Residents who have noticed the empty storefronts in Colesville Center, including the recently vacated T-Mobile store, won't see new businesses anytime soon. Rona Kramer, president of Kramer Enterprises, the company that manages the center, said that "there's no telling" when T-Mobile's location will be leased again.

"The reason the T-Mobile closed is that they bankrupted," Kramer told Patch. "We aren't legally allowed to do anything with the space until the bankrupty process unfolds."

The location was operated by a separate company that managed some of T-Mobile's retail operations, said Kramer. When that company releases the property back to Kramer Enterprises, it can then be occupied by another business.

As for other stores in the center, new business is not coming in as fast as old business leaves. Kramer believes that the lost of equity in individual residential properties is deterring would-be entrepreneurs to start small business.

"Something that people don't generally realize, mom and pop shops, which are the staple of the Colesville Center, when those mom and pop shops open new businesses, they usally do so by using the equity in their home," said Kramer. "If you look at the housing market right now, there is very little equity available to most people."

"People aren't starting businesses as a result," she said. 

"The economy is affecting our neighborhood tremendously," Kramer continued. "It's affecting our homeowners and it's affecting our shopping centers."