North End, while better off than a few years back, is still in desperate need of revitalization. This end of town was once, besides the downtown area (which is an entirely seperate topic), where the action was. Then came Foxcroft Avenue, in my opinion a poorly designed but quite profitable goldmine of commerce, with our kinda nice mall, our Wal-Mart (yet another topic), and everything else that popped up here and along Rt. 45. The Berkeley Plaza all but collapsed as JC Penny moved south along with distant neighbor K-Mart. Old Courthouse Square, while not a bad strip mall, couldn't fill the Plaza's shoes. Edwin Miller Blvd., while thriving with office space and hotel rooms, was and still is just that - office space and hotel rooms. North Queen Street continues to support mainstay business' such as Big Lots, Weis, Crowell's, etc., but is not a viable option for a great deal of new business because it is a perpetual traffic jam that cannot be expanded without affecting many properties and buildings. Traffic is a lot of what's holding North End back. There's plenty of it, but much of it is simply passing through because their interests are in a different part of town or a different town altogether, showing that there are a lack of interests in North End. North End needs another "main drag", other than Queen Street and Edwin Miller Blvd, reducing traffic problems and making the entire area both more accessible and a better place to do business.

You take your life in your own hands when you try to pull out any where on Edwin Miller.That place is a mad house!Never mind any where near the mall! It just seems as if there's no rhyme or reason to the traffic patterns.Why aren't the lights sychronized? Somebody seems to have their thumbs up their wazoo instead of trying to fix the problem.And noone can tell me that the commisioners don't drive around here too.

I was down through there one time and I vowed to never go back, I figured I would continue to test my luck with Hagerstown.

You'd be safer!

The only reason Foxcroft Ave developed was because the mall is right off the interstate so travelers can go down Foxcroft Ave to eat.

Foxcroft Ave. isn't in the north end of town. I guess CVS next to Food Lion is going to move into the new building across the street.Great!,another empty store front the at Old Courthouse! I never understood why Brownie"s Resturant went under?. I thought it was pretty good eatin there.And now that the Post Office is there it's dangerous walking in the parking lot.Guess people think the P.O. is gonna walk away before they get there!

WVDragonlady, I was replying to the point that was made about Foxcroft Ave being over developed, and how the North End vanished. I think, however, that after all the land around Foxcroft is used up you'll begin to see the North End revitalized since there are vacant spaces there.

I was joshin ya Mount!Didn't ya see the smilie? I sure hope something can be done about traffic control before all the building starts in the North end!

Something does have to be done about traffic before they build anything, but traffic is bad all over Martinsburg no matter where you are!

Sorry didn't mean to get defensive about the Foxcroft Ave thing.

Damn that Foxcraft Avenue, damn it, and the argument it hath bestow upon our friendly forum, straight to the bowels of Hell!

Foxcroft Avenue is a nightmare....try getting out of the
theatre parking lots on a dark rainy night....it's close
to impossible......and how does the city remedy this?
Why, by building more and more food joints for the
interstate travelers....the locals be damned !!!

I can see why the Martinsburg Mall wanted to separate
itself from Wal-mart...what a nuisance that place is...
you just know that Walmart is looking to relocate...
and what will that vacant white elephant become ?

The same can be said for Winchester...everything is
concentrated in one place...wherever the current 'boom'
is, that's where everyone gravitates, until a 'new' area
opens up....the migration continues, and you end up
with another 'North End', this time somewhere else....

I've been saying since they built the theatres that they need a traffic light there!
Do the commisioners even live around here?
Don't they know the traffic conditions?
I refuse to go any where near the Mart. Mall unless I absolutely have to!
And in Winchester I only go to Gab.Bro.or down 522 to Double Tollgate for the flea market.It's just as bad there as in Mart.

I don't bother going to Wal-Mart, I just go over to Kmart where at least there isn't people shoving all over the place unless there is a blue-light special.

I like K-mart....always have....I'm glad they
haven't closed that store yet....sure hope they
don't....we can't let Wal-mart come in and squash
every business like they did Roger's County Market...
that was the nicest grocery store around, even after
the new Martin's opened...

I know, I remember always going to Barnharts on Winchester Ave, then when they moved to Foxcroft it was an even better store. Wal-Mart just takes advantage of little stores.