The potential street and business closures caused by the proposed Tiger Town has led many business owners to have mixed opinions.
Based on other SEC schools’ tailgating traditions, Tiger Town will be an area downtown designated for fans to tailgate before and after football games next year. It would close off streets for five or six blocks north of Elm Street and also consist of a nine-block path that leads to Faurot Field, called the Tiger Trail.
Local businesses say there are both pros and cons to the potential development of Tiger Town.
Paul Huesgen, manager of Flat Branch Pub and Brewing, said he thinks that Tiger Town will have an effect similar to the Roots ‘N Blues ‘N BBQ Festival in October, but there are both benefits and disadvantages to the proposal.
Billy Giordano, manager of Room 38, said the effects of Tiger Town depend on how it’s structured.
“I think if they offer downtown businesses an opportunity to be a part of Tiger Town it offers us an opportunity to expand our revenue source outside of the normal footprint,” Giordano said. “If businesses aren’t going to be heavily involved, it pulls customers away from our location. It needs to be structured in a way that includes local businesses as opposed to monopolizing the area.”
The street closures due to Tiger Town are something that ACME manager Reid Lyle said should be a concern because it decreases parking availability. Despite the fact that Columbia has four parking garages downtown and 5,900 parking spots, parking is usually at a 70 percent occupancy rate, according to the downtown Columbia website “The District.”
Lyle said downtown is already too crowded in general and adding to that is a bad idea.
“It puts a strain on our business,” Lyle said. “Parking is already horrible. Add a blocked street and it will keep people out. At the same time, if it’s correlated to an event it could add foot traffic downtown.”
Nancy Duncan, owner of Adam’s Wall of Books, said downtown is concise enough that there isn’t a need to group everyone in one area and call it Tiger Town.
Reid said despite the concerns, it’s hard to tell what the outcome will be at this time.
“We’d literally have to put our toe in the water for a year to see what happens,” he said.