2 Minute Market Research, What Businesses do YOU want in COS? (Colorado Springs: how much, houses)

[BizBuzzWhiz]

Focused Answer Questions

1. Which of the following would you most likely frequent?

a. coffee house b café/bistro c. bookstore d. casual lounge

2. In your opinion, which of the following business types are most successful in the “downtown” areas of Colorado Springs?

a. bars/restaurants b. bistros/ café/coffee houses c. specialty shops (chocolate, cigars, etc.) d. live entertainment / art galleries

3. What do you look for FIRST when trying out a newly opened business?

a. customer service b. atmosphere/aesthetics c. quality of good d. an interesting concept

Open Ended Questions

4. What kind of new businesses would you like to see in downtown Colorado Springs / Old Colorado City?



5. What kind of businesses does Colorado Springs / Old Colorado City need, or need MORE of?



6. Additional thoughts? Concerns? Ideas?

[Mike from back east]

1. Which of the following would you most likely frequent?
a. coffee house; b café/bistro; c. bookstore; d. casual lounge
I say b, a place with a short repertoire of good sandwiches for both breakfast and lunch, and a few decent dishes and wine for dinner. Starbucks has some breakfast sandwiches, but they are not freshly made on-site, they are microwaved and the english muffins come out hard as a rock. The corporate idiots at McDonald's won't sell you a breakfast sandwich after 10AM so to hell with them too. There are almost no places like this north of Woodmen Road in the huge Briargate area, especially along Powers. It would be nice to get a decent omelette any time of day from a non-chain eatery.

2. In your opinion, which of the following business types are most successful in the “downtown” areas of Colorado Springs?
a. bars/restaurants; b. bistros/ café/coffee houses; c. specialty shops (chocolate, cigars, etc); d. live entertainment / art galleries
Seems a lot of eateries do well downtown, there are a lot of them, and I'll only go there once in a great while to eat. I hardly ever patronize specialty shops, and we have a Rocky Mountain Chocolatier up in Briargate.

3. What do you look for FIRST when trying out a newly opened business?
a. customer service; b. atmosphere/aesthetics; c. quality of goods; d. an interesting concept
All of the above, though "concept" is not high on my list. If it's an eatery I also check the restrooms, which IMO tells the tale of how much "attention to detail" will be evident in their food -- a lousy restroom means I probably won't go back. In the way of eateries I want fresh items made from scratch, the sort of thing you'll see if you watch Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on Food Network. I'm impressed by the days-long efforts that the chefs go through on that show to put out great food, which impresses me, but huge portions (like "The Thing" at King's Chef) impresses me the wrong way.

Open Ended Questions

4. What kind of new businesses would you like to see in downtown Colorado Springs / Old Colorado City?
Whatever it is it will have to be really something to get me out of the Pine Creek area. Most of the eateries in the Promenade Shops at Briargate are quite busy most of the week, lots of disposable income up here, and IIRC there are no vacancies for shops in that set of stores right now.

5. What kind of businesses does Colorado Springs / Old Colorado City need, or need MORE of?
Can't really think of anything.

6. Additional thoughts? Concerns? Ideas?
Can't really think of anything.

[blonde79]

Focused Answer Questions

1. Which of the following would you most likely frequent?

a. coffee house b café/bistro c. bookstore d. casual lounge

2. In your opinion, which of the following business types are most successful in the “downtown” areas of Colorado Springs?

a. bars/restaurants b. bistros/ café/coffee houses c. specialty shops (chocolate, cigars, etc.) d. live entertainment / art galleries

3. What do you look for FIRST when trying out a newly opened business?

a. customer service b. atmosphere/aesthetics c. quality of good d. an interesting concept

Open Ended Questions

4. What kind of new businesses would you like to see in downtown Colorado Springs / Old Colorado City?

Trader Joe's, Baja Fresh, more Dunkin Donuts locations - I'm new to CoS and those my most missed favorites

Oh and a great Lebanese restaurant and Indian too (Lebanese Taverna - previous DMV resident and the local, non-chain restaurants were AMAZING)

As far as new businesses -> nothing too uber emo faux lame crap (ie we are so cool that we aren't cool...think Portlandia)


5. What kind of businesses does Colorado Springs / Old Colorado City need, or need MORE of?

Pretty good mix here, I do prefer the local, homegrown places and try to support small business owners when possible

6. Additional thoughts? Concerns? Ideas?

[Terytee]

Better food! We have some great places in CO Springs, but most are simply franchise chain places that you can really get anywhere.

There are foodies everywhere these days, but CO Springs isn't known for it's cuisine....at all.

Many larger cities, have those gourmet food trucks in their downtown areas, where you can get a great meal, for a reasonable price. We have none in CO Springs. Perhaps the cuisine is improving here, but not much.

I think a more diverse food culture would go over well here. Military folks travel all over the world and many develop very international tastes.

[Maynerd]

Originally Posted by Terytee

Better food! We have some great places in CO Springs, but most are simply franchise chain places that you can really get anywhere.

There are foodies everywhere these days, but CO Springs isn't known for it's cuisine....at all.

We've had threads on this before. I just don't see it.

