Despite the rough winter of 2015, downtown Chestertown has never looked more promising and vibrant since the dreaded great recession hit our town starting in 2009. With a new wine and cheese shop, the SANDBOX art storefront, Poor Richard’s, a new restaurant at the Imperial Hotel, and other retailers returning to High Street, the town is getting that special shine again.
There are a number of reasons why Chestertown has started to recover. Certainly the overall economic climate is much more positive. People are once again buying homes, and confidence in the region has improved considerably since those early dark days. But there is one co-factor that sometimes gets lost in the analysis of what turns a town around — someone needs to make the first move.
For Chestertown, it was J.R. Alfree and the opening the Lemon leaf and his pub on High Street just over a year ago.
That particular project, at that particular site, was highly problematic from an investment point of view. Despite appearances, the building, which had originally housed Andy’s Bar, had significant structural challenges, as did the kitchen itself. Adding to this was the awareness that the building’s owner may need to forfeit it as a result of recession debt. Factor in a local economy that was at a historic low point, and a very appealing business plan starts to look like a very high risk, very low return venture.
In fact, for several years after Andy’s closed her doors in 2009, several investors looked closely at resurrecting the popular downtown bar, and very quickly decided that it was an unreasonable investment. As a result, one of the community’s most important gathering spots lay vacant, joining several other empty storefronts on the upper-end of High Street, indicating to all who passed that a small town was in decline.
So it was all the more surprising that J.R., whose background after school was in human resources and spent his professional career in large corporations and the Los Angeles area, decided to jump off that cliff and bring a community pub back online. While it would be unfair to suggest J.R. had not done his due diligence on the High Street project, there is little doubt that in the end it was a courageous leap of faith that Chestertown would come back.
Perhaps because J.R. is a native of Kent County, his doubling down on High Street may have been second nature to him. He also had the experience of seeing his small restaurant on Cross Street succeed where others had failed. Nonetheless, it took real vision and confidence to take the first dive into unknown waters.
Chestertown has been very lucky to have had J.R. Alfree do so.
Karen O'Connor says
Thank you for recognizing J.R.’s contribution to the downtown revival. I couldn’t agree more!
Marilyn Parks says
Well said. JR is so enthusiastic and the community is in deed lucky to have him!
Fletcher R. Hall says
Spot on. Great example of free enterprise and grit!
cynthia Stafford says
JR surely deserves these accolades. He has created a welcoming and fun spot for locals to wine and dine on good food reasonably priced. He has also opened his doors for different groups to meet (whether or not they buy food or drink), provided venues for trivia games, painting classes, and fund raising events. He has also given generously to fund raisers held outside of the pub and restaurant. He (and Jeff behind the bar) always greet their guests with warmth and sincerity. A special touch is the collection of old signs he has displayed on the walls. Many of us fondly remember Brambles, the Yardstick, and the Sly Horse, for example. His homage to past businesses in town is touching and heartwarming. In the short time he has occupied the current space, he has created something that in my opinion has surpassed the appeal of Andy’s, which was also a great place. I hope to be meeting my friends at JR’s for many, many years to come.
Linda Cades says
JR deserves all of the praise your editorial conveys and more. He has created a successful business and, by example, shown others that they too might succeed in Chestertown. In addition, he has demonstrated that people with real community commitment give back to the community that supports their business.. I’d like to second Cynthia Stafford’s comments about JR’s commitment to this community. JR has been especially concerned about and generous to Kent Center, Kent County’s program for adults with developmental disabilities. When he was running his catering business from the Cross Street restaurant, he needed some additional space and rented the commercial kitchen available at Kent Center providing badly needed revenue. Now that he has more space, he provides jobs to Kent Center individuals. He has provided the food for the past few years for Kent Center’s annual Goose Bump Jump fundraiser. Most recently, he hosted a wonderful evening of Cabaret music and dinner again to raise money for Kent Center. As the parent of Kent Center individual, I want publicly to thank JR and his staff for all they have done for Kent Center. There is no better example of community commitment than JR.