Giving Gilbert’s Old West look the boot

A handful of business owners in downtown Gilbert are injecting a touch of modernity into the historic business district by disassembling their wooden awnings — a key element of the area’s Old West look.

Linda Bergeson, owner of four properties in the area, said she eliminated the shingled shades on the building that houses Funktional Fitness gym and will eventually remove them from her other buildings.

She said the awnings obscure the store fronts and make the area look too homogenous.

“We want to preserve the history but update and modernize and make it more appealing,” she said. “A lot of those fronts — they’re getting pretty shabby looking.”

Bergeson said she’s hasn’t encountered any disapproval from other merchants after eliminating the shades. “Everyone who’s seen it has really liked it and complimented us on it,” she said.

Dale Hallock, Gilbert Historical Society president, said the shade structures were installed in mid-1960s as part of an effort led by the Chamber of Commerce to recreate an Old West motif similar to downtown Scottsdale’s.

Since the awnings have little historic significance, he’s at ease with business owners removing them if it means improving business in the area, Hallock said.

“More power to them,” he said. “Downtown has always had a struggle.”

Mary Ellen Frezquez removed awnings from her vacant store at 225 N. Gilbert Road and said some fellow business owners don’t think it will help her bottom line. The building will eventually house an art gallery, which Frezquez hasn’t named.

“Two of my neighbors — they shrug their shoulders at us a lot,” she said. “(They’re) kind of like, 'Why would you do that?’”

“To be frank with you, I don’t think that renovating the Gilbert (Road) side of my store is necessarily going to bring in more customers,” she added. “What it will do is that it will enhance that pedestrian experience for people who are coming downtown and maybe make them curious about coming in.”

Greg Tilque, Gilbert’s business development manager, said the city waived certain fees for businesses that decided to tear down their awnings because officials want the area to be more visually appealing.

“It makes that business pop amongst all the others,” he said.