Originally Posted by betts

I think for retail to be reasonably sure of success, unless it's a coveted brand we don't have anywhere else in town or the kind of merchandise that appeals to visitors, we need retail in volumes. People don't want to drive downtown to go to just one store, and not that many people shop over their lunch hour. Retail will be far more likely to succeed when we have people living downtown and it's an interesting destination for people who don't live downtown. Speaking of which, I was driving down Sheridan the other day, which I almost never do, and saw, just west of downtown a block long strip of old stores on both sides of the street I'd never noticed before. That's the kind of area that, in a place like Chicago, would be developed, with retail, restaurants and clubs.