We have Charles Court, the Penrose Room, and Golden Bee (all at the Broadmoor), the Blue Star, NOSH, Peppertree, the Famous, Jake & Telly's, Pizzeria Rustica, Margarita at Pine Creek, Paravicini's, the Craftwood, Walter's Bistro, Joseph's Fine Dining, Fratelli's, Cliff House, Slayton's, Jack Quinn's, Briarhurst Manor, Springs Orleans, Sonterra, the Black Bear Inn, the Warehouse.

None of these are franchises. All are outstanding. There are tons of people in the Springs who, for some reason, won't step foot into a place that isn't a franchise. That's their loss. But, anyone who says the Springs has nothing for foodies has never been to the Blue Star, or had James Davis' Etouffee at Springs Orleans, or had a steak prepared tableside at Peppertree.

The Penrose Room is the only five star/five diamond restaurant in the entire State of Colorado. Sure, it's expensive. You can't get world class cuisine for drive-through prices.

For a city this size, the fine dining opportunities are numerous, diverse, and terrific.

[Terytee]

I take your point, and you've got some great examples.

I agree with some that you've listed, but there's fine dining (which some of us can't afford), and then there's more diverse cuisine options.

I'm not referring to fine dining per say...not all good food has to be expensive. I'm talking about more choices for types of food.

I've been to Dallas, San Francisco, New Orleans, New York, Kansas City, and countless countries around the world, and good food is not necessarily found at the fancy places and it can be inexpensive also.

[smdensbcs]

Originally Posted by Maynerd

We have Charles Court, the Penrose Room, and Golden Bee (all at the Broadmoor), the Blue Star, NOSH, Peppertree, the Famous, Jake & Telly's, Pizzeria Rustica, Margarita at Pine Creek, Paravicini's, the Craftwood, Walter's Bistro, Joseph's Fine Dining, Fratelli's, Cliff House, Slayton's, Jack Quinn's, Briarhurst Manor, Springs Orleans, Sonterra, the Black Bear Inn, the Warehouse.

Virtually all of the "local, non-chain" restaurants (many of which are fantastic and not "fine-expensive dining" at all) are located in parts of town (and buildings) built 30-100 years ago. Same generally holds true for local non-restaurant businesses. The "new-build" areas north and east consist largely of chain-restaurants, big-box stores, etc. and look/feel virtually identical to every other suburban strip built in every other U.S. city since roughly 1980. The older, more "unique" areas work for some people. The newer, more "generic" areas work for others. Both are here, but if you only spend your time in one type of area, you'd hardly know it. I live in an area where you'd almost have to drive 15-20 minutes to even find a chain store or restaurant.

[mtngigi]

Originally Posted by Maynerd

We've had threads on this before. I just don't see it.

We have Charles Court, the Penrose Room, and Golden Bee (all at the Broadmoor), the Blue Star, NOSH, Peppertree, the Famous, Jake & Telly's, Pizzeria Rustica, Margarita at Pine Creek, Paravicini's, the Craftwood, Walter's Bistro, Joseph's Fine Dining, Fratelli's, Cliff House, Slayton's, Jack Quinn's, Briarhurst Manor, Springs Orleans, Sonterra, the Black Bear Inn, the Warehouse.

None of these are franchises. All are outstanding. There are tons of people in the Springs who, for some reason, won't step foot into a place that isn't a franchise. That's their loss. But, anyone who says the Springs has nothing for foodies has never been to the Blue Star, or had James Davis' Etouffee at Springs Orleans, or had a steak prepared tableside at Peppertree.

The Penrose Room is the only five star/five diamond restaurant in the entire State of Colorado. Sure, it's expensive. You can't get world class cuisine for drive-through prices.

For a city this size, the fine dining opportunities are numerous, diverse, and terrific.

Well said. And NOTE that the best independently-owned and operated restaurants are all on the west/southwest/downtown part of town and OCC. I'm never surprised to hear when a locally-owned restaurant that tries to make a go of it along Powers Blvd. closes down. This side of town supports non-chain restaurants. And we have a lot of great ones.

p.s. I just want a good sandwich.

[PokerMunkee]

1. Which of the following would you most likely frequent?

a. coffee house b café/bistro c. bookstore d. casual lounge


2. In your opinion, which of the following business types are most successful in the “downtown” areas of Colorado Springs?

a. bars/restaurants b. bistros/ café/coffee houses c. specialty shops (chocolate, cigars, etc.) d. live entertainment / art galleries

3. What do you look for FIRST when trying out a newly opened business?

a. customer service b. atmosphere/aesthetics c. quality of good d. an interesting concept

Open Ended Questions

4. What kind of new businesses would you like to see in downtown Colorado Springs / Old Colorado City?

A Cheesecake Factory!

5. What kind of businesses does Colorado Springs / Old Colorado City need, or need MORE of?

A real electronics store that has EVERYTHING.......like a Fry's. As someone in the IT industry, it sucks to have nothing available locally if you are in a pinch.


6. Additional thoughts? Concerns? Ideas?

Nope

[Mike from back east]

Yes, a Cheesecake Factory (or it's corporate twin "Grand Luxe Cafe" as in Park Meadows) would really ignite a resurgent downtown.