JOPLIN, Mo. — How is downtown Joplin faring in the aftermath of the May 22 tornado?

Cell Phone Medics and Adornable lost their stores to the storm. Owners of those businesses say they are happy with their decision to relocate downtown.

But other businesses, such as Columbia Traders and The Vinery Wine Shop, have closed or are closing — collateral damage from the storm.

New and long-term businesses, such as The Run Around Running Co., Dance Universe and Pearl Brothers, are doing well.

The occupancy rate in the Gryphon Building is nearing 90 percent.

More people are living downtown, too. The occupancy rate for downtown lofts has been as high as 100 percent in recent months.

Trisha Patton, head of the Downtown Joplin Alliance, said the majority of downtown businesses are “family” operations. In terms of their survival, they are fragile when something like a disastrous tornado happens. When the family is adversely affected, the business can suffer.



The Vinery

The Vinery Wine Shop, 120 S. Main St., is closing today. It is owned by Michelle and Michael Hagan. They consider their business, which was open for three years, a casualty of May 22.

“I wouldn’t be having this conversation if it weren’t for the tornado,” Michelle Hagan said.

“It was good and even great at times,” she said of business before May 22. “I would have thought we were not going anywhere up until the tornado happened.”

The Hagans were on track to be in the black in their first three years.

Although their business was not hit by the tornado, their home at 21st Street and Wisconsin Avenue was destroyed. Michelle Hagan was hospitalized for a week after the storm and needed surgeries afterward.

While she was in the hospital, some friends took over the business and helped run it.

“Coming back to work for me was very tough, mostly due to the fact of having injuries and not being able to perform at my full capacity,” she said.

The business sells wine, and Michelle Hagan said two things hurt sales after the storm.

“So many things were going on in people’s lives that it was tough to celebrate anything,” she said.

Storm victims also had unexpected costs, including laundry and eating out, that used up their discretionary income.

“We just kind of carried ourselves through,” Michelle Hagan said of the remainder of 2011. “We started this year hopeful that 2012 would be a little different. It just can’t keep going on a downhill.”

She said most of the focus has been on Range Line Road, and there is not much recovery yet on 20th Street and South Main Street. That is hurting business downtown because there is not as much traffic, she said.

Another downtown site that has closed is the former Columbia Traders restaurant, 420 S. Main St. It was being leased by Ignite Church as a service and outreach project. Patton said the church closed the operation after the tornado to focus on other service and outreach projects related to the storm. Officials from the church could not be reached for comment Tuesday.



Adornable

Liliya Moos, owner of Adornable, now at 509 S. Main St., had no choice but to find a new location. Her shop at 21st and Main streets, where she had been for eight years, was damaged badly by the storm.

She said she didn’t know what to expect, whether her customers would find her or whether parking would be an issue, but she said business downtown has been “surprisingly good.”

Moos managed to save all the clothes, including 20 wedding dresses and bridesmaid dresses, but the rain damaged the computerized sewing and embroidery machines.

“I saved all my customers’ clothes. I am very proud of that,” she said. “Fortunately, we have a good insurance company, and they covered everything.”

Moos found out about some downtown locations, bought a cheap sewing machine and reopened on June 1, going back to work even before renovating the store.

She said parking hasn’t been a problem, and her old customers have found her, as have new ones.

“I have picked up a lot of customers from the downtown area,” she said. “It was a surprisingly good move.”



Cell Phone Medics

Guy Voltz, owner of Cell Phone Medics, had been doing well in a storefront in the Bel-Aire Shopping Center at 20th Street and Range Line Road. The tornado destroyed the shopping center. He reopened Aug. 18 in a shop at 512 S. Main St.

His cellphone service business is doing well there, he said.

“We are happy with the move, but there are challenges,” he said. “It’s a struggle downtown. It has nothing to do with the businesses or organizations downtown. A great amount of effort has been put into redevelopment. It’s a mental thing with the community.”

Voltz said the downtown area is perceived as being inconvenient and lacking parking.

“It’s not,” he said. “We have large parking lots in the back that are never filled up. You walk less distances downtown than at the mall. We need to teach the community that we have a viable downtown. We need to change that mindset that there is nothing to offer downtown. We have a lot to offer.”

Voltz said his business is doing well because of its reputation.

“That’s how we survive,” he said. “But we definitely need to draw more businesses downtown. We need more food, more restaurants that are quick places to eat for the working community downtown.”

Voltz said he has an opportunity to return to the Bel-Aire center when it is reconstructed. He said he’ll weigh the pros and cons of staying downtown or moving back when that day comes.



Pearl Brothers

Harold Berger, one of the owners of Pearl Brothers True Value Hardware, said: “Our business has been real good.

“We have products people have needed since the tornado. Patio furniture has been up. The kitchen appliance business has been up.”

He said store traffic has increased significantly, citing purchases by volunteers and by people who come to town to see the damage and the recovery.



Dance Universe

Kelly Musick, owner of Dance Universe, 531 S. Main St., started her business selling clothing for dance, cheerleading and tumbling in October of last year. She has expanded the business to include wedding accessories, wedding makeup and jewelry.

“I really had no desire to go anywhere else,” she said. “We have done really well.”

Like Voltz, Musick thinks the downtown district needs more support from the community.

“I think that people need to give the downtown area a chance — to look at it from the angle of building our community and building a vibrant downtown,” she said. “For us, the downtown area is the place to be.”



Gryphon BUILDING

Before the tornado, the five-story Gryphon Building, 1027 S. Main St., had vacant floors and plenty of room for growth. That has changed.

Ginger Sweet, manager of the property for Dr. Michael Joseph, said: “Directly after the tornado, we had three tenants move in who had lost their businesses. They had to relocate. Since them, we have had more new businesses and one relocation.”

Some doctors and lawyers have moved their practices to the building. Joseph, who lost his office to the storm, will occupy the entire second floor in March or April.

Said Sweet: “We have the whole gamut of businesses now.”

The building has about 125,000 square feet. About 5,000 square feet remains available.



The Run Around

Erik Bartlett opened his athletic shoe store, The Run Around Running Co., 528 S. Main St., in July 2010.

“Our business picked up in February of last year. We have continued to grow since then,” he said.

He said he chose a downtown location because his store is a specialty business.

“Location was not a big deal for me,” he said. “We are a specialty store. I liked this store better than a shopping center. It fits us a little bit better.”

The temporary closing of Academy Sports & Outdoors, a major shoe vendor in Joplin, might have helped his business, but its recent reopening has had little impact on his sales.

“We are doing very well,” Bartlett said.



Occupancy downtown

Patton, the director of the Downtown Joplin Alliance, said the occupancy rate for lofts and downtown residential properties soared to 100 percent with long waiting lists in the immediate aftermath of the storm. A few weeks ago, the occupancy rate was still near 100 percent for residential properties, but the waiting lists have shortened.

Despite some recent closings, she said, “I expect in the next two or three years downtown will continue to grow at the rate we have seen in the last five years.”