Several Tooele shops and eateries have closed recently

A rash of recent closures is marking the end of a tough year for many Tooele businesses.

Approximately nine businesses on Main Street closed shop this year. The most recent closure took place last week when Bajio Mexican Grill, which opened less than two years ago and occupied a prominent corner location in Tooele Landing, shut down.

The owner of the Bajio franchise reported to Tooele City officials that the store was unable to negotiate a satisfactory new lease with the owner of the building.

A stone’s throw from Bajio, Quiznos sandwich shop, another national chain, closed in September.

“The economy forced us to close,” said Steve Calbert, partner in CJ Investments, the owner of the Tooele Quiznos franchise. “Our business was down by 50 percent from last year.”

Calbert was a partner in 12 Quiznos on the Wasatch Front. He and his partner have closed 11 of those 12 stores.

“We loved Tooele,” Calbert said. “The customers were wonderful and the employees we had in Tooele were all great.”

Food outlets have been particularly hard hit by the recession, with Sonic Drive-In, also at the north end of town, closing earlier this year as well, while Leatherby’s Family Creamery, Iceberg Drive Inn, and 5-buck Pizza all closed last year.

Inkley’s closed shop earlier this year when its parent company, Ritz Camera, announced the closing of several stores following filing for bankruptcy in February.

Several locally owned businesses have also shut up shop recently.

Deseret Sound Car Audio in Main Street Shops closed in September after 12 years in that location. The Main Street Shops center still has vacant slots where True Value Hardware and Mountain America Credit Union once operated, and Birch Family Pharmacy has announced it will be moving out when its new Main Street building is completed this spring.

“We decided not to renew our lease because of the uncertainty of the economy,” said Deseret Sound owner Steve Sandoval, a Tooele resident.

Sandoval still hopes he can keep the business alive a while longer.

“I’m still renting out the back end of our old store,” Sandoval said. “People can call and I will make arrangements to help them.”

Sandoval is hoping the economy will turn around by the middle of next year and then he will open a store front operation again.

Liddiard’s Home Furnishings made a big bet on downtown a year ago when they opened the Budget and Clearance Center, an outlet for home furnishings merchandise, in their former Al & Lid Furniture and Appliance store. This month the company pulled that bet back by liquidating the Budget and Clearance Center’s inventory and closing the outlet store.

Frank Liddiard, general manager of Liddiard’s Home Furnishings, said that opening the outlet store during the recession was always risky.

“With the recession, things just did not work out like we had planned,” Liddiard said. “We thought the discount store idea would do better in the downtown area than it did.”

Even with these recent business closures, Tooele City has issued 209 new business licenses this year, according to Lisa Carpenter, Tooele City deputy recorder. Most of those were for home-based businesses, however.

“We are in he process of having our interns call business owners and see what services we can offer to help them survive,” said Tooele County Economic Development Director Nicole Cline.

During the last two years, the downtown area has seen the opening of a couple of national chain stores — Big 5 and Sears — along with locally owned Sostanza restaurant offering fine dining. Several other locally owned stores have opened on Main Street including LaPuente, Real Deals, Tip-Top Computers, Triple T, Tooele Overstock Store and Allen’s Flooring.

In 2008, Main Street also lost Scrappily Ever After, The Mobile Store, Shell Station, Bank of Utah, Phoebe Ann, and Jo-to-Go Deli.

Tooele City is actively pursuing new stores to fill the vacancies left by departing businesses, according to Tooele City Mayor Patrick Dunlavy.

“Any empty stores will always be a concern,” Dunlavy said. “It just gives us additional properties to get someone into and it hardens our resolve to continue to recruit good businesses.”

Dunlavy said the city is still being contacted on a regular basis by businesses that want to open in Tooele.

“Most are waiting to get financing,” Dunlavy said. “If things turn around this spring like the economists are telling us and people can get financing, we should see several new businesses coming to town.”

Tim Gillie: tgillie@tooeletranscript.com