 
Texorama
Member
Username: Texorama
Post Number: 228
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 11:31 am: |    |
House of Blues has played a part in revitalizing its corner of downtown Cleveland. The ballpark is situated in a roughly comparable spot there, and there's now a decent group of clubs and restaurants between it and the older core. |
Evelyn
Member
Username: Evelyn
Post Number: 243
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 11:56 am: | |
A Staples, Office Max or any office supply store. The closest one, I think, is the Staples on Jefferson. |
Waymooreland
Member
Username: Waymooreland
Post Number: 58
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 12:44 pm: | |
Anyone who disagrees, feel free to set me straight, but where's the demand for an ACE Hardware downtown at this point in time? Especially when you have Brooks Lumber in Corktown, Busy Bee in Eastern Market -- both ACE stores -- and another ACE apparently opening in Midtown. Not to mention independents like Detroit Hardware in New Center. I just don't see a hardware store in the CBD as viable when there are plenty of places within a mile or two to drive to for hardware. Most of my trips to hardware stores require a vehicle to transport all the crap I bought anyway, so having one within walking distance wouldn't even be that useful unless I just needed a couple of screws or something. Just my opinion, though. |
Dtwflyer
Member
Username: Dtwflyer
Post Number: 68
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 12:48 pm: | |
Look at downtown Denver. They have a ton of national chains right downtown. Is that a bad thing? Heck no. |
Wirt
Member
Username: Wirt
Post Number: 81
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 12:59 pm: | |
Ripley's Believe it or not |
Rjlj
Member
Username: Rjlj
Post Number: 531
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 1:01 pm: | |
Waymooreland, why would anyone go to those hardware stores that you mention?
I want BIG chains like Lowe's and Home Depot. We must have a Lowe's in the location of the old MGM. |
Gnome
Member
Username: Gnome
Post Number: 1252
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 1:02 pm: | |
A lot of folks who work downtown needs various doo-dads to fix their toilets out in the 'burbs. Right now, they get off work and head to their strip-mall Ace to buy the stuff. They could pick that stuff up during the day, if such a place was available.
The loft dwellers will also need the kind of stuff that Ace carries.
Sure, they can drive out to BuzyBee or Corktown to buy washers, picture hanging junk, etc but if you have to drive to get to hardware, why not just wait till you get back to BirmingDaleOniaPointe.
Granted, if you're in the market for a shower surround or a new 1.5 gallon flusher or something large an Ace isn't your best choice anyway.
---
From recent events at City hall, I think a downtown Lovers Lane could do a land-office business.
Oh, and a battery store too. |
Johnlodge
Member
Username: Johnlodge
Post Number: 6700
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 1:10 pm: | |
quote:BirmingDale
You take that back, mister!  |
Detroit_pride
Member
Username: Detroit_pride
Post Number: 17
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 1:36 pm: | |
I would welcome all fast food chains, to take up a storefront along the lower Woodward Avenue. Then you can start infilling with an TGI Friday's or Lonestar. Unfortunately a family coming down from Bay City for an event in the city is not going to know that the Detroit Beer Company a brewery has a nice food menu. They are people that don't want to have their family of four/five or six trying to get a table at the Detroiter to get dinner. We need "chain" places.
It all starts at the origin of the city, we need to fill these empty buildings. Then we can expand.
Look at other large cities that we always compare Detroit to, and yes they have McDonalds and Burger King that take up first floor spaces of existing buildings, what is wrong with that picture. |
Gistok
Member
Username: Gistok
Post Number: 6826
Registered: 08-2004
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 1:40 pm: | |
...yeah that makes a lot of sense... lets tear down a building that has had $250 million in upgrades (old MGM) and build an $8 million Loew's in its' place!
