HENDERSONVILLE - It has been four weeks since the City of Hendersonville changed parking regulations downtown, charging for parking in the new parking deck and also with meters on Main Street and side lots.

The parking deck, which has 253 spaces, cost $9.7 million to construct, according to past Times-News reporting and officially opened on March 1, though fees weren't charged until March 3. The downtown parking kiosks were also installed a few weeks before that, with fees also beginning on March 3.

Has it affected business for downtown merchants? Now a month in, the Times-News wanted to find out, straight from the source.

More: Ribbon cutting held as Hendersonville's new parking deck officially opens

On March 29, the Times-News went door-to-door to several Main Street businesses, and these were the comments they provided:

Barbara Hughes, owner of Narnia Studios

"I wasn't for the garage to be built but the city felt it was absolutely necessary. The usual problems you get with garage structures were on my mind: people living in it, urination, graffiti, crime and skateboarding. Most of those have come true already. The city workers find people in the elevator every morning. And it's 'unmanned.' They do have cameras but, of course, that is for after-the-fact, not surveillance. What we didn't know was that the financing for the garage was predicated on receiving income from putting in metered parking downtown. So they tied the two together which is a negative burden on both the shoppers and the shops. City personnel have listened to me and tried to allay my concerns. Customers who enjoyed coming downtown three to five times a week curtail their visits now. The older folks (me included) aren't comfortable with apps, so they have to figure out the kiosk payment system. Handicapped placard drivers have to pay to park now. The free half hour on the street and the free hour in the garage aren't free if you stay even one minute over. Both systems charge you for two hours parking if you stay a bit over. Of course, charging for one hour makes sense but two? Decades ago, we had metered parking in downtown. Why did they take it out? It had a negative impact on business. I guess nobody remembers that. So the 'proof is in the pudding'. Lower sales for us will lead to lower sales tax collection for the city. They will have to figure out which is more vital. I will have to trust they will."

Aubrey Hollar, Mike's On Main and Mike's 305 owner

"It's hurt the breakfast crowd, because the elderly people who come in and pay for a senior citizen's breakfast that's like three or four dollars, they end up paying more than that to park. It's had an impact. They are also having so many problems with those meters. I had a customer come in the other day that said it was offline and that it wouldn't let them use their credit card. They came in here and were so worried that they couldn't even eat. They didn't want to get that $50 ticket. It's going to take some time (to get used to). The customers who are out of state say it's no big deal to them, because they are used to it. But the local people, it is affecting them. Like the coffee shop, Black Bear, they lost their 30-person group that used to come in every morning. You can see it every day... people come up (to the kiosks) and don't know what to do, and there are older folks who have the little flip phones... they can't do the app. This is what I'd like to see... the senior citizens who come up here and eat breakfast be able to go to the city and buy a small fee annual thing where they could pay one price a year to come here and eat their breakfast. That way they could run their tags and show they're an annual fee holder. But to answer the question, it has impacted business, regardless of what anyone says. I think it'll take a year for people to soak this in and get used to it, and then it will be past us."

Kasey Clark, cafe manager at Main Street Coffee

"I have seen a big change. I've noticed a lot less locals have been coming in. I'm still getting good traction of people coming in from out of town, enjoying downtown Hendersonville. I have noticed a very big deficit in the locals who have been coming in. I feel that is a bit of a big change, considering Hendersonville is charging more than even Greenville does for parking. I go to Greenville a lot, and here it's $1.50 more per hour. Here, they charge you $20 if you lose your (parking) ticket, and in Greenville, they only charge you $10, so there are bigger prices here. I'm not saying they're bad changes, but they will take a lot to get used to."

Matt Johnes, owner of Hannah Flannigan's for 23 years

"We're not seeing dramatically different numbers, actually. We're doing similar numbers to 2019. We did see a little drop off when the meters were first put in. We were quite a bit up in January and February, and for March, we're still up, but not as much. We do notice that people ask us a lot about how the app works and where the kiosks are. There is going to be a learning curve for everybody. I do see people looking at the app on their phones, keeping track of how much time they have left. This is part of growth. It's like that for every city. It's a bigger change for locals but not so much for the tourists. For the locals, it's an adjustment period."

Mindy Ballard, owner of Just Ducky on Main Street

"I've been here since 2020. I didn't notice a big change when the parking kiosks went in. It hasn't affected our business... not that I can tell. I do get some customers who come in and ask questions, just because the meter is right outside my business. People complain about it. People don't like change. But every city you go in, you have to pay to park."

Noemi Causseaux, director of programs at Hands On

"I'm just getting a lot of phone calls and questions about the parking. I think it is mostly just locals who don't seem to like it, really. There are also field trip groups who have questions and reservations about the new parking rules. But I've noticed not much with the tourists. For me, it's been really convenient. I'm from Miami, so I'm used to it. That's all we had down there."

Dean Hensley is the news editor for the Hendersonville Times-News. Email him with tips, questions and comments at DHensley@gannett.com. Please help support this kind of local journalism with a subscription to the Hendersonville Times-News.

This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: See what downtown business owners have to say about new parking rules