Every community has certain “gateways,” the primary points of entry into the community that offers visitors and even passers-through their first impression of a community.

The South Bay corridor of U.S.-23, one of the most heavily trafficked areas in Northeast Michigan, is one of the most important gateways into Alpena.

That’s why it needs development, and why it concerned us to read Steve Schulwitz’s recent story on economic development official Mike Mahler’s pessimistic outlook for any new franchises coming to replace the slew of recent losses in the corridor.

Mahler told Schulwitz most franchise retailers look to develop where other franchises have gone, and, right now, that’s the M-32 corridor, another important gateway into town.

However, currently, visitors entering the city from the south — as most of our tourists do — are greeted by many a vacant storefront: Peebles, Burger King, Ripley Street Station and Neiman’s Family Market, all closed. What kind of first impression does that give travelers?

In reality, Mahler told Schulwitz, most of the storefronts in that corridor are filled, with hardware stores and health care facilities and legacy businesses such as Young’s Appliance. More recent developments, such as the I2P manufacturing hub in the former Kmart building, could foretell the area’s future.

We’re proud of every business operating in that corridor and urge every Northeast Michigander to frequent them as often as possible, but perception is reality to many, and those vacant storefronts could still leave a bad taste in first-time visitors’ memories of our great city.

So here’s hoping some real development can happen in that corridor, be it manufacturing, retail, restaurants, or something else. Let’s fill up those storefronts so Alpena can paint the right pictures to our visitors from the south.