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ENLARGE
The Raley's parking lot teems with activity from locals and tourists Wednesday evening as the sun sets on Incline Village.
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ENLARGE
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Incline Village Community Hospital employees Ginny Mumane,Niobe Burden and Ginger Coltrin shop on their lunch break Thursday at the Children's Cabinet Thrift Shop in the Village Center.
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INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. —The Incline Village post office in the Village Shopping Center is a place where conversation is scattered through the hallways of post office boxes. Neighbors meet serendipitously, between stamps and packages.
A similar scene can been seen at Art’s Coffeehouse on any given morning. Between lattes and breakfast burritos, neighbors discuss politics, books and local gossip.
The Village Shopping Center, located on Mays and Southwood boulevards, is off the beaten path for many tourists, which is what gives it a local charm, said Heidi Bates, a hairdresser at All About Nails in the Village Shopping Center.
“I don’t think you see a lot of tourists,” she said. “It’s really a benefit. When it’s crowed other places you can come here.”
For 20 years Art Hoff has owned the Village Shopping Center and said he has tried to make it an asset to the community by keeping rates moderate for local entrepreneurs and charities.
However he said in the past years the occupancy and income of the shopping center has declined and developers have made offers to upgrade the property or turn it into condominiums.
“I feel that the center provides a community service,” Hoff said.
But he wonders if the community agrees with him.
“Does the community want a shopping center that caters to locals?” he asks.
Ginger Coltrin and Niobe Burden were on break from the Incline Village Community Hospital, perusing the sale at the Children’s Cabinet Thrift Shop Thursday afternoon.
“It has a nice atmosphere,” Coltrin said. “It’s out of the way and doesn’t attract a lot of tourists.”
Coltrin and Burden both agreed that the Village Center was a place where they could see their neighbors and shop.
The lower rents in the Village Shopping Center attract a different kind of store, Hoff said. Rates at the Village Shopping Center start at $1.50 a square foot, while a recent advertisement for space at the Raley’s Incline Center showed rates starting at $2.25 a foot.
“I know our businesses are local small entrepreneurs, so I try to keep our rents low and keep it local,” he said.
Still Hoff worries that if the post office moved or if another retail center was built on the nearby and the soon to be vacated Incline K-2 Elementary School then the Village Shopping Center might not be economically viable anymore.
The status of the elementary school property is in the hands of the Washoe County School Board. At this time the Incline Village post office has no plans of moving to another location.
“We’re here,” said Post Master Caroline Cutler. “I just can’t see it happening, headquarters is not allowing too many new buildings.”
The post office is another very social place in the Village Shopping Center, Cutler said.
“Even my window clerks and I make a point to socialize with the customers,” Cutler said.
The Village Shopping Center has a unique placement in Incline’s dynamic, said Denise Corl, a property administrator for Incline Property Management which manages the Raley’s Incline Center.
“The Raley’s shopping center attracts more visitors because of its location,” she said. “There is more visibility. I think the Village Shopping Center is equally as good of a shopping center, but it’s just not as accessible to tourists.”
Raley’s, which has been in the community for more than 30 years, caters to locals and tourists, said Raley’s Spokeswoman Amy Davis.
“Along with the normal patterns of the year, our Incline Village store experiences more customer traffic when there are more people in the area — during the winter holidays and throughout the summer,” she said.
It’s during these heavy traffic times that the Village Shopping Center becomes an asset to locals, Bates said.
“The community is always looking for a place to gather, but the question is where do you gather?” she said.
A similar scene can been seen at Art’s Coffeehouse on any given morning. Between lattes and breakfast burritos, neighbors discuss politics, books and local gossip.
The Village Shopping Center, located on Mays and Southwood boulevards, is off the beaten path for many tourists, which is what gives it a local charm, said Heidi Bates, a hairdresser at All About Nails in the Village Shopping Center.
“I don’t think you see a lot of tourists,” she said. “It’s really a benefit. When it’s crowed other places you can come here.”
For 20 years Art Hoff has owned the Village Shopping Center and said he has tried to make it an asset to the community by keeping rates moderate for local entrepreneurs and charities.
However he said in the past years the occupancy and income of the shopping center has declined and developers have made offers to upgrade the property or turn it into condominiums.
“I feel that the center provides a community service,” Hoff said.
But he wonders if the community agrees with him.
“Does the community want a shopping center that caters to locals?” he asks.
Ginger Coltrin and Niobe Burden were on break from the Incline Village Community Hospital, perusing the sale at the Children’s Cabinet Thrift Shop Thursday afternoon.
“It has a nice atmosphere,” Coltrin said. “It’s out of the way and doesn’t attract a lot of tourists.”
Coltrin and Burden both agreed that the Village Center was a place where they could see their neighbors and shop.
The lower rents in the Village Shopping Center attract a different kind of store, Hoff said. Rates at the Village Shopping Center start at $1.50 a square foot, while a recent advertisement for space at the Raley’s Incline Center showed rates starting at $2.25 a foot.
“I know our businesses are local small entrepreneurs, so I try to keep our rents low and keep it local,” he said.
Still Hoff worries that if the post office moved or if another retail center was built on the nearby and the soon to be vacated Incline K-2 Elementary School then the Village Shopping Center might not be economically viable anymore.
The status of the elementary school property is in the hands of the Washoe County School Board. At this time the Incline Village post office has no plans of moving to another location.
“We’re here,” said Post Master Caroline Cutler. “I just can’t see it happening, headquarters is not allowing too many new buildings.”
The post office is another very social place in the Village Shopping Center, Cutler said.
“Even my window clerks and I make a point to socialize with the customers,” Cutler said.
The Village Shopping Center has a unique placement in Incline’s dynamic, said Denise Corl, a property administrator for Incline Property Management which manages the Raley’s Incline Center.
“The Raley’s shopping center attracts more visitors because of its location,” she said. “There is more visibility. I think the Village Shopping Center is equally as good of a shopping center, but it’s just not as accessible to tourists.”
Raley’s, which has been in the community for more than 30 years, caters to locals and tourists, said Raley’s Spokeswoman Amy Davis.
“Along with the normal patterns of the year, our Incline Village store experiences more customer traffic when there are more people in the area — during the winter holidays and throughout the summer,” she said.
It’s during these heavy traffic times that the Village Shopping Center becomes an asset to locals, Bates said.
“The community is always looking for a place to gather, but the question is where do you gather?” she said.
