The old Richmond Avenue looks and feels a lot different since 2008. With its original name returned, Canal Street began to see investment befitting its position as the heart of the Lockport Locks Heritage District. The first step — installation of a railing on the south side of the street, overlooking the Lockport Locks — was small, but it seemed to inspire a movement. Chuck Bell, who was the CEO of Greater Lockport Development Corporation at the time, remembers Richmond Avenue lined with vacant buildings that needed to be rehabilitated or demolished. Under the watch of then-mayor Michael Tucker, slowly, the city began to invest in the one-block street. Today Canal Street boasts two small businesses, a coffee house and an ice cream shop, as well as the weekly, open-air Lockport Community Farmers Market. A block away, a taproom and bottle shop, and a beauty salon, have recently opened. Steamworks, at 51 Canal St., was started by Jonathan Brose in 2016. The locks heritage district wasn’t as impressive then as it is now, Brose said. There was some tourism, but Brose thought the only way he’d turn a profit on Canal Street was through sweat equity, meaning he’d be doing all the work. Today, with more than 20 employees, Brose isn’t so tired, and from a financial perspective, Steamworks is successful. “It’s not lucrative,” he said. “It’s still a restaurant and profit margins are small, but it’s been a great investment and I’m grateful to still be here.” The success of Steamworks seems to have inspired more growth. North of the Lake Effect Ice Cream parlor at 57 Canal St., Alyssa Tomaino opened The Glossary Hair & Co. at 4 Lock St. last week. Tomaino is also a manager at Lake Effect and she said seeing how much foot traffic comes into the area informed her decision where to locate The Glossary. “It’s a great location, and the building has a lot of history. There’s a lot of tourists, bicyclists,” Tomaino said. Another new business is the Locktender taproom and bottle shop. Niagara County residents Michael Lewis and Seth Piccirillo opened it next to the The Glossary on July 27. “Being close to Canal (Street) puts boaters and bikers who want to relax in our bar,” Piccirillo said. “We have a great deal of faith in Lockport.” The business’s logo is a picture of one of the bronzed statues sitting nearby, at the Lock Tenders Tribute Monument, and Piccirillo said that was intentional to cement the business to the community. “There will be a lot of traffic, vehicles and pedestrians,” Lewis predicted. That rosy outlook isn’t groundless, according to Heather Peck, the current CEO of GLDC. The area around the restored remnants of the Flight of Five locks has seen $8 million in public and private investments in the past five years, she pointed out. Bell, whose company Harrison Studio bought 4 Lock Street as well as neighboring 7 Ontario Street, said the area was and is “enticing” to developers. Business and development opportunities were pointed out in a 2010 Economic Impact Analysis of the Erie Canal Flight of Five done by Saratoga Springs-based Camoin Associates. Its 23-page analysis forecast 230,000 visitors to the locks heritage district, and $16.9 million in economic activity, per year once the Flight of Five is fully rehabilitated. Even in the locks’ partially restored state, the locks heritage district is drawing more visitors, according to Peck. Just in the month of July, it’s estimated that the number of visitors to the Lockport Chalk Walk on Canal Street rose from about 9,500 in 2023 to more than 11,000 in 2024. The annual Cycle the Erie Canal excursion also brought out a few more visitors, 2,572 this year compared to 2,407 in 2023, despite the fact that the 2023 event involved 150 more cyclists. “We’ve found that any time there is activity in the Flight of Five Locks — such as the installation of the Lock Tender statue — there is an uptick in visitor interest,” Peck said. AJ’s Hot Dog Stand, 20 Lock St., a sister to the Penalty Box at Cornerstone CFCU Arena, has also benefited from location in the locks heritage district. Manager Ray Ferington said an average day brings in 50 to 100 orders, and while most of his customers are local residents, tourists find their way to AJ’s as well. “This is a really good location,” Ferington said.
The old Richmond Avenue looks and feels a lot different since 2008. With its original name returned, Canal Street began to see investment befitting its position as the heart of the Lockport Locks Heritage District.
The first step — installation of a railing on the south side of the street, overlooking the Lockport Locks — was small, but it seemed to inspire a movement.
Chuck Bell, who was the CEO of Greater Lockport Development Corporation at the time, remembers Richmond Avenue lined with vacant buildings that needed to be rehabilitated or demolished. Under the watch of then-mayor Michael Tucker, slowly, the city began to invest in the one-block street.
Today Canal Street boasts two small businesses, a coffee house and an ice cream shop, as well as the weekly, open-air Lockport Community Farmers Market. A block away, a taproom and bottle shop, and a beauty salon, have recently opened.
Steamworks, at 51 Canal St., was started by Jonathan Brose in 2016.
The locks heritage district wasn’t as impressive then as it is now, Brose said. There was some tourism, but Brose thought the only way he’d turn a profit on Canal Street was through sweat equity, meaning he’d be doing all the work.
Today, with more than 20 employees, Brose isn’t so tired, and from a financial perspective, Steamworks is successful.
“It’s not lucrative,” he said. “It’s still a restaurant and profit margins are small, but it’s been a great investment and I’m grateful to still be here.”
The success of Steamworks seems to have inspired more growth. North of the Lake Effect Ice Cream parlor at 57 Canal St., Alyssa Tomaino opened The Glossary Hair & Co. at 4 Lock St. last week.
Tomaino is also a manager at Lake Effect and she said seeing how much foot traffic comes into the area informed her decision where to locate The Glossary.
“It’s a great location, and the building has a lot of history. There’s a lot of tourists, bicyclists,” Tomaino said.
Another new business is the Locktender taproom and bottle shop. Niagara County residents Michael Lewis and Seth Piccirillo opened it next to the The Glossary on July 27.
“Being close to Canal (Street) puts boaters and bikers who want to relax in our bar,” Piccirillo said. “We have a great deal of faith in Lockport.”
The business’s logo is a picture of one of the bronzed statues sitting nearby, at the Lock Tenders Tribute Monument, and Piccirillo said that was intentional to cement the business to the community.
“There will be a lot of traffic, vehicles and pedestrians,” Lewis predicted.
That rosy outlook isn’t groundless, according to Heather Peck, the current CEO of GLDC. The area around the restored remnants of the Flight of Five locks has seen $8 million in public and private investments in the past five years, she pointed out.
Bell, whose company Harrison Studio bought 4 Lock Street as well as neighboring 7 Ontario Street, said the area was and is “enticing” to developers.
Business and development opportunities were pointed out in a 2010 Economic Impact Analysis of the Erie Canal Flight of Five done by Saratoga Springs-based Camoin Associates. Its 23-page analysis forecast 230,000 visitors to the locks heritage district, and $16.9 million in economic activity, per year once the Flight of Five is fully rehabilitated.
Even in the locks’ partially restored state, the locks heritage district is drawing more visitors, according to Peck.
Just in the month of July, it’s estimated that the number of visitors to the Lockport Chalk Walk on Canal Street rose from about 9,500 in 2023 to more than 11,000 in 2024. The annual Cycle the Erie Canal excursion also brought out a few more visitors, 2,572 this year compared to 2,407 in 2023, despite the fact that the 2023 event involved 150 more cyclists.
“We’ve found that any time there is activity in the Flight of Five Locks — such as the installation of the Lock Tender statue — there is an uptick in visitor interest,” Peck said.
AJ’s Hot Dog Stand, 20 Lock St., a sister to the Penalty Box at Cornerstone CFCU Arena, has also benefited from location in the locks heritage district. Manager Ray Ferington said an average day brings in 50 to 100 orders, and while most of his customers are local residents, tourists find their way to AJ’s as well.
“This is a really good location,” Ferington said.
