Our fair city, once a bustling river port, is now a fading memory of it's former self...six blocks of wonderful turn of the century architecture.
Shop after shop closes down, unable to maintain, as a city administration allows it to die.
A few years ago they took out the parking meters, BUT, the ordinance was way too vague
for ordinary humans to comprehend...
Three hour limits were set for each space, which is great for shoppers,
BUT...
it has been consumed by uncaring business owners, their employees and low-rent tenants.
Never a space left for shoppers, as every three hours you can stand in front of your empty shop and watch the dead-beats walk out and move their vehicle to another space.
It closed my shop down and many others and we all say the same thing...
PARKING!!!
Oh yeah, and a side note, there is a free parking lot one block away and a metered 10 hour parking lot a half block away...
go figure...sooooooooooooooooooooooo...
Our local mall is being renovated after years of neglect and HUGE rents and is desperately seeking tenants...so Piper and I drove out yesterday to check out the spaces available.This space was once a restaurant and has tons of windows, right now they are covered in paper so you can't see the mess inside while it awaits someones vision to start anew.
OK, so try to envision Friends' Candle Shed opening up shop in this quaint lil' space...
This would be the mall entrance after it's door are installed again...
Black, red and white checkered tiles, hanging lights on every window, great for displays and is about the same size that we have right now.Can you feel it yet...
We will paint the ceiling tiles black and the walls an industrial gray.
There is also a small bar sink which would be perfect for 'The Soap Bar' to set up shop, as we all know that handling fresh bars of home-brewed soaps can be messy.
We love the look of the red ceiling fans...there is an ol' timey feel to this space that would easily pull off a country look, a garden look, a french bistro and with the wall of stainless steel from the former kitchen, we could actually do an industrial look...
So whatta ya think...are we nuts(don't answer that)...We are right near a major entrance where 'Tan World' just opened up and has tripled their biz since moving here..
A gourmet sub shop, 'Jimmy Johns' is opening across from us, and 'Berlin's Pro Shop' silk screen' is right next door...hmmmm...T-shirts...
Down the center is a clothing resale store, 'Shop to Drop' that has tripled her biz since moving out of the downtown and is opening up the space right next door too, for kids' clothes...
A Christian book/card store has moved in from the downtown...same scenario...
tripled biz.
Hazel Greens' bridal shop and alteration biz moved from the downtown 5 years ago to the mall, biz is booming and she will open a tea room next door to her store soon.
So all in all Piper and I have made a decision, something must change
and if the city won't...we must.
This means in the winter months we won't have to wait days for the streets to be plowed, all the leaves from the landscaping trees won't be blowing in the front door, PLENTY of parking right out front...
and best of all, we may see the mall-walkers back and new life set to a once packed mall...
It's a start and I think we will pull it off...
If you build it, they will come!
