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Storefront's vacant

Now I wonder why, in this location, there are so many Storefronts that are vacant?  All around the nation we are seeing near unprecedented and great growth and a booming new economy that has been dormant for so long yet here there appears to be nothing like that.  Wonder what kind of government this city has?  How about what leadership this State has?  I think that the answer to the last two questions may shed light on why so many storefronts in this one city may be vacant.  The median cost of housing here is outrageous I can only imagine what business property must cost, not to mention the regulations and having to step over human debris on the sidewalks in this specific city.

Be as the Bereans ( Acts 17:11 )

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Its much the same in Seattle, the largest open air toilet in the world.  NYC is known for the great number of small store fronts with a variety of services -- restaurants, cafes, boutiques, etc.  However, they have almost no area for backroom storage, relying on several deliveries daily from small trucks.  Mayor Bloomberg did his best to shut down such deliveries, which would have shut down the shops.  

New York and it's condensed shopping areas are necessary, I believe, much because of the way people live so close together in apartments and condo-buildings there isn't the parking spaces and people mostly get around by walking, subway, and mass transit so the many various small shops can easily thrive.  It also reminds me of many years ago pre-1960's before the availability of traveling easy and pre-supermarkets where you had many different neighborhood stores that served a much smaller area.  Lots of people can't imagine that because of the large stores like WalMart, Publix, Foodland etc..  I remember the small grocery/multi-item stores where in a city you might have 2 to 3 small stores per neighborhood that may be located 5 or more blocks apart.  Many people, that didn't have cars, would walk to these stores and depend on them for their grocery shopping.  

In many large or condensed cities, you have small specialty stores that thrive because people don't travel away from their homes potentially because of the terrible traffic they would have to navigate or because they don't want to give up their parking place or rely on a bike or other transportation (i.e. they don't own a car)

gbrk posted:

New York and it's condensed shopping areas are necessary, I believe, much because of the way people live so close together in apartments and condo-buildings there isn't the parking spaces and people mostly get around by walking, subway, and mass transit so the many various small shops can easily thrive.  It also reminds me of many years ago pre-1960's before the availability of traveling easy and pre-supermarkets where you had many different neighborhood stores that served a much smaller area.  Lots of people can't imagine that because of the large stores like WalMart, Publix, Foodland etc..  I remember the small grocery/multi-item stores where in a city you might have 2 to 3 small stores per neighborhood that may be located 5 or more blocks apart.  Many people, that didn't have cars, would walk to these stores and depend on them for their grocery shopping.  

In many large or condensed cities, you have small specialty stores that thrive because people don't travel away from their homes potentially because of the terrible traffic they would have to navigate or because they don't want to give up their parking place or rely on a bike or other transportation (i.e. they don't own a car)

True, to a point.  I remember about seven small mom and pop stores in Sheffield and can still point out the buildings or locations.  They sold a number of items, including produce.  My grandmother used to request the shop owner save a banana stalk after the fruit was sold.  She'd put it in the chicken house.  Bugs would be attracted to the stalk.  Later, she'd burn the stalk.  Liberty Supermarket was considered uptown. Now, its produce section in winter would be smaller than Aldi's.  They had rotisserie chicken -- one at a time. 

Last edited by direstraits

I also remember the penny candy and if the store had a deli, or something like that, some of those sandwiches they would make seemed soooo good.  Loved those bologna sandwiches that they would make by slicing the bologna, from the roll, fresh and thick just like Arby's does with their roast beef.  Then many of the stores wouldn't have the space to cool down their soft drinks so you would get them from a barrel filled with ice.  Cracker Barrel does that with some of their Orange drinks.   

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Ahhh yeah ... RC Cola (or as you say RoC Cola) and remember Double Cola as well?  One of them I remember being bottled and made in Chattanooga Tennessee but I can't remember which one.  And don't forget the "Moon Pie" that goes with that RoC Cola.  Moon Pies was, and still, it, made in Chattanooga, Tennessee by the Chattanooga Bakery.  Little Debbies (McKee Bakery) was also made in Chattanooga on Dodds Avenue for the longest time then moved their whole operations out to Collegedale, Tennessee which is just a little bit North of Chattanooga, just off I-75.  The original McKee bakery, that made Little Debbies, was only two blocks from the house I grew up in.  In the community of East Lake in Chattanooga.  In that same community and just down the street was the Cris Craft Boat company's factory where many a wooden boat was built.  Adjacent to that boat factory (which was really not that large in size) was several small shotgun homes that was known as factory homes where some of their employees lived, adjacent to the plant where they worked.  It was also on Dodds Avenue.  Also within a 4 block radius of McKee bakery was at least 4 of those neighborhood mom & pop store/grocery/markets.

Last edited by gbrk

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