Street project slows business in Hillyard

The clack of balls on pool tables is audible from a couple of bars on Market Street, even amid the sound of heavy equipment rumbling down the crater that used to be the street. Trucks on Friday morning haul out gravel, front-end loaders move dirt back and forth, and a giant steamroller smooths things out.

State and city funding is paying for the complete revamping of North Market Street, and shop owners are looking forward to street trees, new sidewalks and a much more pedestrian-friendly environment.

They just have to get through the construction first.

“Business has slowed down quite a bit here, but we are all still open,” said Jim Solomon, owner of the United Hillyard Antique Mall at 5016 N. Market St. “Every one of us has some sort of special going on in the store, so it’s all right. We’re hoping that the sidewalks come in soon.”

Lynn Moore, who just opened Ma Baker’s Café at 5012 N. Market St., said she plans to have al fresco dining once there are sidewalks.

“Yes, we knew about the construction, but that didn’t keep us from getting started,” she said.

Moore also owns a jam and jelly business, Us Girls & Papa’s, and was searching for a commercial kitchen for her jam-making.

“This place allows us to do both,” she said.

Ma Baker’s is already popular in Hillyard for the sausage gravy and homemade potato chips.

“We have gone through 400 pounds of potatoes in two weeks,” said Moore. “People love them. The bars order them by the pan-full for their customers.”

She says the name Ma Baker’s came with the little restaurant that’s located in the Nebraska Hotel building. On the menu at the breakfast and lunch café are classic egg and bacon dishes, biscuits and gravy and a selection of burgers and salads for lunch.

“We knew it was going to be a little slow, but we’re doing fine,” Moore said, adding that hungry patrons are welcome to call in an order for pickup.

Just across the street in the old Hand’s Pharmacy store, on the corner of Market Street and Queen Avenue, another new business has opened its doors. Wear It Again is a women’s boutique-style consignment store, and it’s barely been open a month.

“I figured it was better to open now, to go through the construction and really become part of the community, than to wait,” said owner Michelle Klein. “I have this five-year vision for Hillyard: I think it’s going to be this rocking, artsy neighborhood, and everyone will want to live and shop here.”

Klein is a nurse, but right now she works full time at the store. Having moved up from Los Angeles, she brings in some new clothing and purses from California, but it’s consignment that’s her main focus.

“I’d love to have some fashion shows, and I have a friend who’s a makeup artist who may come in here and do some things,” Klein said. “People here are just so nice. Everyone checks in on me. These are the people who take care of you.”

As part of the street renovation project, a new water main has been put down and water pipes that run to buildings along Market Street have been brought up to code.

“We meet with the contractor once a week, and that really helps,” Solomon said. “We can ask questions, and they can tell us where they are in the project.”

Solomon is part of a neighborhood group that’s planning a grand reopening of Market Street on Nov. 14.

“We’ll have a ribbon-cutting with the mayor and some state officials, and maybe a parade and some street dancing,” Solomon said, while a front-end loader poured gravel into a huge truck right outside his open doors.

“We will survive it.”