They come and they go
Another shop closing on Grand Avenue. The Limited has a limited number of days, this photo was taken yesterday, so I guess there are only 2 days left now.Let's hope a local business takes that spot. Something that's not a national chain (unless it's a mini Target or something).
posted by Tom Falco at 8:12 AM
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18 Comments:
Why do you care if it is a national chain? They are not the devil. Plus, they are the only ones who can afford the rents.
Because we prefer character in the Grove over mass marketing stores, just like Park Slope, Brooklyn.
You say, "Because we prefer..."
Who is WE??? Is WE a bunch of old grove 'activists' who sit around all day not working and looking to cause problems with ANYTHING that CHANGES the grove from the way it was in 1967? The same WE who is likely renting an old shanty house with some money that their uncle left them when he died?
These people need to get a job, pay taxes and move forward to the year 2008.
Well, I don't know about that, but I run a multi million dollar business and I pay taxes and work 12 hours a day, and my friends -- all of us 20s to 40s, prefer funky one-of-a-kind places rather than chain stores in the Grove.
Your next comment should have your name and email please please, or it won't see the light of day. Because you come across as a developer or lobbyist and we all find you to be a joke.
Thank you.
Not a developer or a lobbyist. I'm just someone who can't understand why everything done or not done in the Grove has to be so contested/controversial. I would agree that one-of-a-kind shops certainly might have character, but that does not mean that ALL stores with national backing are bad for the grove.
Did I not say that Target would be nice?
Do you not read this blog and see that I shop at The Fresh Market and eat at the Cheesecake Factory, go to Starbucks almost daily and use the 24 Hour Fitness Gym, McDonalds, Taco Bell and so on?
Why don't you read the whole freakin' blog before you put me down for one sentence? Enough.
I guess that is where WE went wrong. I didn't mean the WE comment above to suggest that YOU personally were necessarily the problem.
I do read and enjoy your blog and am well aware of the places you shop and eat as stated above. I it is more the constant bitching by many in the Grove that gets to me. Just venting.
See you at Starbucks or at that Mini-Target ;) Thanks and keep blogging.
Wow! I didn't expect a heated argument to blow over the Limited closing on Mayfair! Anyhow, I do like the idea of having small one-of-a-kind stores in the area vs. massive chain retailers, but I'm not sure that the problem surrounding the Mayfair issue can be fixed that easily... I have seen so many businesses closing down their doors over the last couple of years that I'm starting to think that there is really something very wrong with the people running the property management of that place... The new bookstore seems like a cool place, but I'm worried we will be losing it the same way we lost Banana Republic, Wet Willies and countless other businesses that at least I, as a local, used to frequent, and preferred over taking a long stressful trip to the beach or a mall... As for the mini Target, I guess it would have to be pretty darn small though :) I had more hope of it opening up at the old miracle center location on Coral Way (building is big enough)...
Grapevine, it was the "We", you tend to mix I and "We" a lot. I mean your blog is yours, it's not a multifacited group writing in a completely objective manner. Which is fine, it's yours, but not "we"... or ours, but you do take the time to keep it going so thanks for that!
I like your blog and I read it about every few days, but I do not agree with everything you support, but as I have written here several times, it's disturbing to see these store leaving - national chains or not... I just want the Grove to have businesses in business.
And today finally got to stop by the new Book Store, and it's well done!
later,
bill anderson
Heck, Grapevine! I don't have a beef about you using the word "we". Actually, I happen to agree with you on that one and I don't live in a shack or have a rich uncle either.
My beef with you is that you refer to your friends as "'20s to '40s". Well, that really sucks. I'm 51 and many of my friends are of my ilk. We don't get included in "We"?
Let's just say the "we" was an editorial "we" like "We are not amused," and end this already.
Hope its any type of business! Preferable to seeing one more empty store at Mayfair
The problem is alot of the grove residents don't support the local small business's . They rather go to Coral Gables or south miami then support the stores here who pay taxes that pay for local services. think about it next time you leave the neighborhood...
My husband thinks I support the Grove stores TOO much!
After paying $11000 in taxes and $6000 in home insurance in order to live in the Grove, I don't have the money needed to shop in the Grove. Stores in the Grove do not cater to the real people. I hardly ever see a sales rack in any of these stores, unless they are going out of business. (Jus d'Orange is closing, by the way.) To me, the stores seem to want the business of the tourist and the younger set with disposable income. You think the stores are the ones paying for the local services? Think again. Its the homeowners that pay, and we pay big time. And guess what? The local services suck. We can't get trees trimmed on city property, trash piles up everywhere, and cops magically disappear as cars race through our small streets.
Don't get me wrong, I love the Grove. The trees, the bay, the smell of jasmine in the air, the warm winters and the tropical rainfalls of summer all keep us here, hoping that we can afford it for one more year before we are taxed out of our family homes. But I don't think anyone opened a store in the Grove concerned about how they could please the average Grove homeowner. Not the new wealthy homeowners, but the moderate income ones that have lived here for years. The artists and musicians that made the Grove so popular are a dying breed.
Nowhere have the words of Joni Mitchell rang so true as they do in Coconut Grove. Sometimes I imagine that she wrote this when she was staying in the Grove. It was the time period when high rises started to appear on Bayshore.
"They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."
See you at Marshall's.
The problem with supporting/not supporting local/ non local stores is a business problem and sometimes it seems it is made almost into a religious choice.
Businesses are in business to make money. If a store doesn't offer appealing merchandise (whether or not it has character, not character, whatever) then it deserves to go out of business.
Not having parking, for example, is part of that package. You can fight traffic and outrageous parking places and shop the Limited in the Grove... or go to Dadeland and find the Limited AND parking at the same time.
My experience with "local" Grove stores is that they offer, in general, funky merchandise that I don't want or overpriced merchandise that I can get somewhere else cheaper. When they have offered OK stuff (e.g., Rani's) the parking is so inconvenient as to make it a moot point. I'll go to the Falls.
When local stores cater to local buyers, you will see success, until then... what can I tell you. They probably deserve to go under.
A Target wouldn't be a bad idea, but you know that people will raise a shitstorm about it. Now that they've lost the Home Depot battle (I went there the other day for the first time, they do have it setup really nice for being a Home Depot), their new topic would be to fight Target.
Last I heard, the old Miracle Center was going to be converted into a shopping center much like Dadeland Station with a Target and other such stores.
You don't have one fact straight Anonymous.
First off, Home Depot didn't win anything, they are practically on their way out, they are laying off people and only morons shop there.
Secondly, I counted 5 cars in their lot today. I don't think they are long for the place, unless they plan on staying in the red out of spite.
Marshalls is going to the Miracle Center, not Target and it is not going to be converted into a Dadeland Station -- it is being made into lofts.
Get your facts straight.
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