First, a man wearing a sandwich board advertising a new cash-for-gold store raised eyebrows along historic Ellicott City's eclectic Main Street. Now, a laborer is emptying debris from a former bakery that in May, according to a small sign in the window, will become a Subway sandwich franchise — the first chain store in recent memory.
Coming Subway franchise store roils historic Ellicott City
Chain restaurant and cash-for-gold enterprise raise eyebrows
Subway sandwich shop is coming to the 8100 block of Main Street… (Kim Hairston, Baltimore…)
It's all very disturbing to some of the more protective independent local merchants, craftspeople and visitors who come to the old mill town for its quirky appeal. What's next, some wonder: Starbucks? McDonald's?
"We like that we're unique. It makes us stand out. It's not the mall," said Lori McDermott. She and her husband, Steve, have operated their Silver Arrow Fudge Shop selling homemade fudge, Indian jewelry and Native American feathered accessories for 22 years. "I'm afraid once it starts, the ball will start rolling," she said.
But countering fears about the town's image is the threat of empty stores along Main Street, which is lined with apartment-topped stone buildings that slope down to the Patapsco River. The new merchants say they're simply responding to consumers.
David I. Reyes, who owns the cash-for-gold shop, said he fits in just fine.
"They don't seem to mind some of their peers going out of business," he said. "What I'm worried about is having too many vacant storefronts."
"What's more historically accurate than trading gold for currency?" asked Reyes, 34, of Silver Spring, referring to the 18th-century town's roots as a mill town and center of commerce where America's railroads also began.
The town, which sits on the river border between Howard and Baltimore counties, has been changing for decades. Before World War II, Ellicott City was a sleepy county seat whose Main Street was lined with banks, a one-screen movie theater and merchants selling groceries, hardware and lumber.
Today, tourists stroll along the long row of small shops and eateries selling hand-crafted jewelry, clothing, antiques and artwork. On weekends, heavy traffic moves slowly along the street as visitors search for parking spots.
Howard County has a Historic District Commission that has the power to rule on details as small as the type of siding and shingles residents can use on historic homes. Although the commission regulates exterior building alterations and signs, it doesn't deal with what kinds of businesses locate on Main Street, said its chairman, Joseph Hauser.
The debate in Ellicott City recalls similar discomfort when a 7-Eleven proposed moving into Baltimore's Mount Vernon square in 2008 or when Starbucks wanted to open a store in what had been the King of France Tavern in historic Annapolis the year before.
"That's not a direction we want to see Ellicott City go," said Shelly Wygant, a Historic District resident who is also president of the Howard County Historic Society. Her family did all their Christmas shopping on Main Street, she said, to help support the local merchants.
"Subway is at gas stations. People go to Ellicott City. It's a destination place," Wygant said.
Jen Olson, 26, and her friend Alyssa Rittenberg, 24, both of Catonsville, said they sometimes come to Main Street for lunch and shopping, and aren't happy about the Subway.
"It's important to maintain the integrity of it being historic," Olson said.
Angela Tersiguel, president of the Ellicott City Merchant's Association, said that personally, she welcomes the Subway, which will be open every day and give families a well-known, casual, cheaper and quick place to get food. "I don't want people going through town and seeing empty spaces."
John Fisher, who took over the well-regarded Leidig's Bakery and continued that tradition for nearly 25 years before closing in 2005, owns the storefront building where the Subway is to go. He said he had several applicants for the space, but carefully chose a new occupant he thought was right.
"I think everyone has to think about what [Subway is] going to offer us," Fisher said, adding fears of a gradual Main Street take-over by chain stores are overblown. "I think that's far-fetched. I don't see that happening at all."
Ajoke "Tayo" Ibraheem, the franchise operator for the Subway store, agreed with Fisher and said that as a resident of Ellicott City, "We do love historic Ellicott City. We want to keep it special."
Irbraheem operates several Subway franchises in Baltimore, and does not expect her store to attract other chains. "We think Subway will just enhance the street" by drawing more shoppers and filling a needed niche.
Leslie Putnam, 29, who's been selling handmade jewelry at her Love and Glitter shop across Main Street from the proposed Subway for the past year, said she was alarmed at first, but changed her mind.
"I was kind of 'Oh, my goodness,'" she recalled her first reaction, but then thought, "There's a Subway in Old Town Alexandria, historic Annapolis and Warrenton, Va.,'" she said. Sure, she'd rather it be a locally owned and run independent sandwich shop, but Ellicott City needs a quick, casual, affordable place to eat.
Betty Jacobs' family has operated Yates' grocery store on Main Street since 1885, though in recent years she's transformed it into a deli that also sells everything from books to antique brass doorknobs.
"I don't think a Subway fits in. I do think it's an odd choice — for them." But she defended the newcomer, too, saying, "I think everyone has a right to try their business where they want to."
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