(Message edited by Gistok on May 16, 2008) |
Gnome
Member
Username: Gnome
Post Number: 1253
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 1:43 pm: | |
oh, er ah ... FernRidge? HazDale? DetDale? |
Ravine
Member
Username: Ravine
Post Number: 2282
Registered: 01-2006
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 2:10 pm: | |
Oh yeah, let's bar those big ol' chain stores and shops from besmirching our lovely city and its charming downtown area with their nauseating "successful corporation with money to spend and jobs to offer" aura. I'm sure that visitors to our downtown area would much rather do their pre-and-post-event shopping and dining at places of which they have never heard. Let's act like we are in a position to pick & choose who we allow to spend their own money investing in our city. Let's keep Meijer's, McDonald's, and 7-11 out of the picture, and continue to indulge ourselves in a whiny little attitude when Arab-Americans who are too busy, working their asses off, to scuffle around waiting for government hand-outs snap up all kinds of real estate and open the privately-owned small businesses we all claim we so badly want to run and patronize. Let's sniff, disapprovingly, at a guy like Sean for having thought about trying to open up a 7-11 in the downtown area. 7-11? Aren't they, like, too successful to be, y'know, like, cool enough for us? We have standards, after all. If you don't believe it, take a drive up Grand River Avenue coming away from downtown. You can just FEEL the Hipness drifting over your face like a cool mist. |
Professorscott
Member
Username: Professorscott
Post Number: 1299
Registered: 12-2006
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 2:16 pm: | |
Does Meijer have a store in any downtown anywhere? I've never seen one.
I have absolutely nothing against Starbucks or Burger King or 7-Eleven or Wal Mart. But they aren't rushing to build downtown for reasons I already have mentioned. It takes no effort to keep them out if you don't like them; they aren't coming.
If you do like to see chain stores or any other kind of retail or dining, then work to solve the basic problems and the businesses will then solve the "lack of retail" problem for you. |
Downriviera
Member
Username: Downriviera
Post Number: 428
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 2:29 pm: | |
I guess my beef is that we seem to be the last city to get the chains. Hard Rock Cafe was in every city in the freakin world when we finally got one. It had lost its significance by then. I'd like to see some of the newer chains start here, but I'm sure they are staying away for the same reasons as the established chains. |
Rushbuzz1013
Member
Username: Rushbuzz1013
Post Number: 28
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 2:33 pm: | |
Bad economy forces folk to "do it themselves". Home Depot, Lowe's, ACE Hardware....give the do-it-yourselfer a sense of pride. Hey, How about the Burger King in the RenCen. I've never been in a chain where the workers looked SO BORED and were SO RUDE! Never again. But, I do love hangin' downtown, tho. Love the little cafes. |
Detroitstar
Member
Username: Detroitstar
Post Number: 1117
Registered: 01-2006
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 2:43 pm: | |
I would invest my money in a Chipotle or a Cheeseburger Cheeseburger. Those are two growing franchises with nothing but positive results and reputable names that would attract great lunch and dinner crowds. |
Evelyn
Member
Username: Evelyn
Post Number: 245
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 2:46 pm: | |
I’d also like to see stores that are open past 5 or 7 pm that aren’t liquor stores. A drug store open until 10 pm downtown, or even a 24-hour one, would be great. (Unless CVS on Woodward changed their hours recently.) |
401don
Member
Username: 401don
Post Number: 461
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 3:43 pm: | |
If suburban folks want chains downtown how come we were the only white people in the Bennigan's in Greektown the two times I was there? I'm assuming the black people in the restaurant were mostly city residents, so it appears they wanted a suburban experience and the suburbanites were at the other restaurants because they wanted something unique that they could not get in the suburbs. I know I'm generalizing a bit but Bennigan's lasted about 5 months so not all typical chain restaurants would do well downtown. |
Waymooreland
Member
Username: Waymooreland
Post Number: 59
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 4:05 pm: | |
I would be excited about just about any chain coming downtown, not because I don't like patronizing local businesses, but because it represents progress and improves the city's reputation.
