How You Can Help Support Old Town Beaverton

By David Anderson, Co-Owner, Syndicate Wine Bar

The most frequently asked question we receive is, “How long have you been here?” 

Seven years. A small business in Old Town Beaverton that has been part of Restaurant Row since its start, we’ve seen our community evolve and change.

In that time, many additional businesses have opened up. And, we’ve counted at least 20 that, since December 2023 have closed or moved to another location. Why is our district struggling so much to gain and keep the attention of Beaverton?

OId Town sometimes feels like a well-kept secret.

Most folks are surprised to find how long we’ve been here. It’s puzzling when we consider every visitor has a smartphone and most, if not all folks have at least one social media app loaded onto it, or use a map apps, or possibly ChatGPT to ask where to find wine in the area.

How are so many residents of Beaverton unaware Old Town exists? Maybe it has something to do with how Old Town’s revitalization was orchestrated. 

Starting in the mid-2010’s, the former City leadership launched programs to breathe new life into Old Town. Numerous grants were set up to incentivize property developers and businesses alike to move in and create a dining district that would become known as Restaurant Row. 

We will withhold our opinion on the virtues and challenges of those programs at this time, except to acknowledge it did in fact draw in a lot of brands that may or may not be of interest to the Westside community.

Maybe it’s the after-effects of the pandemic, and how consumer behavior was changed for many years. The pandemic hit just as our district was starting to bustle. The Oregon Health Authority, following safety guideliness forbade any indoor dining on and off for many months between the summers of 2020 and 2021. Restaurants were forced to adapt to outdoor dining as the only lasting option.

Many restaurants adjusted to a take-out and delivery model, something that we feel to this day plays a role limits many consumers from visiting our district for themselves. We’re finally seeing some of those trends shift back to pre-pandemic patterns, in that there is more foot traffic in our district than I can recall, people are staying out later, and they let the weather determine if they dine indoors or out.

Will The Loop help?

The City of Beaverton has a long-term vision for uniting Old Town with Central Beaverton, located north of us and which includes the Round and City Hall. There are plans to overhaul both Watson and Hall avenues to make them more pedestrian-friendly, a project known as The Loop.

I’m not sure if enhancing pedestrian access to our district from the north will help; There’s just not much density of residents at all in the area. Maybe in ten years’ time there will be more high-density housing projects in Central Beaverton, but that’s two 5-year leases and extensions from now that many small businesses may not care to partake in, just to see the results.

And, Loop designs call for the removal of 85 parking spaces along those two roads. It’s a tough pill to swallow, when many visitors to our district that arrive by car already say parking can be difficult. Is it true, though?

Is there a shortage of parking, or is that just a perception? 

It depends on when you visit Old Town. If you only drive into our district on Saturday mornings for Farmers Market, then yes, parking can be tough. The entire library parking lot, which hosts more than 150 parking spaces (if you include adjacent streets), are all closed off for the market itself. That means visitors must park wherever they can, and many residential streets are filled up with cars until about 1pm.

If you visit our district on any other day, by daytime there is plenty of parking available just about anywhere. By evening, it can become congested as all of the restaurants, including ours are open for business.

There is planning underway to look at formally converting the library parking into a public lot. The distinction is lost on me; It is not my specialty. But I received a detailed and well-written explanation from Councilor Teater, and it helped me understand just how complicated the process it. I appreciate Councilor Teater’s work in helping make our district more accessible.

How can we change the public’s perception about parking?

If the library lot is converted for public use by everyone, there will still be another perception game that our district must overcome: Changing the perspective of visitors that only come for Farmers Market, that the rest of the week it’s a public parking lot they can use to visit. That takes me to where we are at now.

Several business owners in the district, including us, are in communications with the City to see if there a way to create a collaborative awareness program that could include mailout flyers to Beaverton residents; Enhanced signage throughout Old Town directing people on parking; Signage on the streets guiding pedestrians to find restaurants, shops, parks, and other attractions; Improved lighting and repaired sidewalks to facilitate safer mobility throughout the district as a whole; And a way for small businesses to participate in the program, directing that information through our own social media accounts, email newsletters, websites, and other ways of communicating with our customers, to help tie it all together.

There’s much work yet to be done.

Here’s what you can do to help.

Here it is. It’s a simple ask. I hope you will take part!

The next time you’re in Old Town, stop into a business you’ve never visited before, just to say hello and find out what they are about. You may know someone that would want to visit that business to shop or dine there. It’s that simple!

To help even more, try stopping into TWO businesses the next time you visit. Or THREE.With most folks overwhelmed by social media and AI slop, we understand why you might be turning away from your phone. You, your friends, and your neighbors are all more likely to trust a personal recommendation to each other than anything you see online. 

If every person reading this were to ask their neighbor, “Have you ever been to Old Town? No? Let’s go!” the results could be dramatic.

Every business in our district, whether thriving or struggling as they may be, would love to see your faces and greet you, to welcome you back and show appreciation for the part you played in helping our humble little district. It’s a time when small towns and communities and districts like Old Town Beaverton, the backbones of our economy, need you more than ever.

For seven years, we’ve been there for you. It’s one of those times now that we invite you back, to see what we’re doing, and to give you a reason to make visiting our district part of your weekly or monthly schedule.

Thank you for supporting our community.