Brandon Leuallen, The Business Times

Ewa Nowak didn’t expect her first summer as the new owner of Be Sweet Café & Bakeshop to be easy. She knew the ups and downs of seasonal traffic in downtown Grand Junction.

But what she didn’t see coming was the double blow of two major road construction projects — one led by CDOT, the other by the City of Grand Junction — both converging to effectively cut her café off from drive-by traffic from both directions.

Be Sweet, located across from the Mesa County Courthouse at West Main and Spruce Streets has experienced a significant loss in sales at the most inopportune time.

“According to Google Maps, there’s no way to get to our shop,” Nowak said. “We’ve lost over $2,000 a week since the closures started. And this is supposed to be our busiest time of year. We count on April through September to make up for the slower winter months. It’s how we recover. Without that, we’re struggling to stay afloat.”

Be Sweet isn’t alone. Neighboring businesses, including Good Judy’s, Tumblin’ Country, Luminox Tattoo, and Skin Suites, are all caught in the same predicament. The only way to reach the stores is through Spruce Street if you go around and out of the way, which is especially difficult for a shop that catches a number of customers because of the convenience (in normal times) as they come and go through the Main Street corridor.

On one side, CDOT’s First Street Improvement Project has closed Main Street west of First Street.

On the other side, the city’s ongoing work along the corridor, stretching from Main Street west and north toward the Rimrock Walmart, has further restricted access. That project is expanding the road for multimodal access between downtown and the Rimrock Marketplace, and it is scheduled to continue through October.

The CDOT project is expected to wrap up in late summer, but delays are not uncommon with work of this scale.

No Warning, No Support

Perhaps most frustrating for Nowak wasn’t the construction itself — she was quick to praise the road crews who’ve become regulars at her counter — but the lack of communication from the city.

“We had very little notice about the Main and First closure, and no notice that Crosby Avenue would be closed at the same time,” she said. “If I had known, I could’ve planned a marketing campaign, posted updates on social media, let our customers know how to find us.” 

Instead, she says, she was left scrambling.

Her frustration spilled into a public letter last week, shared across social media, in which she called on the City of Grand Junction and Mesa County to do more than just talk about economic development; they also should act in support of the small businesses already here.

“We are the future of Grand Junction,” the letter reads. “We are its salvation.”

A History of Overlooked Voices

Nowak’s concern isn’t new, and her letter highlighted other businesses that have been affected by broader economics and other city projects.

She wrote, “Over the past year, local businesses have voiced concerns about policies and projects that have inadvertently hurt the downtown economy. From the controversial ‘pilot project’ on 4th and 5th Streets — aimed at calming traffic but resulting in reduced parking and confused drivers — to the quiet closure of longtime establishments like Homestyle Bakery, Sweet Kiwi, and Octopus Coffee, the tension between policy and practicality is growing.

“We’re taxpaying members of the Chamber. We donate to local causes. We employ local people. We use local suppliers. And we support local organizations with donations as much as we can. It feels, however, that the local governments are doing little or even undermining our efforts to drive local economy.”

“When we reached out to the city whether we would be compensated for the loss of business, our pleas fell on deaf ears.”

She also raised concern about future plans to turn free parking lots near her location into paid ones — a move that could further deter customers.

She points to Colorado Mesa University as an engine of talent and innovation, but she warns that without meaningful employment opportunities, Grand Junction risks becoming “a stagnant desert … a city for retirees and an aging local population.”

In her words, “If the city wants to attract national corporations and young professionals, they need to support the businesses that give Grand Junction its culture.”

Council Member Knows the Feeling

Newly elected Grand Junction City Council member Ben VanDyke isn’t just sympathetic to Nowak’s plight, he’s lived it. Before joining the council, VanDyke’s own business, Van’s Car Wash, 305 Ute Ave., was affected by road construction.

“I had to communicate a lot with CDOT to maintain and improve access to my car wash during the process,” he said 

He also said it really helped when word got out to the community about his plight. Locals went out of their way to make it through the construction to patronize his business. 

“I saw the letter, and I’m going down to Be Sweet to see for myself how things are going,” he said.