system for events, two information kiosks for the center of town, and poles and other infrastructure for display banners across Mill Street. Pezza said locally owned, family-run businesses continue to be the backbone of downtown Bristol’s economy. Read more in the Inquirer.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer; 2/21/2024