One week after Community Camera closed its doors for the final time since its 1946 debut, some downtown Arlington Heights merchants are wondering if the same rent pressures that helped shut the camera shop will claim them, too.
Ironically, both the closing and merchants' concerns came as the first half-dozen residents of about 600 new downtown condominiums moved into their new homes.
But the new developments they'll call home - Arlington Town Square, the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre and Village Green - are also adding 162,000 square feet of new retail space.
While that's fueling a rise in property values, which was part of the village's downtown revitalization plan, it may also be causing a general downtown rent increase, too.
Mike Bahr, owner of Community Camera, has said rising rent contributed to his decision to close the 54-year-old store at 114 N. Evergreen Avenue. Bahr could not be reached for further comment.
That reasoning bothered Robert McNamara and Joseph Partington, co-owners of Forgotten Times Ltd., a watch and clock shop at 104 N. Evergreen Ave., just down the block from Community Camera.
The 9-year-old timepiece shop should be fine for 3 more years, as it's in the middle of a 6-year lease, McNamara said.
"The thing is, what's going to happen in three years?" he said. "If what happened to Mike is true, we'll all be out of business.
"The guys who are renegotiating are finding it pretty expensive," McNamara said.
Lisa Morita, owner of Creative Ceramics, which is one year into a 3-year lease at 24 E. Northwest Highway, said she expects rent increases because of the new construction, but ponders the horror stories she's heard about stores where rent has doubled or tripled.
"I expect my next lease to be much higher," Morita said. "I'm worried about it, but I'm not overly concerned about it."
Shopkeepers in the southern half of Arlington Heights' central business district said they don't have that luxury.
Business at the Drummer and Thumb's Bookstore, 1 E. Campbell St., is good, but owner Rob Baker is still reeling from a 35 percent increase in rent earlier this year.
He only signed a one-year lease extension because he will re- evaluate business next February, once most of the condominiums are occupied.
Diana Lynn, a manager at Downtown Diane's, said the women's clothing store at 11 W. Campbell St. might not make it until then.
Some days the store will only sell a $5 ring. Other times the store will go through an entire day without a single customer walking through the door, Lynn said.
"We have a lot of loyal customers who come in and say, 'Please don't leave, just wait until the construction is done,' " Lynn said. "But I don't know how much longer we can last."
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