Changing Village neighborhood welcomes new business amid construction

As Ball State University and the city of Muncie are beginning to build and change the Village neighborhood next to campus, new businesses continue to open.  The newest is a snack and drink shop featuring foods from all over Asia.  As IPR’s Daniel Huber reports, it’s joining ventures having to navigate the Village’s changing footprint.

Little Snack Stop, located along University Avenue, opened its doors in late March, and owner Rachel Longsang says she is fulfilling a need for more businesses in the area.

“I want to make Ball State be more opening. I want it to have more variety of stuff,” she says.  “If you walk down the aisle, we don’t have a lot of stuff going on in here. So, when I heard about Ball State making more buildings and stuff, I was happy because we need more stuff in here, especially in the Village.”

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Locked Groove Records is sandwiched between two active construction sites and will have to deal with a road closure outside the front door. (Daniel Huber / IPR)

Nearly across the street on North Martin Street is Locked Groove Records.  Owner Celeste Outen says she likes to see new businesses in the area.

“It’s great. I think, especially with everything else that Ball State is building here and new retail space, there’s a lot of spaces now that are vacant, and I hope that’s not going to be the case with the new construction.”

New construction does bring some obstacles for local businesses.  Through late June, a portion of North Martin Street is closing for utility work for the new Ball State buildings.

To prepare, Outen plans to notify people about detours when entering the store and on its social media. However, even with previous road closures, Outen says her business hasn’t faced a steep decline in sales. Her biggest concern is if small businesses, like Longsang’s, will be allowed to succeed with the latest developments in the Village.

“I just really want independent small businesses to have a space to continue to thrive as opposed to, you know, corporations and franchises.”

Longsang wishes to see the same. “We need more business in here just for students to walk around. Like, there are students walking around, but not as much. I want to bring more people to come here.”

Daniel Huber is a news fellow with Ball State Public Media’s Public Media Accelerator student fellowships.