City of Pullman expects to partially open Main Street next week

PULLMAN, Wash. — Construction on Main Street in downtown Pullman is still slowing business for local shop owners, but that may soon come to an end.

“That’s really what keeps me trucking on through this somewhat depressing time,” said Willow Falcon, the owner of Noshies.

The City of Pullman says it hopes to open one lane of Main Street on Nov. 14. Construction is expected to be fully completely shortly after that.

Project Downtown Pullman was supposed to be completed in October, though work is still ongoing. The city blames these delays on contaminated soil.

Noshies say it lost around 40-60% of its revenue because of the decline in foot traffic and the inability to capitalize on tourists that come to town for events like football games or graduation.

“I have dedicated projects that can go bad and if I order too many, then they go bad and I lose money. If I don’t order enough, then my store looks unpresentable,” Falcon said.

Some business owners say they’ve reached out to the city multiple times to find out when the project will be completed. Now they are just waiting for it to be over.

Even a Pullman staple like Rico’s has been hurting because of the construction. Its owner said sales are down 25-30%.

“Some of the outsiders, the out-of-towners who didn’t know this was going on were more willing to park and come down than some of the locals that I think were impacted by it daily,” said Rico’s owner Tawny Szumlas.

Seeing construction workers putting on the finishing touches and spray painting the asphalt has given business owners confidence that business will be back to normal soon.

“I do feel more optimistic going out and looking at the streets like ‘Okay, it does look like we’re almost there,'” Falcon said. “I was actually just putting together a nice big cheese order for the holidays so that makes me happy.”