By Tim McCarthy
tmccarthy@haverhillgazette.com
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Chain restaurants such as Subway, Sonic and Boston Chowder Co. are making their way into Haverhill.
Subway is close to opening up shop at 15 Washington St., next to the Taste of Bangkok restaurant.
Boston Chowder Co. is set to open on the fringe of downtown, at the corner of River and Washington streets at the County Bridge, in the former Classic Care Car location.
City officials are looking for a spot for Sonic, which abandoned plans earlier this summer to try for a zoning change in the northwest corner of the city. Mayor James Fiorentini said representatives of Sonic are looking at some possible locations.
Some stand-alone shops in the downtown say the arrival of the chains are diluting the city's special and much-heralded restaurant district.
They say the arrival of Subway marks a potential downgrade in the downtown's upscale image.
Gerald Cannon, owner of Andino's Pizzeria on Washington Street, hopes to form a coalition of shops dissatisfied with what he perceives as City Hall's inconsistent vision of the downtown.
Cannon said the arrival of the foot-long sub empire would hurt the local businesses of the downtown with its massive advertising budget and national brand recognition along with its extensive breakfast to dinner menu options that would compete with every restaurant along Washington Street.
"That's not competition," he said. "That's destruction."
Cannon said he'd like to see the city develop an ordinance protecting independent restaurants and shops, perhaps by preventing chains or franchises from moving into the downtown district.
"I still open up because I believe in Haverhill," he said. "I'm all for business, but independent business."
City Councilor Mary Ellen Daly O'Brien, chairwoman of the council's Administration and Finance subcommittee, said she doesn't support limiting chains from entering the downtown district on both professional and philosophical reasons.
"We want to attract businesses to Haverhill," she said. "We can't control private property. I wouldn't interfere with that."
O'Brien added that she believes such competition would actually benefit downtown and that people would flock back to local eateries.
"Competition is good and I believe that," she said. "I think people tend to support their local businesses."
William Pillsbury, the city's Economic Development director, said the city would have the ability to limit franchises downtown, but wouldn't want to.
"There's a lot of reasons you can't limit things like that," he said.
A city ordinance banning drive-in facilities or windows if their driveways would cross downtown sidewalks is self-limiting, Pillsbury said. For instance, A McDonald's wouldn't ask to move downtown because it wouldn't give up its drive-through.
The downtown Subway would be the city's second, joining a franchise location on Route 125 in Bradford.
Heathers Cafe & Catering owner Dan Beaulieu, whose sandwich shop operates directly across from the Subway location under construction, said his customers are more upset over Subway than he or any business owners he knows.
"Most people are kind of disgusted," he said. Customers feel "it's a slap in the face" to the vision and image of the downtown.
Beaulieu said that Subway offers no real competition to his restaurant, but isn't in keeping with the city's idealized downtown.
"They mayor wants this to be the restaurant district," he said. But with a sub shop franchise, "they've knocked the bar down low," he said.
Beaulieu stressed that he wasn't necessarily averse to chains or franchises of a higher quality.
"People are struggling to make this place classier," he said of the downtown.
Andrew Herlihy, Fiorentini's chief of staff, said the city's stance remains that attracting reputable and job-creating business to Haverhill continues as a priority.
"Haverhill is open for business," he said.
