LEWISBURG -- Market Street in Lewisburg is packed with stores and restaurants, but since last spring, two of the larger stores have moved, leading to less foot traffic downtown.
"It's a walking town but the nearest grocery store is Giant, which is a little bit of a hike," Richelle Jones said.
Last spring, CVS moved to Penn House Commons on Route 15, just outside the borough.
"It's a huge hole because we need an aspirin or we need a sales book or tissues and there is no place to get them," Barbara Ross said.
Last month, the wine and spirits store also moved into that shopping plaza, creating two large open spaces downtown.
"Without those two stores, you don't have anything that really anchors downtown for people who actually live here," Joanne Henry said.
Barbara Ross owns Wilson Ross. Her store is located between what used to be the liquor store and CVS. She says Bucknell University students often stopped in her store after shopping at those stores.
"We're missing that and that was sort of accidental foot traffic for us. So yeah, we really feel it," Ross said.
But while those places moved out of Lewisburg, it's not like the downtown is completely dying. A new restaurant just moved in to Lewisburg.
Caribbean Connection opened last month and offers Cuban sandwiches, ginger beer and more. In fact, some people refer to this block as "Lewisburg's ethnic food court."
"It's a really neat diverse block to get everything from an espresso to Thai food, Caribbean food, pizza to burritos," John Benjo said.
As for the vacant stores, Lewisburg's downtown manager says the owners of both buildings are actively trying to fill the spaces.