Rochester, N.Y. – S & B Mini-Mart is the last remaining storefront on the Midtown Plaza block – and it may not be able to stay open much longer.
Clarence Beaty opened the small store on Atlas Street seven years ago, before Midtown Plaza met the wrecking ball.
“I was looking for the long term, hoping something good would come out of it for me,” Beaty said.
Even though it’s close to Main Street, it might as well be a world apart. The store faces a massive construction site. Foot traffic is almost nonexistent, as many don’t even know they can still walk down Atlas St.
“They said (Midtown) would be done in about 4 or 5 years,” Beaty said. “It has nothing been done yet. You can’t show me anything that’s been done.”
Windstream is moving into its new offices on the site this summer. Work on Midtown Tower will start sometime this year. Beaty thinks if he can hold out until 2015 or 2016, his business will benefit.
“If I can survive. I’m on the edge of closing down,” he said. “I put everything I had into the business. I don’t have anything else to look forward to. I have nothing else. So I have to do what I can to survive.”
