BRASHER FALLS — Three new businesses — a hair salon, a thrift store and a tanning salon and printing company — have opened in the hamlet, the latest in a grass-roots effort to revitalize.

Another place — a medical center affiliated with Canton-Potsdam Hospital — will open in October. A fifth, which will sell jewelry, candles and the like, was rented out Wednesday.

And all this is just the beginning.

The revitalization efforts began a couple of years ago when several residents joined together to buy the abandoned buildings on Main Street, renovate them and attract new tenants. Nine new businesses have opened through their efforts. In addition to the new ones — Cornerstone Salon, Second Time Around thrift store and Sun Rayz Tanning and Personalized Printing by KK — the street is home to the Spirits of Downtown, Adirondack Aikido, Power Sports, Sweet Scentsations, a post office and the hamlet's Chamber of Commerce.

"Remember the old Westerns — the towns with tumbleweeds blowing through? That's what it looked like here," John A. Ward, chairman of the Brasher Falls Chamber of Commerce, said. "Some of the windows were boarded up. It looked like a ghost town."

There are neither tumbleweeds nor boared windows in sight now in the center of town. In the past three months alone, the hair salon, thrift store with tanning beds and printing shop have opened in what used to be Booth's Hardware, most of which has been abandoned since the 1980s. Men in jeans and work boots can be seen toting power tools as they continue to renovate and build.

Business is going phenomenally, according to Valarie L. Smith McGrath, owner of the Cornerstone Salon at 897 Main St. Ms. McGrath has been a hairdresser for 20 years, but this is the first time she's had her own business. Previously, she rented a booth at Heads or Nails Salon in Massena. A one-woman show, she styles men's, women's and children's hair, specializing in color jobs.

"I'm very impressed that most of my Massena clientele has followed me and I've also picked up a new clientele from Brasher and Winthrop," she said. "I never sit — there's not a minute I'm not busy."

The revitalization project began in 2005, after Mr. Ward put purchase offers on several buildings on Main Street and, with the help of other hamlet residents, formed the St. Regis Realty Corp. Most of the businesses they attracted in the beginning of the revitalization have gone out of business, Mr. Ward said. Longest standing is Sweet Scentsations, a cafe and flower shop, owned by Annie F. Hallahan. An addition is planned for her shop, which has been open for 21/2 years.

With nine businesses and others on the way, St. Regis Realty is not resting on its laurels. So far, it has spent $1.75 million renovating the hamlet, with the help of $250,000 in grants from Restore New York and the National Grid. Next, it plans to build a second luxury apartment above the stores and start renting out the second floor of the Booth building for offices. It will also build a hallway connecting the second-floor spaces, some of which are still in bad shape.

"I can't really describe how bad this was," Mr. Ward said, pointing to water damage in what will become the second apartment. "I think it was raining harder inside than it was outside."

The town of Brasher, which includes the hamlet of Brasher Falls,is working diligently to put itself on the map and become a destination, rather than a "pass-through," according to Supervisor M. James Dawson. A new town hall, not connected to St. Regis Realty's efforts, opened in 2005 and the Brasher town board is working with private developers to get a racetrack/entertainment complex built. The project has been in the works for nearly six years. If approved, the facility will be built in three phases, each lasting two years. In addition to the racetrack, there will be harness racing, an equestrian center, gambling facilities, luxury hotels and shopping.

"If we even get part of it, it'll be great for the town," Mr. Dawson said, citing the construction jobs and businesses that will be attracted to it. "The point is, if this project does reach some kind of fruitition, it's going to generate interest."