The Clock is Ticking for Flemington, New Jersey

          Declining state; the phrase perfectly describes Liberty Village Premium Outlets. Once, it housed bustling streets and bright, open storefronts day in and day out. Today, many gutted buildings stand as tall and hollow tombstones amid the slowly dwindling outlets, and most patrons roll through like tumbleweeds in a drought.

Source: stanglpottery.org

          This dire predicament isn't exclusive to Liberty Village either. The whole of Flemington has felt the hard-hitting impact of the times as various commercial areas have been drained of life. Despite optimistic signage advertising, 'Premium Outlets' and 'Quality Shopping and Dining' it seems a majority of the public has lost interest in these small-town shopping centers and businesses. Take for example, the Pfaltzgraff Pottery Store; established over a century ago by Stangl Pottery, it enjoyed decade after decade of healthy patronage, but by the mid 2000s found its profits dwindling until it could not longer support itself. The location has long since closed and been re-purposed into a small coffee shop today. The large brick kiln in the back
stands as the only memory of the site's original purpose.

Vacant building in Liberty Village, previously a sub shop

          The disparity isn't solely a matter of aging outlets either. Small-name local delis and sub shops have been known to move into Liberty Village retail space then close down in a matter of months, unable to keep up with financial demands and disappearing without a trace.
Local photographer Mike Butkus documents the area on his website and offers some commentary on the many buildings now left for sale or simply abandoned. It's apparent that for business owners, Liberty Village is becoming a no man's land.

Walking path into Turntable Junction

          Turntable Junction, a close neighbor of Liberty Village also faces dangerously low traffic as its old buildings and local mom-and-pop shops try their best to stay afloat with the meager support of long-time customers who want nothing more than to preserve their favorite shops. Sadly these efforts alone may not be enough to save the local color if low profitability keeps its course.

Cinema Plaza's Final Bow (Source: cinematreasures.org)

           Worse still, in the past decade several long-standing local landmarks have been closed and torn down in the municipality of Flemington. The Cinema Plaza being a significant example due to it being the last nearby theater in the Hunterdon County area. Rather than erecting a new theater, property owners have opted to fill the theater's old lot with a CVS pharmacy, PNC bank and most recently a Starbucks. Though promises have been made for a nearby family entertainment center, years have passed with no hopeful words or development on the matter.

          Flemington faces a major loss of cultural hot spots in favor of chain stores -- of which the city is already bloated with -- standing where there were once theaters and bookstores. It's not just the locals who have taken notice either, as Tourism Adviser Roger Brooks listed several glaringly present issues in Flemington in exhaustive detail. From ugly banner signs to poor organization and disconnection between major shopping centers, Brooks notes the entirety of Flemington as a problem zone in major need of reworking and revitalization.

Source: photographybykendell

          What is there to be done for Liberty Village and Flemington at large, then? Certainly they should not fade into complete decrepitude. Liberty Village and the neighboring Turntable Junction and Main Street serve as commercial centerpieces for Hunterdon county residents, some of the few remaining large-scale locations to shop for necessities, food and entertainment.

          If steps are to be taken, municipal and local government officials should step up to the plate to organize public operations to allocate funds and begin restoration projects to breath life back into the city. Instead of banks and pharmacies, efforts should be made to pull in dedicated consumer-bases targeted by their interests. Shops like Turntable Junction's Comic Fusion scrape by on their consistent support by a loyal customer base, and without the prevalence of these kinds of stores, there is less incentive for your average shopper to seek out what's new in the area.

          Perhaps Liberty Village and Turntable Junction are beyond hope in their current forms by inherent design, but by jumpstarting new businesses based on consumer interest and with proper support and healthy investments, we may just see Flemington gain a second wind in coming years. The good news? Improvements are already in the cards. One step at a time, but Flemington will hopefully see more returning patrons in the near future and for generations to come.