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THE MESA TRIBUNE | FEBRUARY 27, 2022
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Mesa salutes 10 local businesses marking 50 years BY JOSH ORTEGA Tribune Staff Writer
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n the 50th day of 2022 – Feb. 18 – 10 Mesa businesses received awards for remaining open downtown for more than 50 years. During a ceremony in front of the downtown mural at 63 W. Main St., Mayor John Giles and Vice Mayor Jenn Duff praised the businesses in an award ceremony that the Downtown Mesa Association called “the first celebration of what will be an aspirational, annual event to celebrate longstanding local merchants.” “Even though Mesa has grown, it really still has a downtown feel,” said Bill Wahl, owner of Mesa Typewriter Exchange. “Because this downtown area kind of keeps us all connected.” From running around the store at age 8 to today, Wahl said the dynamics of typewriter ownership have changed and that has helped him stay afloat: He said at one time people needed a typewriter but in 2022, young people want to own one and that people from around the state have been customers. Low overhead, a built-in customer base and little competition have helped him stick around this long to serve people from all over the state, Wahl said. “There’s really not another retail typewriter shop like I run with a storefront,” he said. Kathy Adams, president of Pete’s Fish & Chips, said her father started the business in 1947, when municipalities welcomed small businesses and there weren’t many governmental hoops to jump through. “Mesa wasn’t much of a town but he knew that it would grow,” Adams said. Seventy-five years later, Pete’s continues to welcome fifth-generation customers
City and Downtown Mesa Association representatives celebrated the 50th anniversary of 10 local small businesses with an outdoor ceremony Feb. 18. (Josh Ortega/Tribune Staff) with grandparents bringing in their toddler grandchildren for their famous fish and chips. “I just appreciate them for hanging with us through all the trials and tribulations that we’ve been through,” Adams said. “We’re a family and we consider our customers family too.” Giles said he grew up approximately a half-mile from the ceremony at a time when there were only two downtowns to buy anything in Arizona: Phoenix and Mesa. “There really is not another downtown that you’ll find that has this collection of 50-plus-year-old businesses that, in many cases, are still in the same families,” Giles said. “It’s very much a family environment down here. Whether you needed a screwdriver, a pair of pants or a car, downtown Mesa was an important household resource in the community.
Duff said the event it’s nice to celebrate businesses that started as a family business and become part of all of our family histories. “This is a family event for all of us for not only our histories, but what we’re forming here in a new Mesa is the coming together the old and the new,” she said. In her speech, she said her parents attended Mesa High School and regaled her with stories of a bygone era when lunch at Pete’s Fish & Chips “was the cheapest meal in town.” But as a musician, Duff said she remembers Milano Music Store and described it as “a fantasy world of all these different instruments and music.” While thousands of small businesses faced struggles throughout the pandemic, those in downtown Mesa persevered as they always have, she noted. Since May 2020, the MesaCARES Small
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Business Reemergence Grant Program has identified 515 eligible applications from businesses seeking assistance due to hardship caused by the pandemic. More than $4.4 million in total eligible aid has been verified with the program since May 2020, according to the city. That amount has averaged out to approximate $10,000 per eligible applicant allocated for 90 days of rental and utility assistance. But the most important way these businesses survived the pandemic and more is through their loyal customer base, Duff said. “When troubling times come up, we come together and support each other through that,” Duff said. “And you’ll find more people frequenting those businesses more than they usually would just because they know times are tough.” ■
The honorees
The list of honored businesses by descending age were: • El Charro Restaurant & Cocktail Lounge (est. 1922) • The Nile Theater (est. 1924) • Crismon’s Flowers (est. 1938) • Lenhart’s Ace Hardware (est. 1946) • Milano Music Center/Linton-Milano Pianos & Music Lessons (est. 1946) • Pete’s Fish & Chips (est. 1947) • Mesa Typewriter Exchange (est. 1948) • Dickson’s Jewelers (est. 1949) • Pomeroy’s Men’s and Missionary Store (est. 1951) • Lamb’s Shoe Repair (est. 1952)
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