INSIDE
Spinal Device Firm Grows Global Market Sep t e m b e r 2 0 1 2
Volume 9 No. 8
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Purcellville's Boom Time New Commercial Activity,Town Initiatives Spur Growth In Downtown & Beyond By Margaret Morton, Staff Writer With a population near 8,000, Purcellville is Loudoun’s second largest town—far behind Leesburg, but way ahead of all others. In the second decade of the 21st century, the town is undergoing a commercial and professional revitalization and expansion that in its own way is set to rival its glory days of a century ago. For years Purcellville was the agricultural hub of western Loudoun. As the county recovered from the ravages of the Civil War and turned the corner to the 20th century, the town became the center of the farming industry in western Loudoun—with large dairy and beef cattle farms, commodity crops, seed and flour mills, an energetic hay business and a rail link to get products to market. Businesses sprang up in town to support the farming industry—the most notable of which was Nichols Hardware, founded in 1914. Still going strong, the venerable store is as much an emotional center of memory for western Loudouners as it is a hardware store. But, as the second half of the 20th century progressed, that position of eminence began to ebb—along with the closing of the railroad, the steady decline of the dairy business and farming in general, the closing of the town’s two mills, the loss of the hay business and the gradual replacement of open pastureland with roof tops. The former bustle along North 21st Street—the town’s historic commercial core—gently receded into a sleepy and quiet pace. It was
The Town of Purcellville launched its inaugural First Friday monthly event Sept. 7. Wine tastings, live music, horse carriage rides and more were offered to visitors to the downtown area.
not until the 1980s that the pace began to quicken once more, as new shopping centers and restaurants emerged and the town saw renewed commercial activity. Today, the town is booming, the result
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of a slew of revitalization and new building projects as well as town government policies in support of growing the commercial sector and making it easier to come to Purcellville and do business. The downtown commercial core once more is thriving, still anchored by Nichols, but boasting a lively mix of small, independent stores and offices along the sweep of the street from Main to Magnolia’s at the Mill restaurant and the Purcellville Train Station. The Shamrock Music Shoppe, Re-Love It Consignment store, It’s Bazaar and, more recently, Butterfly Gourmet, are examples of the new retailers that have added vitality and renewed business to the street. As proof of its vitality, there are no
vacancies on the street. Last week, the area got further exposure with the inaugural First Friday Purcellville, an event spearheaded by Above Ground Winery co-owner Mary Beth Barbagallo. The aim of the Friday evening shopping bonanza among participating stores, with wine and food tastings and live music thrown in, was to bring people to the downtown to see what was available. And it worked, as crowds of residents and visitors wandered through the area, one remarking, “I had no idea they had such great stores here.” In a real turn of the kaleidoscope, Continued On Page 2