Over 15 New Retailers, Restaurants, Offices, & Bars Open on Lower Woodward Avenue

[Wintersmommy]

Good stuff. Anyone been to the new hot dog stand that took over the window space Good Girls used? I like all the street food carts I've been seeing around lately. Sometimes you just want something quick and cheap for lunch.

I went on Thursday..it was clean, the son and daughter of the owner were working and both of them were very friendly. I had the special 2 dogs, chips, and a pop for 5.00 cant beat it.

[p1acebo]

I went on Thursday..it was clean, the son and daughter of the owner were working and both of them were very friendly. I had the special 2 dogs, chips, and a pop for 5.00 cant beat it.

I have had it too, definitely worth checking out. When I went a man name Lou [[assuming he is the owner) was working the place. Very nice person.

[DetroitPole]

Thank you for the report, DetroitDad. One of the most useful threads around here for a while. You are a true Detroiter.

After 2008 or so the handful of retailers hanging on in lower Woodward seemed to die off. I was worried downtown was making a return to the 1980's. Now we are seeing some glimmers of revival.

These are such odd spaces, one wonders what we can do with them. People in Metro Detroit don't function properly without ample, free parking for retailing.

Detroit is a shot and a beer kind of a town and Metro Detroit has to be one of the least dry places in the United States. Midtown has some great bars, but they aren't really walkable, same with Corktown. What if lower Woodward downtown was barhop central? So maybe I'm four beers deep on a Monday night but come on.

[casscorridor]

Thank you for the report, DetroitDad. One of the most useful threads around here for a while. You are a true Detroiter.

After 2008 or so the handful of retailers hanging on in lower Woodward seemed to die off. I was worried downtown was making a return to the 1980's. Now we are seeing some glimmers of revival.

These are such odd spaces, one wonders what we can do with them. People in Metro Detroit don't function properly without ample, free parking for retailing.

Detroit is a shot and a beer kind of a town and Metro Detroit has to be one of the least dry places in the United States. Midtown has some great bars, but they aren't really walkable, same with Corktown. What if lower Woodward downtown was barhop central? So maybe I'm four beers deep on a Monday night but come on.

Although Detroit could use more of everything, I don't think bars will be the saving grace of the lower Woodward retail district. What we need is RETAIL. If there were stores open, people would shop there. Simple as that. No magical mystery here. If rents were affordable on those spaces, they would be filled, I guarantee. The problem is failed policies, slumlords and bad planning, not lack of demand for retail or lack of parking.

There are more parking spaces Downtown than there are people. If stores are worried about parking, they should advertise free validation at one of the million parking garages Downtown.

Not to mention, if retail was properly clustered on Woodward, people could park once and then walk around and shop.

Also, I disagree that bars in Midtown aren't within walking distance. Within a few blocks of Cass Cafe at Cass Ave/Forest Ave you can go to the Majestic, the Bronx, Motor City Brewery, Union Street, Starts Bar & Grill, Lefty's Lounge, Circa Saloon, 3rd Bar, among others. I don't think walkability is an issue, I think laziness is an issue. Residents of our region are chronically lazy.

[esp1986]

Although Detroit could use more of everything, I don't think bars will be the saving grace of the lower Woodward retail district. What we need is RETAIL. If there were stores open, people would shop there. Simple as that. No magical mystery here. If rents were affordable on those spaces, they would be filled, I guarantee. The problem is failed policies, slumlords and bad planning, not lack of demand for retail or lack of parking.

There are more parking spaces Downtown than there are people. If stores are worried about parking, they should advertise free validation at one of the million parking garages Downtown.

Not to mention, if retail was properly clustered on Woodward, people could park once and then walk around and shop.

Also, I disagree that bars in Midtown aren't within walking distance. Within a few blocks of Cass Cafe at Cass Ave/Forest Ave you can go to the Majestic, the Bronx, Motor City Brewery, Union Street, Starts Bar & Grill, Lefty's Lounge, Circa Saloon, 3rd Bar, among others. I don't think walkability is an issue, I think laziness is an issue. Residents of our region are chronically lazy.

The problem is, there is no anchor store to lure shoppers downtown. Regardless of how many stores that nobody's heard of go into the Kresge Building, they will not draw nearly enough people to stay open on their own.

Hudson's was profitable up until the day it closed, meaning that it was drawing enough shoppers down there to pay the bills, and in that enormous building, that is quite a feat. If Macy's were to open in the former Hudson's location, they would draw in shoppers, and many of the empty storefronts on Woodward would see tenants.

I do agree with you that bars are not the way to fill up the area. People are only going to drive so far to get drunk and drive home, and downtown probably is further than most want to drive. I have seen quite a few pictures lately of Woodward in the 40s and 50s, and it is packed full of people in front of Hudson's, even in a photo from 1980, there are alot of people at Hudson's around noon.

The problem is not many people are going to drive downtown to go to stores they have never heard of, when they have those a lot closer to home. People are going to come downtown because of the name, and a Macy's store would certainly bring a worthwhile name to downtown. Just look at malls. How many malls survive without an anchor store? Not many. Livonia mall, for example, started losing anchor stores in the late 90s early 2000s, and now the mall is gone. It is the anchor stores that draw people, and the rest of the stores will follow.

[stasu1213]

The problem is, there is no anchor store to lure shoppers downtown. Regardless of how many stores that nobody's heard of go into the Kresge Building, they will not draw nearly enough people to stay open on their own.

Hudson's was profitable up until the day it closed, meaning that it was drawing enough shoppers down there to pay the bills, and in that enormous building, that is quite a feat. If Macy's were to open in the former Hudson's location, they would draw in shoppers, and many of the empty storefronts on Woodward would see tenants.

I do agree with you that bars are not the way to fill up the area. People are only going to drive so far to get drunk and drive home, and downtown probably is further than most want to drive. I have seen quite a few pictures lately of Woodward in the 40s and 50s, and it is packed full of people in front of Hudson's, even in a photo from 1980, there are alot of people at Hudson's around noon.

The problem is not many people are going to drive downtown to go to stores they have never heard of, when they have those a lot closer to home. People are going to come downtown because of the name, and a Macy's store would certainly bring a worthwhile name to downtown. Just look at malls. How many malls survive without an anchor store? Not many. Livonia mall, for example, started losing anchor stores in the late 90s early 2000s, and now the mall is gone. It is the anchor stores that draw people, and the rest of the stores will follow.

Downtown Detroit could be thriving again if you have a dependable transit system that shoppers could rely on. Many people caught the bus downtown to do shopping during it's heyday. Detroit should copy what Birmingham has done; offer free 2 hour parking in the parking structures around the downtown area. You would get the major retailers back downtown. Have the retaliers invest in rent-a-cops to patrol the downtown area since the common council had given the green light that police officers could be hired out to business districts.

[detmsp]

Downtown needs more jobs to become a big shopping area. Why drive downtown to go to Macy's when there's one at the local mall? But if you're already there because you work downtown, it becomes an appealing choice. Hopefully this changes, but right now it doesn't seem like downtown is the employment center for the region the way it is in a lot of other cities.