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The State of Downtown Grand Rapids Retail


GRDadof3

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  • 2 months later...

Another pizza joint coming to downtown (between Hopcat and Bar Divani). Georgio's of East Lansing.

http://blog.mlive.co...e_georgios.html

Went DT specifically to goto Georgio's w/ my sister (MSU alum) and her BF. She's been out of the country for a bit and wanted to get a slice or 2 w/o trekking an hour to E.L. before leaving the country again.

Lo and behold, we get there and the place is closed. :( I saw hours on google being 11am-10pm. Same hours were posted on the door, too. Quite a disappointment. We then (naively) walked up to One Trick Pony / The Cottage Bar. Oops! Closed, too. At least their doors said they were closed on Sunday's. :)

We proceeded to walk over to Republic and had a nice dinner.

I guess the moral of the story is 'call ahead'.

EDIT: While waiting for sister & her bf to show up, I called Georgio's number and an auto-attendant answered. "Press 12 to place an order". haha -- it just rang and rang.

Edited by grrwymg
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  • 2 months later...

I noticed today that the Muller Real Estate (next to MapCap) that went vacant a bit ago has some work being done there. That would make a really cool space for a store - but as it goes, will probably be another restaurant.

I noticed that too and asked one of the guys at MadCap, but they didn't know what was going on.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

It's only going to be a pop-up store. MLive mentioned it in the article covering Fashion's Night Out this Friday. It'll be called "AKA@38" and it'll open this Friday. Not a fan of the nu hip name. Maybe this store has a different motif from AK Rikks.

A 6 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony at 38 Commerce is planned Friday with Mayor George Heartwell and other city officials.

Anyone else feel like the mayor's cutting ribbons for everything nowadays? Did the city order too many ribbons and now is trying to get rid of them?

Edited by RegalTDP
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  • 1 month later...
  • 5 months later...

Retail incubator zones, with the DDA providing rent assistance. A similar program funded by the Prince family in Holland was very successful there.

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2011/04/rent_subsidies_on_tap_for_reta.html#cmpid=v2mode_be_smoref_face

This idea is probably buried deep in this thread somewhere..

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  • 2 weeks later...

Along similar lines, Rockford Construction is investing in a renovation of the Peck Building (Monroe Center & Division) to house retail incubators (separate from the DDA's program). My favorite part:

"The renovation plans include tearing off the brick wall along N. Division to make way for storefront windows."

Includes photos and sketches.

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Along similar lines, Rockford Construction is investing in a renovation of the Peck Building (Monroe Center & Division) to house retail incubators (separate from the DDA's program). My favorite part:

"The renovation plans include tearing off the brick wall along N. Division to make way for storefront windows."

Includes photos and sketches.

I'm sure this was in the works before the announcement was made, but you have to think the DDA and City of GR's plans to road diet the stretch of Division Ave right where they are adding these windows will only be a great help to the retailers they lure into their incubator.

I'm excited to see what happens. We were walking by here the other day and had never noticed the skylight up in the top of this building.

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I'm sure this was in the works before the announcement was made, but you have to think the DDA and City of GR's plans to road diet the stretch of Division Ave right where they are adding these windows will only be a great help to the retailers they lure into their incubator.

I'm excited to see what happens. We were walking by here the other day and had never noticed the skylight up in the top of this building.

There was a profile done of that residential space a long time ago. Maybe in Grand Rapids Magazine? (is that even around anymore?)

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I'm sure this was in the works before the announcement was made, but you have to think the DDA and City of GR's plans to road diet the stretch of Division Ave right where they are adding these windows will only be a great help to the retailers they lure into their incubator.

I bet you're right. Division anywhere north of Monroe Center is completely unfit for retail in its current state. This announcement just makes the road diet even more appealing.

There was a profile done of that residential space a long time ago. Maybe in Grand Rapids Magazine? (is that even around anymore?)

If you define a "magazine" as a booklet of press releases for local restaurants and school districts, then yes. I still have have a few older issues laying around; I'll take a look and see if I find anything.

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  • 1 month later...

Bohemia Too has closed apparently, and it looks like Quiznos in the McKay Tower has a for lease sign in the window (haven't verified if it's closed).

There's also an interesting discussion going on in the LinkedUp Grand Rapids group on LinkedIn, most of which is about retail downtown:

http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=54411742&gid=64260&commentID=42663296&trk=view_disc

Maybe downtown should run an experiment of free two-hour parking at all the meters that are near retail areas, and see if it increases traffic.

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Bohemia Too has closed apparently, and it looks like Quiznos in the McKay Tower has a for lease sign in the window (haven't verified if it's closed).

There's also an interesting discussion going on in the LinkedUp Grand Rapids group on LinkedIn, most of which is about retail downtown:

http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=54411742&gid=64260&commentID=42663296&trk=view_disc

Maybe downtown should run an experiment of free two-hour parking at all the meters that are near retail areas, and see if it increases traffic.

All tables, chairs, equipment, etc. inside that Quiznos are gone. Pretty sure it's closed.

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