Editorial
The restaurant business has never been an easy one.
In fact, it’s always been among the most challenging sectors within our economy, one of the first to feel the impact when times turn challenging, and among the last to fully recover when things get better, Meanwhile, tastes change, habits change, and downtowns change. And consumers are fickle.
We see some restaurants that are part of the local landscape for decades, but the truth is that many struggle to survive for even a few years.
And these days, the challenges for restaurants are mounting, and the number of vacant storefronts is growing at a similar clip. In this region, and across the state, it seems, restaurant closures are rising as the owners of such establishments grapple with a laundry list of challenges, some age-old, some much more recent.
Indeed, costs are rising for just about everything, and this is a business where it’s difficult to pass along those increases to consumers. Meanwhile, habits are changing again: people are eating earlier, eating out less often, and drinking less when they do go out, adding more challenges to those trying to keep a restaurant’s doors open.
But maybe the biggest challenge to this industry has been the rise of remote work and its impact on what we’ll call central business districts. With fewer people in the office towers in downtown Springfield — and there are far fewer people in those towers — and in the office buildings in Amherst, Northampton, and other communities, the restaurants that rely on those workers for breakfast, lunch, and often after-work gatherings are suffering greatly.
While area elected leaders, especially Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, have made repeated calls to bring people back to work because of the boost they provide, these calls have mostly fallen on deaf ears. Remote work, or at least the hybrid work schedule, is here to stay, and the impact on the retail sector, and especially restaurants, is tangible.
Area communities understand these challenges, and they have responded in various ways, from programs helping entrepreneurs and property owners work collaboratively to fill vacant storefronts to efforts — such as those in Amherst, Northampton, and elsewhere — to promote those community’s restaurant sectors, to initiatives to bring people downtown for entertainment, retail, and also dining.
And these efforts need to continue because restaurants do a lot more than fill spaces on Main Streets across our region. They add to the vibrancy — and the vibe — of our cities and towns. And they help create memories for families, groups, and individuals gathering for special occasions, from a 50th wedding anniversary to the Wednesday before Thanksgiving at the Student Prince in downtown Springfield.
That’s one eatery that has managed to survive the decades, most recently with the help of a group of area business leaders committed to seeing it live on. But many haven’t, and memories are all that’s left.
Local communities need to continue their efforts to encourage and support this vital sector of our economy, and those who call this area home or do business here must understand the challenges they face and do what they can to help keep the doors open and the memories coming.
