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Hammer and Stain DIY Workshop co-owner Lisa Christian (left) assists Bernadette Dragich (right) with her project.
In 2006, Mercer Street in Princeton was not a place you wanted to take children. It’s the ‘old downtown’ or ‘Main Street’ of the city. West Virginians have seen the story over and over again. And visitors found boarded up storefronts and dilapidated buildings, remnants of a bustling and more prosperous time.
But in the last 15 years, 1,433 new businesses have opened in Mercer County, according to the Secretary of State’s website. The majority of those businesses were based in Princeton.
“It s definitely been a fun process to enjoy,” said small business co-owner Holley Odle. ‘When I was in high school I graduated from Princeton this street was a very unsavory place to be. A lot of trouble, a lot of things that, you know, we ve pushed out of here.”