Last night I was walking around downtown with a couple of friends, and one of them hadn't been in the Skybridge at night, so we headed up there. When we got up there I started to wonder if North was having their prom in the Skybridge instead of the RiverCenter. There were over a dozen prom-goers hanging out in the middle of the bridge and taking pictures and having their pictures taken. It was clear that younger generations don't have such a problem with Davenport's "bridge to nowhere." It was also neat to see all the people strolling around downtown in prom dresses and tuxedos.It reminded me of one of my ideas to get people downtown. It goes back to the days before
Abercrombie & Fitch opened in Northpark, and people had to drive to Iowa City to buy their $50 tshirts and ruined hats. I figured if they were willing to drive almost an hour to Coral Ridge, they'd be more than willing to drive downtown and find a parking place. They would practically walk across hot coals. Now, as those of you with kids of that age know, there's a new store selling $60 ruined jeans (Seen at right) and ruined hats: Hollister. One may already be headed for Northpark, but if not, I think that the Parker building would be an excellent place for a trendy store such as this. Toss some incentives Hollister's way, and suddenly a whole new generation of people are doing their shopping downtown.
9 comments:
Right, dream on young punk!
Talk to any developer, besides location, location, location, you need traffic. You would need incentives to at least ten hot stores and management by Simon Properties. 7 million could be a good start, wait that cash went to the skybridge.
And do not forget the free parking.
So you think kids would be less likely to find a parking spot and plug a meter than to drive an hour to Coral Ridge?
Incentives... LMAO...
Downtown shoppingwill be the force of individual business people willing to take a risk.
Having now lived in the QC for 8 years I see absolutely ZERO reason to have a business located downtown.
I just read the article and the comment you mentioned. Sometimes its amazing that these people can operate a computer. Either that or the Times posted comment to get people all riled up.
Our best bet is to make the surrounding central city ultra great and clean and the best most uniquely renovated place to live and THEN..... we may see business people attracted back here. But, the people at Davenport ONE don't seem to get that concept - neither do our city planners. They think thier job is to create more low income housing.
Those jeans with the tears and holes, and the funky hats really are popular among the downtown crowd. Hardly a day goes by that you see multitudes of "trendies." Just check out the JLCS about the time they hand out the free lunches, and all of those downtowner's are dressed in that garb.
That's true! Maybe they're not homeless, they're just "breaking in" the jeans for Abercrombie? I know I should be making money selling my $40 jeans for $60 once I've worn them out.
Seriously though, as much as I dislike stores like Hollister, I think a store that people will visit at all costs is a good starting point for downtown retail. I'm sure even without incentives that the rent is cheaper for the first floor of that building than a similar sized mall store. Its also a pretty high visibility location at one of the main downtown intersections.
Once you make most clothing readily available to most teens it will lose it's appeal, just ask The Gap. Teens want people to know that they did drive through Iowa City or got a t-shirt from a surf shop on Spring Break.
And yes it is about paying to park because these days I carry hardly any spare change.
Highly visible intersections, hmmmm, Brady & Locust, Brady & Kimberly, Spring & Kimberly, Division & Kimberly all have space that has gone to things like dollar stores, etc.
Post a Comment