Lynbrook business owners concerned by lack of foot traffic

Some remain optimistic that new theater will bring a boon to local shopping

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As she noted how empty her store has become in the past few weeks, Paige Antonellis discussed the reasoning behind her choice to close her business and retire.

“It’s getting harder and harder for stores like mine to survive because of the competition with the Internet,” she said.

Antonellis has owned Moments, Memories and Traditions on Atlantic Avenue since 2009. The store sells flowers, wreaths, decorations, centerpieces and other home goods. With her sales declining due to the heavy competition from online retailers, Antonellis said she decided to close it and sell her Rockville Centre house in order to move to Oxford, Pa.

In the past three years, Antonellis said she has witnessed her holiday season sales drop by $25,000. The season was once a boon for her business. “I opened a brick and mortar because I wanted to do this,” she explained. “I didn’t want to get into online sales.”

After another lackluster holiday shopping season, Antonellis decided enough was enough. She said she hopes to close for good on Feb. 28 and to move out of the space completely by the end of March. She added that she was not sure what the building’s fate would be beyond March, but she enjoyed her seven-plus years in Lynbrook.

“The store was a pure joy,” Antonellis said. “I loved every second of it. I am extremely proud of taking it from nothing and really making it into one of the prettiest gift shops on Long Island. I’m sorry I can’t go forward with it on the one hand, because I truly love it. But on the other hand, if it’s taking money out of my pocket rather than putting money in, it’s not a viable thing anymore.”

While Antonellis has attributed her store’s struggles to online sales, Steve Cardi said his business has struggled due to a lack of foot traffic. Cardi owns Card Shack Sports Cards and Memorabilia, also on Atlantic Avenue, and has observed a decline in browsers and buyers since the movie theater was closed in January 2016.

“I guess I took for granted the traffic that it brings, at least on the weekend,” Cardi said of the theater. “I felt the impact this year by the movie theater being closed.”

Cardi, a Rockville Centre resident, has been in business for nearly 30 years and has been located on Atlantic Avenue since 2008. He said it’s difficult to decipher a Wednesday from a Saturday these days because the foot traffic is poor on most days.

“I remember people would come in and they’d be like, ‘Oh we’ve got 15 minutes, make it quick we have to go catch the movie,’” he said. “So they’d buy their tickets and then they’d come in.”

Cardi expressed optimism for the future, however, as a new movie theater is under construction and scheduled to be completed in November. The theater, which will be operated by Regal Entertainment Group, is expected to open by Christmas.

Mayor Bill Hendrick said that there is usually a lull in the downtown area after Christmas, but many people are curious to check out the progress of the theater.

“We expected with the hubbub in the beginning of the building process, it would maybe push some foot traffic away,” he said, “but so many people are coming down to look at how the project is.”

Business owners have also expressed some concern over the parking situation. Municipal parking will no longer be available on the west side of the theater, which will mean a loss of 51 parking spaces, but there will be 171 fewer seats in the new theater — a total of 1,434 — and parking regulations on Atlantic Avenue can be amended to accommodate peak movie hours, Hendrick noted.

“I think [the theater] will be very well accepted.” he said. “I think people are gonna learn more about Lynbrook and come to shop in this area.”