The historic downtown Emmett strip is a place many say has seen better days. A number of vacant storefronts make Main Street a ghost town. I looked into the city’s attempts to rejuvenate the downtown core.
“People love Emmett. They think it’s charming and wonderful, but unfortunately, the downtown area is really lacking,” said local Christine Fields.
Most days of the week, walking down Main Street in Emmett is pretty quiet, some say eerily quiet.
Fields continued, “I’ve been here for 28 years, and I’ve seen downtown Emmett go through several evolutions.”
The area, once bustling with business, is now lined with locked doors and vacant storefronts. Many blame Covid. But some business owners blame Kristian Eide, a property owner who bought several downtown buildings in an auction in 2018. Eide and his brother control Huckleberry Properties Idaho LLC and part ownership in Scandinavian designs.
Many business owners I spoke with wished to remain anonymous. But one thing they all expressed was that the vision Eide laid out for the future of Emmett never happened.