Businesses Regroup as Highland Reopens

Customers of Freek’s Garage no longer have to wind their way through a confusing maze of residential streets to get their ailing cars to the Highland Avenue business.

After enduring nearly two years of construction-related road closures--and a subsequent drop in business--the family-owned establishment is joining others lining the street from Valencia to Commonwealth avenues on the road to recovery. Highland Avenue was reopened Dec. 22.

Freek’s owner Dan Barron said Wednesday that business dropped 20% when the city blocked the road in February 1999 to divert the street under five rows of railroad tracks. Detour signs, fliers and advertising subsidized by the city helped keep local businesses afloat during construction. But toward the end, Freek’s was seeing as much as a 40% drop in business, Barron said.

Bob Hodson, the city’s director of engineering, said Fullerton officials posted signs, helped cover the costs of advertising and hired a public-relations firm to help businesses stay afloat.

Not one went out of business, he said.

“We tried to do quite a few things for them,” he said. “In fact, even though the road is open now, we are paying for a couple of spots on cable television for a couple of the businesses there. We’ll continue to help out until this project is completely done.”