Editor:

Sadly comes news of another business in downtown leaving: Gooseberry Fool. Kerri Marvel not only brought her love of food to downtown but her love of the community by chairing the Downtown Brentwood Committee. This committee was aimed at saving our downtown businesses and unfortunately, too late for Kerri.

We, as most businesses are in these tough times, struggling too. However, new businesses are still coming into downtown. ScrumDillyumptious, TLCakes and La Tea Da are all taking the chance to invest their hearts, souls and likely mortgages to bring that something special to downtown.

We are a unique community and downtown reflects that with historic buildings fueled with new ideas. While there is a place for malls and franchises, dollars spent in downtown provide us Mom-and-Pop owners with the opportunity to grow, instead of, like Kerri, having to pull the plug on our dreams and downtown's future.

We welcome the competition as it moves all of us to better our products and services. Shop local!

Kirk and Kathy Thill

Owners of A Fine Time for Tea