Anyone who remembers what downtown Clarksburg once was must be pleased that a new store is going into the Third Street building where Broida's clothing store was located.

The new store is Embellishments. Scheduled to open by the end of this month, it will sell accent furnishings, including accent furniture, lamps and pictures, as well as gift items.

Store owners Richard and Catherine Goings, who moved here from New Orleans, say they will sell items that can usually be found only in big cities.

"We hope to fill a niche," says Catherine Goings.

To "fill a niche" is the best hope for bringing new retail business to downtown Clarksburg. There was a time when the stores people shopped at were downtown: Everything from Stone & Thomas to The Workingman's Store to G.C. Murphy & Co. Those days and those stores are gone.

Now the best hope for bringing retail business back to downtown is to "fill a niche." That means offering customers products, service and atmosphere they can't find elsewhere.

Or, as Clarksburg Economic and Community Development Director Jeff Mikorski says of the Goings' new venture: "I think they will be able to use the quaintness of downtown Clarksburg as a selling point, and provide personal service in a small business setting."

The Goings, who are renovating the Third Street building, also hope to rent space to other businesses on the upper floors.

Says Catherine Goings: "When we saw the building for sale, we thought it was a good opportunity, and we would like to bring something to downtown Clarksburg.."

We hope what the Goings and their new store bring to downtown are new business and new life.