What’s up with Huff Ford/Chevolet/Pontiac?  Wytheville may as well change their name to Wytheburg as we are looking more and more like Christiansburg every day…...........we have everything crammed up at the Walmart exit and now it seems like we’ll have a Huff Motor Mile at the other end of town….....................and I’m not sure that it’s a good thing.

As downtown dies a slow, painful death…

Its just the natural progression of things… Wytheville proper has always wanted to maintain its image as a retiree/resident friendly place (witness the Walgreens mess), so why not have everything commercial on the outskirts of town? Everyone in town knew when that farm was sold at the interchange it would only be a matter of time before the town shifted westward.

The Huffs are just taking advantage of a buyers market in automotive franchises and commercial property on the east end - I can’t blame them. Goodness knows that anyone in the automotive industry needs all the luck they can get right now to turn a true profit.

Wytheville is a quaint small town, but why no businesses downtown?

Main Street should be loaded with shops , boutiques & businesses for all the visitors and travelers we get and for the residents who live here. I travel on a consistent basis just to shop for clothes, trinkets gifts etc. out of this area because it does not offer it here.

I support most of the businesses (which are few here) but they do not carry all of the necessities and trendy attire that one would like. Unless you want to shop Walmart constantly!

Plus a Motor Mile will bring people out of the area and spend time and maybe some money in our town, what’s wrong with that?

I totally agree with Babs.  Where are the private business owners who have plenty of space in the downtown area to display their goods. Now that the nasty Clinic has been closed, this should offer even more opportunity for some smart business minded person (definetly not me..lol) to take advantage of all the building has to offer.  I also have had to travel to other areas like Christiansburg, Blacksburg, Bristol to just shop the out of the ordinary(WalMart).  I also think it would be a great draw to this area for visitors going up and down the Interstate corridors and US major highways. With gas like it is, we should be experiencing the greatest influx of local visitors that we have ever had, if marketed properly.

Sad to say but most small towns are dying… This one is too if they don’t start making things easier for people in this town… People can’t even afford to buy food any more and I know that school time is just right around the corner but I can’t afford school supplies for my kids… The cost of rent has gone up by $50 a month each year for the past 5yrs - With that on a fixed income - who can afford to shop… then you have AEP’s rate increases these last few years… So what are we to do - SUFFER… thats all we can do as we watch our small towns wither away and die…

Also if you want people to come to “visit” this dying town then someone needs to give them a reason to other then a commercial with the Mayor saying come visit… Let me say that I love Wytheville… BUT there is absolutely nothing here to draw families to visit… There is nothing here to make parents want to drag their kids here to spend time doing anything… Nothing for the parents to do and nothing for the kids to do that is not going to cost them an arm and a leg… The Rec Center was a great plan except on todays budget we can’t afford to go there or send our kids there… There is nothing for the kids to do or the adults either… And sad to say that as far as I have seen and heard from this town - They don’t want anything new here that would draw in kids of younger people because they don’t want the problems that might come with a skating rink or something like that .... 

So again I say: So what are we to do - SUFFER… thats all we can do as we watch our small towns wither away and die…

Ever go to Marion? They are really doing a nice job with small businesses on Main Street, lots of shops for clothes, gifts and if you haven’t eaten at Handsome Molly’s you haven’t LIVED! But you better go during the day, because everything is busy and open between 10:30AM and 2:30PM. Nightlife is extemely limited, the Lincoln Theatre has some good shows if you are into Bluegrass or Country music, but the best restaurants are open for lunch, with some exceptions on Friday and Saturday nights. Way to go Ken Heath on bringing downtown Marion back to life!
Perhaps if some of the OWNERS of the storefront buildings on Main Street Wytheville would offer incentives, have complmentary Grand Opening signs and events for new businesses, downtown Wytheville would come back to life.
Oh and the comment about the ‘nasty Clinic’ is way off base. There was a new restaurant and nightclub that came in there at the beginning of the year. They completely redid the interior, had really good food, and were really clean and nice people. But the town did not support it, so the owner finally ran out of expendable cash and gave up. He was a nice guy too!
It all boils down to politics and how badly those in power want to encourage new businesses to come downtown. Downtown has a lot of possibilities, it just is going to take some effort from those who run things to make it happen.
Beth Farmer

I have to agree with Sleepy that there is really nothing here besides the Marquee and the Wolfhart House (or however you spell the name…I don’t pay enough attention to it to care).

Mary, exactly what is “crammed” at the Walmart exit? There’s Sheets, the WM plaza, Ruby’s, Starbucks, GameStop, the Marquee, Lowe’s and the fast food places. And it’s hardly “crammed.“ One trip to Christiansburg will settle that argument. If anything, I’d say we need MORE here in Wytheville. If you want people to come to your town, ya gotta give them a reason to come. And the whole “relaxing rural experience” angle obviously ain’t cuttin it.