NATCHEZ — Business owners who have located in downtown Natchez in the last couple of years say the city’s historic shopping district isn’t without its challenges but is still a great place to work.

The downtown area has endured the same woes of many historic downtowns. As the city built out and other retail centers were developed, some businesses began to move. Others took a big hit along with the rest of the area’s economy as industries shuttered their operations and closed up shop.

Two years ago, nearly 40 downtown buildings were vacant. Since that time, a small flurry of boutique stores, craft food and beverage businesses and salons have opened in the downtown area — A Gallerie, Mon Amie, Rasberry Alley, Soiree, D’Evereux Foods, Natchez Brewing Company, Charboneau Rum, Elliot & Co. and C’est Jolie among them.

It’s not a full-fledged recovery, but it’s a start, and if the apparent trend continues the future of downtown lies not in general retail but in boutique and craft offerings.

Mon Amie co-owner Sommer Guedon said the mix of new businesses with downtown’s long-time staples — such as the Darby’s locations — are bringing in a lot of people from the Brookhaven and Baton Rouge areas.

“Hopefully, that will continue, and with these new shops it will keep people from Natchez from having to go out of town,” Guedon said.

“As more businesses open downtown here, I think it will be more fun for locals to stroll the streets, walk from one shop to another, and hopefully some of these new stores will bring in some additional color and bring in some new people.”

A Gallerie’s Ashley Smith said Natchez’s downtown has an advantage other areas may not because, while the city has since grown out around the historic district, the downtown area is still more or less a central location.

“In a lot of towns, downtown is all the way at the end, its out of the way,” Smith said.

“Here, it is right in the middle of everything, it is close to Vidalia, and so when people come to town, they still go here.”

In some cases, the new businesses weren’t looking for a downtown space, but what it offered opened up possibilities owners weren’t considering before.

“I started out looking for a commercial kitchen, and we actually had a place just outside downtown picked out,” said D’Evereux Food’s Ashleigh Aldridge. “We ended up finding a place better for our needs downtown.”

The original plan for D’Evereux Foods was a simple manufacturing space for the company’s upscale hot sauce products, Aldridge said, but once the business moved into its Main Street location that plan changed. While the manufacturing does take place in the back, in the front the business sells directly to customers.

“The intent was never to have a retail store, but the location was great for it and the upside of downtown was a lot of walk-through traffic,” Aldridge said.

The walk-through appeal of the downtown area is part of why Guedon said she hopes other business owners take the plunge and join in the district’s revitalization.

“People can come down here, shop, eat, go to the bar if they want to, and they can all do it in one spot,” she said.

“Somebody can park their car, stroll through Memorial Park, and then come shopping and do children’s, women’s antiques, home furnishing all in one go.”

That’s not to say that downtown is not without its challenges. The ability to walk may be complicated at times by an inability of some shoppers to park. Guedon said downtown’s in places scant parking has led Mon Amie to offer streetside drop-off for some purchases.

Downtown is also more expensive and requires more investment than other locations might.

“It would be a lot more cost effective for me to be somewhere outside downtown,” Aldridge said. “It would be a lot less expensive for me to be in a plain looking building and warehouse — that would be a lot easier to run, but it wouldn’t be as pretty and you don’t get as many interesting things happen.”

Smith said while the locations are prime, many downtown spaces need renovation to upgrade from their historic uses to a contemporary one.

But that shouldn’t discourage business owners from opening up in the downtown district, she said.

“It is a lot of work, but it is the only place you want to be,” Smith said.