Ask any owner

of a retail establishment, no matter what products are being sold, and

he or she will likely tell you that being located in a high-traffic corridor

is paramount to a successful bottom line and the more traffic, the better.

But if you're

in the wrong spot, according to some local business owners, too much of

a good thing can be rough.

A small building

facing Ga. Highway 85 in the heart of Fayetteville would ordinarily be

a merchant's dream. But facing East Georgia Avenue has in recent years

turned into something less.

Two businesses

occupying this building Gourmet's Delight deli and The Herb Shop have

noticed the effects of daily rush-hour traffic, along with the throng

of students emptying from a high school nearby, scores of customers fighting

to get on East Georgia Avenue each day to go to the post office or just

slip over to Jeff Davis Road, and giant trucks coming and going from Walker

Concrete, whose entrance is right next to their building.

They are convinced

that business is being literally driven away because of these factors,

and they are trying to do something about it.

"We have

more and more customers saying they'd come to eat, but they can't because

they can't get in and out," said Linda Wallace, co-owner of Gourmet's

Delight.

Now in its

20th year in Fayette County, the restaurant has been located in its present

spot for 16 of those years. Wallace said that there have been numerous

pleas during that time for a traffic light at the intersection in front

of her store, but to no avail.

"The city

hasn't responded, but I understand it's not totally up to them since it's

a state highway," she said.

As for the

state, she has been told that one of the criteria for traffic light installation

on a highway is a minimum number of fatalities. State officials have also

said that a light at that location would tie up traffic more than it would

keep it flowing, but Wallace disagrees, citing other places in the city

where large new developments spawned traffic lights that have improved

the situation.

"This

is a critical area," she said of her intersection. "It has gotten

so bad."

Next door at

The Herb Shop, there has been talk of moving to another location, but

an employee said Tuesday that the owner has decided to stay a while longer

and see if things get better.

Both merchants

have placed petitions on their counters asking for support for a traffic

light. Both have recorded dozens of signatures in the past few weeks.

"Nearly

everybody that walks in this door signs that petition," Wallace reported.

The petitions

were the idea of Walter Graves, the owner of the building. He said that

when he bought it in 1974, Hwy. 85 was a two-lane road.

That's far

from the case now. "With the fast traffic on 85, turn lane used as

a third lane, the post office something needs to be done," Wallace

said.