Photo by Frankie Roskam, For The Miami Student
Bill's Art Store relocates to College Corner Pike due to Sigma Chi renovation plan
Students and community members may have noticed a lack of activity in the shops facing Uptown Park. Nail Depot, Varsity Barbershop and Bill's Art Store, which run parallel to Smokin' Ox, are among the now vacant businesses.
According to Allen Kryger, the city's economic development director, the Sigma Chi Foundation owns the property for the entire strip. The foundation plans to demolish the entire "white part" of that area - the part of the building that encompasses Wild Berry's headquarters, Nail Depot and Varsity Barbershop. Sigma Chi then plans to add on to the brick portion facing High Street.
"This is all part of an ongoing plan to create a larger, more accessible Sigma Chi museum," Kryger said.
These renovations include restrooms to both stories along with a staircase to the second floor for safety measures.
Business owners have taken a hard hit as a result of these plans.
"We were notified in the spring that we would have to move out immediately," Barb Berry, owner of Bill's Art Store said. "I think the abruptness of the decision was the hardest part."
Berry said she had only a few weeks to move from the shop and was required to do so by the end of last May. She managed to relocate the shop to 5500 College Corner Pike and, as a result, business has declined.
"We've definitely seen a drop in business," Berry said. "We will get the occasional architecture students who come in, but our drawing supplies have hardly sold at all."
Julie Larbes, a junior art student, said she is worried about the store's business as a result of the move.
"As a freshman and sophomore I had to go there at least once a month," Larbes said. "I know it will be a lot harder now for students to get there if they don't have a car."
However, Berry said she has brainstormed new ways to increase business at the new store.
"We now have a lot more space, which is nice," Berry said. "We have the capacity to have our own studio and gallery space for students and professors to access."
According to Berry, her mission has always been to benefit the students and the university and she will continue to do so from their new location.
"I have offered students rides to get to our new store," Berry said. "I am not angry with the university and will still try to help our loyal customers in every way that I can."
Berry is, however, angered at the way that the move out was handled.
"The Sigma Chi Foundation was very unhelpful during the abrupt move out process," Berry said. "Which is unfortunate because my brother Bill paid rent there for over 30 years before he passed away."
Since the move last May, the Sigma Chi Foundation has placed very noticeable signs in the windows of the previous shops. The signs read "stuck in the past, afraid of the future."
"I understand that [Sigma Chi] is upset that the university has not allowed them back on campus,"