Two years ago, an unofficial count during a walk along East Main from Fifth to 13th streets showed 35 storefronts open for business.
The same walk just days ago showed 57 storefronts open or soon to open.
"A lot of the people that live here don't really understand the Main Street anymore," said Candice Rollf, who recently opened LaMonta & Elsie, a home goods boutique at 710 E. Main St.
Specialty shops such as Rollf's are springing up along the tree-lined winding roadway. Flowers fill planters along the brick sidewalk.
East Main Street isn't what it used to be, but Rollf and others think it's becoming something new.
Members of the Downtown Business Group, an informal network of merchants and others, see the neighborhood beginning to form an identity, much as the Historic Depot District has done.
"We're starting to get that feeling on Main Street," said Samantha Purcell, co-owner of Ply, a store at 921 E. Main that has classes and sells supplies for knitting, weaving and other fiber arts.
The feeling becomes stronger as the number of filled storefronts grows. On Wednesday, Mona Lisa will open at 821 E. Main, exactly 24 years after the original Mona Lisa opened at 1901 National Road W.