SPOKANE, Wash. – Robert Hemphill, owner of Chicken-n-Mo on Sprague Avenue, has been serving soul food since 1992.
“Gumbo, rice, mashed potatoes and potato salad, macaroni salad, coleslaw, you name it,” Hemphill said.
Hemphill recalls the bustling days of Sprague Avenue.
“I used to be really, really busy,” he said. “I mean, Sprague Avenue was just… you couldn’t jaywalk on Sprague Avenue. It was so busy.”
However, over time, traffic in the area slowed down. Many attribute this to the increasing number of homeless individuals in the downtown core.
“That hurt a lot of small businesses down here,” Hemphill said.
New policies and enforcement efforts are now being seen as an opportunity to bring customers back to downtown Spokane, a necessity for the long-term survival of small businesses in the area. Business owners in different parts of Downtown are still getting decent foot traffic, but this year’s added tariffs are raising prices across the board.
Aaron Rivkin, owner of Ladder Coffee Roasters, shared his journey.
“I was about 14 years old, and my first job was at a church coffee shop; just learning how to serve people,” Rivkin said.
Rivkin believes it’s not just about addressing a problem but opening up possibilities.
“Anybody can build a really cool coffee shop. Not everybody can have a mission,” Rivkin said. “For us, we have a very strong mission at Ladder;’ to see that people can succeed and win.”
Through his business, Rivkin extends opportunities for second chances.
“This is what’s possible if you put some hard work and some effort into it,” Rivkin said.
Business owners like Hemphill are now hopeful that shoppers will give downtown Spokane a second chance. He believes collaboration is the key to a new era of growth.
“Everybody come together and just come up with some ideas. Hey, let’s start it. Let’s start. Let’s do this. You can start small and grow and grow and grow and grow,” Hemphill said.
