North End Commercial Spine

This district encompasses the area at the northern end of Main Street between Washington Street and Hartford Avenue. The store fronts area at a smaller and a more intimate scale than that in the core area. 

Architecturally this district is the most interesting. The facades of the majority of the buildings fronting on Main Street are historically significant and there exists tremendous potential to utilize and maximize this resource. The shops on the east side of Main Street have a special international flavor due to restaurants and specialty food stores of different nationalities. 

The area is unique in that this is the only place in the City where one can find such a concentration of varied food and groceries of different ethnic groups. Most of the other commercial establishments are neighborhood stores and specialty shops catering to the needs of upper floor apartments in the district and the surrounding residential community. The retail activity here has its own captive clientele. 

The western side of Main Street is more public in character and has few commercial establishments. However, at each end of the district there are popular restaurants and night clubs. Intermingled between these two restaurants are two gas stations, the City Fire House, the Community Health center, and the Salvation Army. 

Also at the northern limit of the district exists a new manufacturing facility which has the potential to provide jobs to residents in the area. 

There is a general perception that the location of the Soup Kitchen and the Arriwani have negatively affected the image of the otherwise interesting and intriguing commercial spine. The area is most active from noon to late afternoon. Activity declines significantly in the evening and on the weekends. However, there are two churched in the north end which draw people on the weekend and residents from the surrounding neighborhood frequent the area. The perception that the area is unsafe does exist.

 However, frequent visits to the area did not reinforce this perception.

View the North End Commercial Spine Map (JPG).