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Bryan
from page 4
depend on walk-in traffic, re
lying instead on advertising,
word-of-mouth and pound
ing the pavement to keep her
business going.
One of the more interest
ing businesses in downtown
Bryan is located in a former
alley.
“It was a total shell ... no
roof, crumbling walls,” says
George Coker, owner of
Maxi’s, a restaurant with a
continental menu specializing
in crepes.
“It’s easier to make some
thing of nothing than to re
make something into some
thing ... and it was the
cheapest spot in the entire
downtown area,” he says with
a smile.
Like the others, Coker had
looked at other locations for
his business, but didn’t want
to just rent space because he
planned on investing a lot of
money in capital im
provements to the interior of
the building.
“I realized that the only
way I could do it the way I
wanted to ... was to buy a
building,” he says. “The only
place I could afford to buy
was here.
“This is where I could af
ford to try my idea out.”
Sitting in his restaurant
and eating stuffed mushroom
caps, Coker laughs when
asked if he’s ever regretted
opening in downtown Bryan.
“On nights like tonight, su
re,” he says waving his fork at
the nearly empty restaurant.
“If I was in College Station,
I’d at least have four or five
tables, but my expenses
would be so much higher.”
Coker says he started out in
the red, but the restaurant
runs in the black now, making
most of its money on Friday
and Saturday nights and Sun
day brunch. Since he owns
the building, he doesn’t have
to pay rent and his only major
expenses are for utilities and
employee salaries.
Outspoken when it comes
to what the downtown area
needs, Coker has very defi
nite opinions on the direction
that downtown Bryan should
be going.
“There are a handful of us
who have come down and
renovated, restored and cre
ated businesses that, to me,
are of the caliber that will
draw people here,” he says.
“There’s a Woolworth’s at
the mall; Woolworth’s isn’t
going to draw people,” he
says. “It serves the commu
nity over there, but it doesn’t
draw other people.
“We need businesses that
are unique enough to draw
people.”
Coker’s also outspoken
about a $ 151,000 Community
Development Block Grant,
which is an entitlement grant
from the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Devel
opment based on a commu
nity’s economic need.
The Bryan Downtowner
Association’s coordinator,
Wendy Marshall, says most of
the downtowners w'ould like
to see the money spent on fa
cade improvements or some
other kind of renovation. The
association is conducting a
survey to see if the down
towners would participate in
cont. p.7
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