"We had a hard time finding a place anywhere, let alone Bountiful," he said. "First of all, there's not much in downtown to pick from, and if there is anything, it's really expensive."

Nisar wanted to be near the Salt Palace Convention Center but found little restaurant space with City Creek Center construction. He gave up and began looking in the suburbs.

Business in Bountiful "is getting better every day," he said. "It's not as busy as it is in Salt Lake."

When construction ends, Nisar will turn his eyes again toward downtown: "My intention is that, but it will really depend on if I can get a good monthly lease rate."

A number of years ago, Len and Kris Hoffman purchased Bellezza, an upscale salon in Crossroads that had struggled financially, and turned the place around. It made a profit in its last two years, said Sue Russell, chief operating officer of Hoffman and Company.

As Crossroads closed, the Hoffmans looked for a new location.

"Because our margins were so tight, we had a hard time finding something that would make a good fit," Russell wrote in an e-mail. "It was hard to find a place that had the facilities that would accommodate a hair salon."

The Hoffmans found a space at 307 S. Main Street and two business partners to go in with them. The three partners applied for city grants and loans. However, one of the three partners had less-than-stellar credit. The deal was killed when a loan was rejected, she said.

"We sold everything in the store for whatever we could get, then we locked up and walked away," Russell wrote.

David Giroux, of the Downtown Merchants Association, said some businesses have chosen to locate downtown. He cites the Keys on Main piano bar, Danish electronics store Bang and Olufsen, and the Acme Burger Co. as businesses that recently chose downtown locations.

"Businesses always will open and close, especially smaller businesses, especially when they're not larger corporations," he said. "Sometimes they don't have a good business model, sometimes their product is not in demand. That happens everywhere, not just downtown."

Department stores

For more than a year, Salt Lake City has lacked a high-end department store downtown.

Macy's closed its store at the ZCMI Center on Feb. 3, 2007. Nordstrom closed its Crossroads Plaza store Jan. 20, 2007. Days later, demolition began. And Salt Lakers altered their shopping patterns when looking for high-quality clothing and cosmetics.