We know market research firms pay big bucks for something we’re about to give them for free: real life, honest to goodness, target market Capitol Hill consumers.
No bother.
CHS commenters spend so much energy writing about what they would like to see open in various parts of the Hill and retail spaces that we decided to post Bullseye Creative’s survey that will be used to help inform the multi-million dollar overhaul of Broadway Market we reported on earlier this week.
Maybe someday we’ll make a dime off of advertising from one of the new businesses you suggest. Or a quarter. But if we do, we know right where that quarter is going. Banana!
Tell QFC to stop under-staffing their checkout areas. In return I’ll stop over-squeezing the $3 avocados.
Passive aggressive and has no impact on QFC.
It would be nice to see Broadway turn into a real shopping district. Something like Robson Street in Vancouver. I don’t know how the shops on Broadway even survive. How many African junk/retro-second hand clothing/incense burning kitsch shops does a city need? Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to see Broadway turn into University Village. I would like to see Broadway do what Pike/Pine is doing – attracting edgy, hip, home-grown clubs/restaurants and specialty shops. I’d LOVE to have some higher end clothing retailers up here too. Not necesaarily a Marios or Butch Blum, but something pretty darn close to that. Broadway Market should make it’s second floor easily accessible from multiple entry points. It should invite people upstairs for a shopping/dining experience. Maybe a little food court and a Vivace coffee stand with some nice retail options. Keep the gym, relocate La Puerta to street level, and make that second level shine.
right before the recession I ran a neighborhood survey asking what people wanted in the eagerly anticipated new buildings on Madison between 19th and 23rd. Here’s the answers
Suggestion, # %
restaurant 32 15%
coffee 22 11%
café 14 7%
bookstore 11 5%
hardware store 11 5%
bar 9 4%
bakery 6 3%
clothing 5 2%
deli 4 2%
gift shop 4 2%
pizza 4 2%
bistro 3 1%
toy store 3 1%
total replies 207
(apologies for lack of formatting: I tried)
“Passive aggressive and has no impact on QFC. “
It’s a joke, son.
I am surprised you could comment without your big dictionary words Maus.
I agree. Very often, when I go to checkout, there is only one checker and a substantial line. Most stores have an efficient system to call in another checker quickly as needed…but not at this QFC…they don’t care.
And I refuse to use the self-checkout machines on principle…all they do is increase QFC’s profit…and using them is kind of an anti-human experience.
And bring back the movie theater!
Where will the gym go if you bring back the movie theater? Let’s not forget, the movie theaters went because not enough people patronized them. With several gazillion-screen cinemas downtown on Pike and Pine the same thing would happen again. The gym has been great for Broadway Mkt, it brings a lot of people through that space.
Broadway Market is going to have the same problem that Broadway Market has had for years. High rents. I’ve been in the area for 17 years and the only tenant that I’ve seen there all the time has been the shoe repair guys on the north end of the market. If management of Broadway Market would give a rat’s patout about their tenants and encourage them and keep the place up it would go a long way towards making the market vital. One of the more stupid moves was putting the QFC in on two levels requiring an elevator to complete your shopping. A multi-level supermarket is a boneheaded move.
And all the criticisms about QFC need to be made to QFC. Broadway Market just happens to be the place where there’s a QFC. It’s a poor location but that’s QFC’s decision.
Those of us who have lived here the past few decades remember when the upstairs of Broadway Market was a movie theater and a restaurant (Mary’s, wasn’t it?) and the ground level housed Bulldog News in its center atrium, w/ B&O and the Massage Shop adjacent. At one time, there was a Gap and a Garden Botanika and Urban Outfitters was larger. There was also a small CD music store. Obviously, magazines and CD shops aren’t viable to the degree they were and couldn’t generate the rent in this era anyhow. And yes, the Gap and Garden Botanika were the dreaded chain stores, but they brought in enough foot traffic to allow for B&O and Bulldog and the other independent outlets. Ideally, Broadway Market needs a combination of the two to become interesting again. QFC moving taking over most of the square footage made the whole space utilitarian, but not at all interesting.