Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Kathy Sultze serves smoothies to a customer and her son at Elderberry's the First & Main retail development in Blacksburg. Diane Elder, co-owner of Elderberry's, and other business owners in the shopping center say they hope the planned theater comes soon to the development.

Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

An Elderberry's employee pours a smoothie in the First & Main shop. "They need to rock and roll on that movie theater," says Diane Elder, co-owner of Elderberry's. "And they need to rock and roll on the rest of the stores and restaurants."

BLACKSBURG -- Controversy over a big-box store widely thought to be a Wal-Mart Supercenter has grabbed most headlines about the First & Main retail development.

But for owners of some new businesses there, the yet-to-be-developed movie theater looms larger.

While Chocolate Spike owner Genie Ranck said she is encouraged by the number of customers she's getting at her new location, "I need the movie theater."

Her comments echo the concerns of many who had hoped to see the promised theater open by now.

"They need to rock and roll on that movie theater. And they need to rock and roll on the rest of the stores and restaurants," said Diane Elder, co-owner of Elderberry's, a smoothie and wrap sandwich restaurant.

It's all about the foot traffic, business owners say. While the development has larger retailers such as Coldwater Creek and Talbots, it so far lacks the drawing power of an entertainment venue.

"For a restaurant, it's a natural fit," said Bull & Bones Brewhaus and Grill co-owner Jon Coburn. "It's dinner and a movie, and you can shop in between."

The promise of that theater was "one of the biggest reasons we chose that site," Coburn said of First & Main.

From the planning stages in 2006, Fairmount Properties of Ohio listed a movie theater as a significant selling point of the retail center.

In 2007, Frank Theaters president Bruce Frank announced the Florida-based chain planned to open a multiplex at First & Main by the end of 2008. But that never happened, and the site of the old Lake Terrace Motel remains bare.

Other businesses have been slow to open or have been put on indefinite hold.

Owners of an Arby's proposed along South Main Street have officially pulled plans to build the restaurant.

In a letter to the town obtained by The Roanoke Times through a Virginia Freedom of Information Act request, a company representative wrote: "Due to the economic conditions, Arby's has decided to put the project on hold."

Plans for the Sonic drive-in -- over which Fairmount filed a now-defunct lawsuit -- have lain dormant in the planning department since Christmas. The shell building where Beamer's restaurant is planned still has a dirt and gravel floor.

With the deepening recession, "it's definitely a tough time to start a business," Coburn said.

Leatherhaus owner Andy Cohen said shopping traffic in his new store in First & Main has so far been slow. He said he's hoping more shops will open and that the community will come out to support them.

The more new businesses that open in First & Main, the more shoppers there will be for everyone, Cohen said.

Times are tough all over and Blacksburg is certainly subject to the same economic pressures as towns and cities across the country right now, said Blacksburg Partnership President Diane Akers. The partnership is a nonprofit economic development organization dedicated to recruiting retail and other businesses to Blacksburg.

Every locality is competing for shoppers, Akers said.

So the partnership is focusing on marketing Blacksburg businesses through magazine ads and by organizing the town's first food, wine and arts festival called Blacksburg Fork & Cork this spring.

Some hope may be on the horizon for First & Main businesses that need more foot traffic.

Fairmount representatives recently met with town officials to discuss what may become a new theater plan, Planning and Building Director Anne McClung said.

Representatives of Fairmount and partners Diversified Investors did not return calls seeking comment.

Overall, business owners there say they are upbeat. Many say they are seeing more customers every day. Elder and Coburn report an uptick in return customers at their businesses, which is often the lifeblood of eateries.

Warmer weather may also help. Coburn said Bull & Bones will soon set up outdoor dining around the restaurant, with separate areas for smokers and nonsmokers.