Perks of Sussex on Main

Perks restaurant closes – Business leader questions village planning

Perks of Sussex on Main closed its doors for the last time earlier this month, and one business community leader wonders whether the village could have done more to keep it.

By PETER ABBOTT

Posted: Sep. 24, 2008 Sussex Sun

Perks of Sussex on Main closed its doors for the last time earlier this month, and one business community leader wonders whether the village could have done more to keep it.

Chris Zuzick, a former president of the Sussex Area Chamber of Commerce, faulted the village’s leadership, at least in part, for the restaurant’s demise.

“What’s our economic development plan for these kinds of businesses? Is there a plan?” he asked in an interview Monday.

“I don’t think there is one,” he said. “There’s got to be a plan to keep such businesses in the community.”

Village Administrator Evan Teich said, “We have a business development authority that looks into business retention and attraction, but we’re a small village with limited resources.

“We’re in difficult economic times,” he added in an interview later that day, “especially for small businesses.”

Teich said the village was “saddened by the loss. We wish the owners (Cindy and Jim Pritzlaff) well.”

Zuzick felt the same. “A lot of people will miss it,” he said.

Asked whether the community could support locally owned businesses on Main Street, as opposed to the more heavily trafficked Highways 164 and 74, Teich was somewhat optimistic.

Noting the movement of some businesses to Sussex over the past several years, he said the community “has a growing daytime population in terms of businesses and employees.”