I think that we would get the most impact if a well-known, national retailer like a Dillard's, as someone already mentioned, or a Bloomingdale's took a chance on Detroit and opened up a store to anchor the very spotty Lower Woodward retail district. Maybe it could be part of a future Hudson's block development. I think that a big name store like that, which currently has no Michigan locations, along with some smaller shops, could help to make downtown more of a retail destination. I just don't think that any chain that already has stores in the metro area will have enough draw to be successful downtown at this very moment, except for maybe Target. |
Iheartthed
Member
Username: Iheartthed
Post Number: 3117
Registered: 04-2006
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 4:17 pm: | |
As far as restaurants are concerned, I think downtown is doing fine without a chain. |
Canuckr
Member
Username: Canuckr
Post Number: 73
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 4:20 pm: | |
"I’d also like to see stores that are open past 5 or 7 pm that aren’t liquor stores. A drug store open until 10 pm downtown, or even a 24-hour one, would be great. (Unless CVS on Woodward changed their hours recently.)"
Fully agreed...
A Tim Hortons would be nice... |
Barnesfoto
Member
Username: Barnesfoto
Post Number: 5072
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 4:24 pm: | |
Hudsons, Kressges, Woolworths, Cunninghams, Sanders.... |
401don
Member
Username: 401don
Post Number: 465
Registered: 11-2007
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 4:35 pm: | |
Quit living in the past Barnesfoto. Next you'll want them to bring back the Book Cadillac and Fort Shelby too. |
Danindc
Member
Username: Danindc
Post Number: 4364
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 4:37 pm: | |
For better or for worse, the risk-averse chains aren't going to make a go of things until they see locally-owned businesses can succeed. |
Alley
Member
Username: Alley
Post Number: 194
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 7:15 pm: | |
I wouldn't look cross-eyed at a Sanrio store <3 ! |
Detmi7mile
Member
Username: Detmi7mile
Post Number: 42
Registered: 12-2007
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 8:22 pm: | |
why not take that whole deserted factory strip along the river and open multiple restaurants?
Why do I have to drive all the way out in the burbs for Carraba's? lol
The strip would be in close proximity to the riverwalk so it would be perfect.
I would like a Cheddar's also. |
Hudkina
Member
Username: Hudkina
Post Number: 203
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 8:26 pm: | |
I think it is ironic that people think that it would be a bad thing if Detroit got more chains. Downtown Detroit is the only downtown in the entire nation that doesn't have a large glut of national chains.
I think ultimately the "funky" neighborhoods should be where the locally owned businesses should be, leaving the downtown for the chain stores and major attractions. |
Warrenite84
Member
Username: Warrenite84
Post Number: 314
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 9:28 pm: | |
I'd like to see White Castle, Caribou Coffee(no more Starbucks,yuck), Kohls, Bad Bath & Beyond, Crate and Barrel, a Polish/or swedish/ or Rommanian type restaurant, Hardware, sporting goods, dry cleaners(any), maybe a Macaroni Grille. |
Detroitstar
Member
Username: Detroitstar
Post Number: 1119
Registered: 01-2006
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 9:41 pm: | |
My 5 chain (food) plan for redevelopment and investment through name recognition:
1. Biggby Coffee (formerly beaners) on Lower Woodward
2. Chipotle in Capital Park
3. Menna's Joint On Monroe (Compuware)
4. Buffalo Wild Wings on Grand Circus Park
5. Cheeseburger Cheeseburger on Randolph |
Detroitstar
Member
Username: Detroitstar
Post Number: 1120
Registered: 01-2006
| | Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008 - 9:54 pm: | |
As a downtown resident, I disagree with those who say we need more service stores.
There is a hardware store 5 minutes up gratiot, pharmacy, dry cleaning, and quick convenience stores. Outside of clothing and furnature, I cant think of anything that I have to travel away from downtown for.
I think more complete and a larger variety of services can be obtained later, but right now bringing in money through name recognition is key. American's think with their stomach's, which is why I support developing this front first. Bring in the people through the places they are accustomed to and the other services will follow. |