DAYTONA BEACH — When Danielle Kaeufer opened her medical supply company on Orange Avenue, friends wondered why she chose Midtown.
“Why are you going there?” Kaeufer, who owns Daytona Peoples Medical Supply, recalled being asked. “People didn’t understand. They were afraid to come into the area.”
With some encouraging and convincing, customers eventually began coming. However, now that the road in front of her business is full of construction crews and detour signs, many are going elsewhere.
“It’s been pretty bad,” she said of business. “The road in front is closed.”
Perceptions that Midtown is a dangerous place to eat and shop, and the massive construction along a main thoroughfare in the community are just some of the challenges businesses in the area are facing. Bethune-Cookman University wants to play the role of a good neighbor and help.