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Center City Philadelphia has the 3rd most educated population in the US among downtown residents (% with college degree, Actually Center City Philly is #1 in the US among the percentage with advanced degrees)
1 Midtown Manhattan 71.5%
2 Chicago 67.6%
3 Philadelphia 66.7%
4 Boston 63.6%
5 Denver 48.5%
Center City Philadelphia has the 3rd most educated population in the US among downtown residents (% with college degree, Actually Center City Philly is #1 in the US among the percentage with advanced degrees)
1 Midtown Manhattan 71.5%
2 Chicago 67.6%
3 Philadelphia 66.7%
4 Boston 63.6%
5 Denver 48.5%
Philly has pretty good shopping but overall I would probably but a few cities ahead of it. Seattle also seems pretty good on shopping - These two are probably close, the Mall in DT Seattle is far better than the Gallery in Philly but overall I would give the edge to street shopping in Philly, especially Rittenhouse row area and Old City
Welcome to Rittenhouse Row Philadelphia (http://www.rittenhouserow.org/index2.html - broken link)
Although their downtowns are certainly on two different scales, shopping is one aspect that Center City admittedly does not adequately "punch its weight." Ironically, Philadelphia was home to some of the first department stores in the US (Wanamaker's and Strawbridge's) and has a strong department store history. Here is a street scene from the early 1900's:
However, having fallen much more victim to suburbanization and disinvestment than a much newer city like Seattle, the shopping scene has needed much time to recover in Philly (although some great strides have been made in recent years, particularly on the higher-end range). The city has also been much more aggressive in recent years as far as attracting more retailers, and one notorious shopping corridor (Market Street East) will hopefully be getting a much-needed face lift. Also, were it not for having one of the largest upscale suburban shopping malls in the country a mere 20 miles from downtown (King of Prussia), I assure you this would not be a contest, and Philadelphia's shopping scene would be on a whole other caliber.
All in all, although I've never had the opportunity to visit Seattle, it appear that the city does have a very strong downtown shopping core. However, I'm not sure how it compares to Philadelphia's downtown shopping demand of $491.5 million and an aggregate income among downtown residents of $4.9 billion. Being that downtown Seattle truly does not have the same level of employment and residents as Center City Philadelphia, I would think a lot of the shopping demand would have to come from tourism.
Sorry thought I was on a better shopping distric thread?
well yes it is but was providing a source to dispute another claim
and I agree this is about shopping...
Quote:
Originally Posted by ironcouger
I would say in history Philidelphia trumps Seattle but really to say its tops in everything without any facts your blowing hot air.Without debate theres many thing Seattle also Beats Philadelphia. Like High tech Microsoft ,Amazon.com,Nintendo .Coffee culture ,music scene But there is several areas phily beat Seattle also .
not coffee scene etc. but then again we both only reacted to a post from someone else, am confused why I was called out right after you did the same though...
heck, even in coffee, though Seattle may have Starbucks and Seattle's Best Coffee Co, Philly is no slouch in that one of the best (if not the best!) coffee bars in America is right in Philly:
Now, of course, these are all subjective narratives, and like Philly is known for its cheesesteak, Seattle is known for its coffee. So overall, Seattle wins the argument on coffee just as Philly would with the cheesesteak (or pulled pork) sandwich. But my illustrative point with this info is that Philly is quite underestimated in many departments. Good retail (and good coffee!) being good examples.
Location: I live in the Seattle neighborhood of Belltown. I live in a nice building called Mosler Lofts.
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Philly vs. Seattle? Even though I live in Seattle I actually like Philadelphia better. As far as shopping goes I would say that both are about equal. So take your pick here. Anyway you slice it both are close. San Francisco and Boston are both very overrated. I lived in San Francisco and I just don't get why people make a big deal about it. Vancouver, British Columbia is a way better city and I like shopping there better. SF is not any better then Seattle. That is why I left SF to come back to Seattle. Boston is like SF in that it's also overrated. I don't think the shopping in Boston is all that great or special. I would put Boston and SF in my top 10 maybe but not my top 5. I don't think you can argue with New York being number one and Chicago being number 2. New York and Chicago are clearly the best two cities for shopping in this country if you like a great downtown feel and experience.
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