Taste of Thai recently closed at 2051 Arena Blvd.
BY DANIELLE MARSHALL
SPECIAL TO THE NATOMAS BUZZ
Over the past month several businesses in our community have closed their doors. These businesses include: Fast Signs, It’s A Grind, The Children’s Place, Taste of Thai, and a Yogurt Garden location.
The losses we’ve incurred are much more than than Chamber of Commerce members, store fronts, and products or services. If you look deeper, Natomas has lost local jobs, familiar, meeting places, tax revenue, and added reasons for people to look elsewhere for similar businesses.
I had the privilege of working with some of the business owners mentioned above and some are even close friends.
While these closures are somewhat devastating, we have also seen the reverse trend.
In recent months, Natomas has added a substantial number of businesses to our community portfolio as well. New Natomas businesses consist of Burlington Coat Factory, Dollar Tree, LGR Services, Massage Heights, The New Happy Day Spa and soon Ashley Home Furniture and Denny’s.
The opening of numerous new establishments proves that Natomas is a vibrant and desirable community with lots of growth potential. For this reason I ask you to support, shop and dine at local businesses first.
Let’s keep our community growing and keep our neighborhood establishments “open for business.” By shopping local, you are investing in your own community, allowing for the support of our local schools, and so much more.
Thank you for supporting Natomas.
Danielle Marshall, MBA, is a Natomas resident and president of the Natomas Chamber of Commerce.
Danielle, thanks for the call to action to support our local community. An organization called 3/50 asks that you commit to spending at least $50 at three local businesses each month. It’s a great way to show appreciation for all the wonderful local establishments. I’m in…who will join me?
I would also add, “attend your local churches”. There are over 40 churches in Natomas, but in recent surveys we have found that almost half of the church attenders in this area of town are driving long distances to attend church. If you want any part of our community to improve, you must invest in it.
I’ve been a Natomas resident for close to 20 years. In that time, many of the local food establishments I loved have closed. Any of the strip malls like Safeway or Bel Air have had storefronts that have never had a tenant since they opened. I have no idea what the lease rates are for our area but people don’t make shopping less convenient for themselves because they want to. The building freeze is also partially to blame as the area hasn’t been able to build out like it should have. Maybe the business to shopper ratio is just too high?
Taste of Thai was awesome and will be sorely missed.
What’s most disappointing is when an eatery closes and is replaced by a Subway or other generic chain spot. Nothing against Subway, I eat there all the time, but do we really need 3(or is it 4) Subways in a 2 mile radius? When I first moved to Natomas, in the late 90’s (granted the economy was much better, the Kings were about to take off on their run etc etc) it seemed like Natomas featured a lot more of it’s own flavor of places to shop & eat, then when the economy waned, not only did a bunch of places close, but when they were eventually replaced it was with establishments you could likely already go to by driving another mile or two down the road to the next ‘burb.