Jewelry Depot on East State Street, open for business.
Eddie Gater owns the Jewelry Depot on East State Street. He’s been at that location since 1997 and located in Trenton for 25 years.
On our August cover, we ran a photo of some empty and shuttered store fronts on that key block in what used to be known as “the heart of Trenton.” The photo was taken on a weekday when Gater’s Jewelry Depot just happened to be closed for vacation. The publishing of the photo led some to believe he had closed his business. Nothing could be further from the truth.
It was a little disconcerting to Gater and some of his customers, especially those who had items on layaway.
“The issue we had is that the picture showed us as a closed business and we’re not,” said Gater during a recent phone interview. “We’ve been in this location since ’97; I’ve been in Trenton since 25 years ago.
“We’re making it. We’re OK,” was how Gater assessed the state of his business. “We still have clients stopping by. I’m not complaining.”
He agrees that there are a lot of shuttered buildings downtown and they don’t help in the efforts to attract and retain businesses.
“Unfortunately, we do have that here,” he said.
When asked what he sees as the biggest drawbacks to a thriving downtown Gater cited parking, lack of foot traffic and the aggressive panhandlers.
He’s one of the few individuals who actually misses when that block of State Street was closed to vehicle traffic. He feels it provided a more comfortable, inviting space for shoppers.
He’d like to see the city do more to discourage the panhandlers and to find a way to make it more difficult for absentee owners to let commercial properties sit fallow, waiting for higher rents.
Despite his frustrations with the current direction of things, Gater remains upbeat and positive. Last year he spent $8,000 redoing his building’s façade. He has office space on the upper floors he would love to rent out, thus adding to the foot traffic downtown.
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