DELAND, Fla. — The DeLand SunRail station has been open for almost two months and has already given downtown businesses a small boost.
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While it’s too soon to say just how much of an impact the station will have on the community, Assistant Director for the Main Street DeLand Association Stephanie Garcia-Mullins said merchants are seeing customers coming from more places than in the past.
“There’s been a nice little bump. It shows us people are interested. We’re definitely seeing people from Kissimmee, Winter Park, last week I talked to a lady from Lake Mary,” said Garcia-Mullins.
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The shift has led to many local shops extending their hours during the week. Some owners have reported seeing up to 20-new customers per day.
“I think it will benefit the community overall just to have more people from everywhere come and visit and I think that’s what we are really excited about,” said Owner of Olive and Grey, Darcy Gonzalez.
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“We have notebook that all of our artists make notations in every day and quite a number of notations of guests who came in, came in on the train,” said the manager at Art Works DeLand, Karen Tweedie.
The station is about 4 miles from downtown, which was initially a concern for local merchants. However, the option to take Volusia County’s bus service, VoTran, for free from the station has helped.
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That service will be expanding in January to International Speedway Boulevard and the intermodal bus station.
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