Burlington Reporter

When Petula Clark sang "Downtown," urban cores were vibrant parts of the American scene, but that culture is harder to maintain now that so many Americans are opting to move out of cities.

Burlington is looking for ways to bring pedestrian traffic back to the city's downtown area, giving entrepreneurs a better chance of having their ventures thrive, NewsBreak reported.

"You can walk around. There are murals downtown. There's a sculpture downtown," Emily Lewis, owner of several buildings in downtown Burlington, told NewsBreak. "Everything is here that you need to make your store front and center."

The only thing downtown Burlington is missing is customers, NewsBreak reported.

"One of the struggles we have downtown is just getting people to change their routines," Lewis said. "Getting them to sit back and think 'what is something different that I can do? What is some new place in my own county I can explore?'"

After one of Lewis' stores, Carolina Sundries, recently closed, Downtown Burlington Corp. said it has been devising ways to lure shoppers, NewsBreak reported. They are considering providing a free shuttle service to transport people between Sock Puppets baseball games and downtown. The objective there is to encourage people to make a night of it, with shopping and dining options to go along with taking in a game.

"I don't think people realize how much is changing downtown," Lewis said. "There are a lot of new little things popping up that make our county a lot more interesting. It's just you have to take an interest."

The city is also increasing the number of shows at the Paramount Theater to provide a boost this year, but in the longer term, the downtown group wants to do things to revive blocks that have suffered, NewsBreak reported.

"Our intent is to build this block," Lewis said. "To make another connection in the downtown, so we can kind of bridge these areas together to make eventually a nice well-rounded downtown."