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THE Downtown Market updates


GRDadof3

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  • 1 month later...

We went to the Downtown Market for the first time today. It was much better than I expected it to be. I also was surprised at the food prices. Most of the places are slightly out of my price-range if I wanted to get fresh food there everyday. However, the prices are still cheap enough that I could still shop there occasionally. The Market is still super busy too, and that makes me fairly confident that a full grocery store could survive downtown. As long as they make it a (reasonably-priced) destination, I think one could work.

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Short's is getting ready to expand their brewpub in Bellaire. It seems like it would be hard for the owners, who I believe are still based in Bellaire/Elk Rapids area, to manage a LARGE brewpub down here.

I agree with GRDad about their capacity to expand while managing their Bellaire expansion.  I do think a Short's brewpub in that location would be a huge hit.  They have a TON of fans in the GR region and a highly recognized and respected brand.

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I love to speculate and since some of the players are off the table due to other projects:

- Bells at the GR airport and their UP project

- Shorts, expanding their current facility

- Arcadia, new project in Kalamazoo

I'll with Greenbush as my out of the box choice. They have a large Chicago following, are growing rapidly and never heard of them before I tried a few recently. A definite up and comer and would be an awesome fit with the market's vibe.

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  • 6 months later...

Maddies sorry. It was the pasta place across from the meat place. From what I understand the taco joint is very successful.

 

Miss Maddie's. If they did close, it's without much surprise. They didn't have full kitchen capabilities so they weren't able to even make their pasta in their vendor space, just pre-packaged. Kind of defeats the purpose in a "fresh" market atmosphere.

 

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2013/08/downtown_markets_newest_vendor.html

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I love to speculate and since some of the players are off the table due to other projects:

- Bells at the GR airport and their UP project

- Shorts, expanding their current facility

- Arcadia, new project in Kalamazoo

I'll with Greenbush as my out of the box choice. They have a large Chicago following, are growing rapidly and never heard of them before I tried a few recently. A definite up and comer and would be an awesome fit with the market's vibe.

 

i would have totally posted this in another subject area, but, like, i couldn't find a good one, so, like, here's what i heard. um, so I was like toootally hangin' with the groovy dudes at purple east, and like, they were clearing out the front showroom 'cause they got a new owner or something like that, and, like, they want to put apartments in the old skateboard ramp, which would be sweeeeet! and, um, they want to attract a brewery or something like that, too, which, like, would be, like, toooootally awesome. (Shorts, man, shorts!)  but seriously, a brewery in purple east would, like make competition for the market who is ALSO lookin' for a brewery. could be some serious drama, man! i don't want to drink with soccer moms, anyways, so you'all know where my vote goes! just sayin'. so anyways, it's what they said, but i, like, didn't see any signed leases or anything like that. both are within walkin' distance from founders, and that's all i care about. peace out, urban dudes and dudettes!  

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  • 4 months later...

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2014/10/new_holland_brewing_plans_brid.html#incart_river

 

No New Holland for the market. Wonder if the Market whiffed on New Holland or New Holland didn't want the market. 

 

Plus, I know the Market is an Art Prize venue, but with the amount of unused space within the market, I think they missed an opportunity to have more work (people love places with quantity of Art Prize entries)

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No New Holland for the market. Wonder if the Market whiffed on New Holland or New Holland didn't want the market.

Plus, I know the Market is an Art Prize venue, but with the amount of unused space within the market, I think they missed an opportunity to have more work (people love places with quantity of Art Prize entries)

 

This just baffles me.. Why is there so much empty space?  Is it one of these brilliant government schemes where they say it cost $X per foot to build it, so that's what we need to lease it for or it will sit empty?  Or will they bend on rent, but no one is interested at any price?  Honestly, we live fairly close to this place, and had high hopes.  I don't want to say it's a failed project, but it hasn't exactly gotten off to a good start.  We've gone there maybe twice to see some of the outside things (none of which required this giant building...).  Going inside is a non-starter.  It makes Whole Foods prices seem Meijer-cheap.  Now there's an idea--they should just sell the whole place to Meijer for a dollar.  I bet they could fill it up and make everyone who lives downtown a lot happier than this Market ever will.  :D

Edited by x99
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This just baffles me.. Why is there so much empty space?  Is it one of these brilliant government schemes where they say it cost $X per foot to build it, so that's what we need to lease it for or it will sit empty?  Or will they bend on rent, but no one is interested at any price?  Honestly, we live fairly close to this place, and had high hopes.  I don't want to say it's a failed project, but it hasn't exactly gotten off to a good start.  We've gone there maybe twice to see some of the outside things (none of which required this giant building...).  Going inside is a non-starter.  It makes Whole Foods prices seem Meijer-cheap.  Now there's an idea--they should just sell the whole place to Meijer for a dollar.  I bet they could fill it up and make everyone who lives downtown a lot happier than this Market ever will.  :D

 

Having been to Pike Place Market in Seattle, it's kinda hard to look at our market as anything but a super sanitized, hideously overpriced, and a beautifully boring establishment. A great combo in Forrest Hills, EGR, Ada or Ottawa County, but it's a gamble down there. All of the low-income housing going up wont help things that's for sure.

 

Not exactly 100% fair to them. They are new and not a tourist destination. However, they have to be wondering what can be done to make this a normal destination for people because you cannot survive on curiosity traffic alone. The Fulton Market is always bursting at the seems but traffic here has seemed to have dropped off. Didn't one place there already close shop?

 

I can totally see Meijer or some other grocery chain having to buy the whole lower floor in the future and restructure it into a regular grocery. But I hope this works out. It's just a sad fact that while many urban folks in GR will talk for hours about wanting places like this, they seem to want it for the sake of saying it is there and then not really supporting it, like the downtown book store.

Edited by GR_Urbanist
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We've gone there maybe twice to see some of the outside things (none of which required this giant building...).  Going inside is a non-starter.  

 

Quite an opinion for having been twice.

 

We go regularly. Get a taco, some chocolate, ice cream.. even an app and some wine.  It's busy sometimes, not busy other times.  Perhaps my impression is different because I see it as a fun destination for a bite to eat, versus looking to buy my groceries there.

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