No Hudson's but Shopping is Back Downtown

[canuck]

This is something I think is an important point. Yes, there is shopping spread out all around downtown. But that's just it. It's spread out. It's not conducive for walking around. If I buy something from Nat'l Dry Goods, then walk carrying my bags back into downtown, then walk to Busy Bee for something else, it's a hassle. I'm walking carrying bags of merchandise for 2-3 miles. Most shoppers don't want to do this. They want to go buy their stuff with as little hassle as possible. They're not interested in observing & enjoying the historic architecture on their route.
Nor is it really conducive for driving because the parking is a pain. As noted before, most of these businesses are only open during the day & close up by 6 pm. So I have to find a place to park on the street, most likely with a meter to shop at these places. I have to pay at the meter because I'm shopping during enforcement hours. I only get 15 mins for a quarter. This is going to happen at each of my stops. Most shoppers don't want to do this either. You can't get any decent shopping done in just 15 mins. Hamtramck, Ferndale, Milford, Northville all have shopping areas where shops are close together for walkability, & your quarter at the meter goes longer, at least a half an hour. Free or low cost parking and walkability give the suburbs more preference.

Yes, and that is why property owners of large buildings in CBD need to wake up to that fact. They need to provide services if they want to retain or attract residents and tourists alike by injecting different types of businesses in clusters.Owners of older buildings with street level shops that are vacant along Woodward and its side streets should incentivize in order to recruit potential shops. Choosing the types of establishments is important too, I am sure a long time ago like all big cities, Detroit had rows of similar businesses that competed for the buck, the ball game is different now, but 5 or 6 shoe stores on the same stretch over 2 blocks like tiny 8th street in Manhattan does.

Detroit has the bones but just needs to flesh it out. Some modern forbidding buildings that dont provide an entrance should be pierced and open to pedestrian traffic. In a downtown the size and quality of Detroit, there is potential to provoke responses from shoppers and office workers that dont exist in a shopping mall situation. If as you say Jackie, you need to travel by car from one convenience to another, you will continue abandoning the CBD as a shopping district. If, by the same token you walk on a major street that used to be fleshed out with shops and go on for two, three blocks without access to an entrance and are confronted by inimical structures; buildings that seem to say; whatshyou want boy, why you lookin' at me like that?
Then abandonment will be your response...

Developers need to act in concert and promote the city core and I wonder how much energy has gone into doing that. I think the acceptance of the suburban commuter's detachment from Detroit can be reversed. The blank canvas of Detroit needs to start with money and jobs brought back to the core. This means that the city's main actors will have to raise the bar in the excitement category.
Casinos bring money to the establishments and excitement but by definition, they cannot be all that open to the street and their goal is to keep you in there.

Detroit needs special equipment to be added maybe in certain areas like sidewalk canopies over stretches where continuous rows of shops would be injected. It will happen, but promoters need to come to the fore and aggressively seek out and help out potential shopowners. And all this effort would probably need to be effected in clusters for added convenience, security, attractiveness and investment capabilities.

[ThePeacockRoom]

Thought this might be of interest to the people reading this thread...

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Det...74066125977686

Stay tuned!

[DetroitDad]

I know that we are basically on the same page here, but I don't think that my local grocers and retailers are really failing on signage or promotion. If you go past University Foods, Food Pride, Busy Bee, etc, you will see the signage and know what it is. The only problem is the people who expect every grocery store or hardware store to be some mega-chain like Wal Mart or Lowes. The local independent stores rely on word of mouth promotion and support from the community.

Hey, check out the new sign that Food Pride and Detroit Medical Pharmacy have off Warren Road, a block West of I-75. It's got a HUGE video board that looks pretty spiffy. There is a Subway, family diner, Chinese restaurant, and Little Caesar's Pizza. The Detroit Medical is also advertising it's Pharmor brand affiliation.

At the least, it's an improvement over the decaying former Farmer Jack tower, which has been dismantled.