BRENTWOOD—Feather-Craft Fly Fishing has been in the business of selling just about anything related to fly-fishing in St. Louis for nearly 75 years, with the last three decades working out of a Manchester Road location. Bob Story’s business has changed over that time, thanks largely to the internet, where most of his customers find him. But due to continued supply chain issues, which he says may not get resolved for another year, his office is full of online orders and boxes that make it hard to navigate.

The same might also be said for customers and employees trying to access the business in person at the moment. The stretch of Manchester Road between Hanley and Bremerton is the focal point of several projects that city leaders and state officials say are necessary to make the road safer, compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and to better mitigate against the potential for flooding. And right now, they’re all happening at once.

On May 1, MoDOT closed Manchester just west of Hanley to replace the Black Creek Bridge. The closure could last through late August. Crews have also been further west on Manchester, working on sidewalks and other projects under the umbrella of the city’s Brentwood Bound program parts of which will extend into 2023 before completion.

“It’s unfortunate that the timing is what it is,” Brentwood Mayor David Dimmitt said while noting the city has done what it can to help promote businesses in the affected corridor, hoping they can “hang in there.” But the frustration is clear.

“It’s certainly not good for our business in any way, shape or form, what’s going on out there,” Story said about the work on the sidewalks in front of his store. He’s worried about the loss of parking spots and the potential trouble delivery drivers from Fed-Ex, UPS and other box trucks will face. He wonders if his employees may have to end up parking on nearby residential side streets, which won’t be popular with neighbors.

The closure near Hanley hasn’t had as big an impact for his business, he said, since Feather-Craft is a destination. Customers get inconvenienced once and figure it out the next time, he said.

Not too far away, another business owner told Spectrum News about a customer who pulled into the parking lot using an entrance that isn't there now due to the construction. The end result was someone who was coming to Time For Dinner, which sells ready-to-go meals as well as allows customers to prepare their own, ended up needing a car tow instead.

For a business that had to pivot during COVID-related shutdowns and massive increases in food costs, the construction projects are just another hassle, even if there’s just a perception that it will be hard to reach a business, Time For Dinner co-owner Amy Stanford said.

“Some people have had trouble. But we don’t always know about everything that inhibits people from coming. We don’t know when they give up and go home,” she said, adding that the closure at Hanley has had more of a bottom-line impact for her than the street improvements along Manchester.

“It’s supposed to be much nicer and more conducive to people walking and things like that, so I think it will be great in the long run. It’s just a matter of having all this construction and the roads closed off for a long time," Stanford said.

Her advice if she could give it to MoDOT? "Hurry Up."