Is Your Downtown Busy Or Bleak?

Lee

Lee

Senior Member
Location
Chatham, Ontario
Probably due to the lack of an indoor mall, the downtown where I live is quite busy. Lots of small business storefronts, unique restaurants, and of course a gentleman's club.

It helps too that weekends have an outdoor craft/flea market which is exceptionally busy and visited by young and old alike.

Of course there are a few empty storefronts as in most towns but all in all the downtown is a nice complement to the two large strip malls.
 

Our downtown is exploding with growth and construction. Arizona State University opened a satellite campus about a decade ago so that started it and now companies from California are starting to relocate here. Even during COVID, downtowns in Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe are booming with new construction projects.
 

I love the downtown area because I live in it. It has a lot of small businesses but some, the biggest department store and the movie theater have closed due to the quarantine. It is usually pretty busy all day but busy here is not like busy in a large city.
 
Our downtown deteriorated after the malls were built in suburbia. Downtown is now just a lot of little shops, boutiques and junk stores, which amount to basically nothing. Low income, poverty level and those that are indigent reside in the city.

I remember the shopping trips with my mom and dad back in the early-mid 60's when the city was thriving, departments stores were busy, the homes were well kept and people had more than just food stamps in their pockets.

This has been a heartache of mine for years that the city government allowed their town to become nothing more than a big ghetto. The streets and sidewalks are eroded and a lot of the homes should be torn down.

Years ago, I went to one city council meeting to voice my concerns and was asked to leave when they learned that I wasn't a resident of the city. I haven't been back since.
 
Our downtown area is nothing compared to what it was in the 50s and 60s but it has a respectable vibe.

Many of the old buildings have been renovated into apartments and that has helped to draw some small business owners into Center City.

We still need a real grocery store in Center City. Also, a better mass transit system to move people in and out of the area for large events. The more popular Center City becomes the more difficult it is to deal with traffic/parking, etc...

It's still the city and you need to be aware of your surroundings.

9035108-large.jpg
 
Ours is dead and has been for several years. There are a number of factors contributing to this.

  1. We have a relatively large homeless population that tends to stick to the downtown area

    That is probably the biggest contributor and at least in part leads to the rest of the problems I'm listing.

  2. There isn't much interesting stuff in downtown San Jose

    The regulations and fees for setting up new businesses is very high here meaning only large, boring shops and restaurants (that people can visit in more pleasant areas) can afford to be there.

  3. They cracked down on live music after one particularly bad club added more crime and other problems downtown

    Without interesting events there isn't much reason to be downtown.

None of these things are happening now but there are times when our downtown does get a bit more hopping. The Shark Tank (where the San Jose Sharks hockey team plays) is close to downtown so a lot of people park in the restaurant areas then walk to the arena for the game. The arena is also used for some larger music artists (Pink, Elton John, etc...) and those events draw people in. We also have a First Fridays art walk most months of the year that increases the traffic in the art district. The convention center also has big conventions which increases traffic downtown.

There have been a whole bunch of high rise apartments buildings and condos which may help bring enough people in to lift the downtown area, but with companies allowing employees to work remotely they might not fill up quickly. We're also supposed to get the Google village downtown, but with the employment changes that might not happen now.
 
Ours is busier than it should be. I drove through the main street a couple of days ago and it was pretty busy with most people not wearing masks. The city has enacted a requirement for masks, but this being South Carolina, a high percentage of people simply regard that ordinance as a "suggestion."
 
My area is made up of a multitude of small towns all butted up against eachother. What might be called a downtown is the main drag with a few gas stations, pizza shops, restaurants and a Dollar General. The towns are primarily residential and peaceful.
 
When we first bought here, I was regretting that we hadn’t found a place in the DT core. After I watched the problems caused by the homeless population, I was thankful we didn’t.

It’s a pleasant looking, older DT. Lots of empty shops now. It was really tough for the merchants to encourage folks to shop DT. Much worse now. The parking meters were a big deterrent.
 
Jules said:
When we first bought here, I was regretting that we hadn’t found a place in the DT core. After I watched the problems caused by the homeless population, I was thankful we didn’t.

It’s a pleasant looking, older DT. Lots of empty shops now. It was really tough for the merchants to encourage folks to shop DT. Much worse now. The parking meters were a big deterrent.
Click to expand...

I knew there was something I forgot about our downtown. Parking here is horrible. They charge for parking with the reasoning that people pay to park in San Francisco. Well, San Francisco has a much bigger draw than we do.
 
I think a lot of the downtown businesses are struggling because A. their product is too expensive and B. if they're not going to carry what you need then naturally you're going to look to other sources. If not enough people by them or they don't feel like fiddling with it then they're not gonna stock it. If you're gonna be in the business of serving customers you have to make it work for the customer not just you (the business owner).

And now the pandemic is blowing through and wiping out what's left.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lee
My son is living in the middle of downtown Seattle. He sent me pics of their Christmas decorations which were beautiful but there were only a few people bundled up and masked on the streets...literally 3. It's like a ghost town.
 

  • Like
Reactions: Lee
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top