How About the Jackson Metro Area? (Canton: apartments, violent crime, neighborhood)
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I don't believe it was directly the city's fault for Sam's Club leaving Jackson, it was more indirect in the way that Jackson's property values are far lower and their crime rate is far higher. The move to Madison was influenced by the same reason that most other big box retailers are moving to the suburbs. For one, it's where the people with money and affluence are moving to, secondly the crime rates are lower, thirdly the area they were in was already seeing reduced customer traffic.
Twice in one paragraph you mentioned "crime rates." In what way was the Sams Club off County Line Rd affected by crime in Jackson, most of which takes place in residential areas far, far from the Sams Club? I understand thattheir are areas of Jackson that look terrible, and could possibly be called "under siege" by gangs and drugs. But none of these areas are anywhere near Sams Club. And I submit to you that the shoppers of Sams Club won't look any different after the move to Madison.
And let me be very clear and direct. If anyone thinks that Sams Club will magically become an all-White store by moving to Madison, that won't happen. And if it did, I doubt there are enough white-only Sams Club shoppers and white-only Sams Club employees to keep their doors open.
I had actually stopped shopping at that Sam's Club location off of County Line Rd. due to a change in both the people shopping there and the type of people working there. I no longer felt safe. I have also stopped shopping at the Target off of County Line Rd. I go to the Sam's Club in Pearl, and I go to the Target at Dogwood. I would imagine that I am not the only shopper that did this, so Sam's Club can probably make more money in Madison. I know that I would feel more comfortable that the police department in Madison would come and help me if I got robbed in the parking lot. If JPD even showed up, then I certainly wouldn't expect them to try to find the mugger. I think you should stop blaming Madison for "wooing" stores away and start blaming Jackson for not doing enough to keep them there.
I had actually stopped shopping at that Sam's Club location off of County Line Rd. due to a change in both the people shopping there and the type of people working there. I no longer felt safe. I have also stopped shopping at the Target off of County Line Rd. I go to the Sam's Club in Pearl, and I go to the Target at Dogwood. I would imagine that I am not the only shopper that did this, so Sam's Club can probably make more money in Madison. I know that I would feel more comfortable that the police department in Madison would come and help me if I got robbed in the parking lot. If JPD even showed up, then I certainly wouldn't expect them to try to find the mugger. I think you should stop blaming Madison for "wooing" stores away and start blaming Jackson for not doing enough to keep them there.
If you look up postings by my name you will find other threads where I am completely frustrated at Jackson's leadership for not being proactive, and not doing whatever possible to allow these stores to leave. Believe me, Mayor Johnson and the current city council will be held accountable...
But postings like yours end up sounding like the Pearl store is the White store and the Jackson store is the Black store. And for whatever reason White people can't seem to shop in a store where there are Black customers and employees, even if they are well-behaved. I have shopped at the Jackson Sams Club many times, and never felt unsafe or threatened by their employees or their clientele. It's friggin Sams Club, not a Dollar General on West Capitol.
My assumption is that in Mississippi, if a store or a restaurant has a Black clientele, White people won't go there, no matter how positive the environment. Jackson is 80% Black, the metro area is probably in total 40-50% Black, and the state is 30% Black. There's no where to run, unless you're headed to Vermont or Wyoming. Or Oregon... I guess it's a Mississippi thing, and explains why there are no Black customers at Haute Pig, and no White customers at E&L. "Separate but Equal" is still in effect.
It has nothing to do with black or white, but it has everything to do with the behavior of the types that have started shopping there. It also for me has to do with the fact that if a crime was to happen I would certainly not count on JPD to do anything about it if they even responded at all. I'm not saying the way I feel is right or wrong, but if I no longer feel comfortable shopping in these stores then I'm sure there are other people who feel the same way. If something could be done about all of these young people killing each other on the streets of Jackson daily then I would have no problem shopping in Jackson. When it is obvious that these kids value human life so little then why would I want to take my child anywhere where they might frequent? I do agree with you about your point of voluntary segregation. It is just the way things are here. I don't think that whites or blacks do it out of hatred of the other race or anything. I think people just go where they feel the most comfortable.
It has nothing to do with black or white, but it has everything to do with the behavior of the types that have started shopping there. It also for me has to do with the fact that if a crime was to happen I would certainly not count on JPD to do anything about it if they even responded at all. I'm not saying the way I feel is right or wrong, but if I no longer feel comfortable shopping in these stores then I'm sure there are other people who feel the same way. If something could be done about all of these young people killing each other on the streets of Jackson daily then I would have no problem shopping in Jackson. When it is obvious that these kids value human life so little then why would I want to take my child anywhere where they might frequent? I do agree with you about your point of voluntary segregation. It is just the way things are here. I don't think that whites or blacks do it out of hatred of the other race or anything. I think people just go where they feel the most comfortable.
That's just people being people. Chinatown, Little Italy, Harlem, Hell's Kitchen, Little Manilla, Koreatown, Greektown, etc.
People want to be with other people who share the same culture, etc.
It isn't just "the way it is" in Mississippi, it's the way it is everywhere.
I had actually stopped shopping at that Sam's Club location off of County Line Rd. due to a change in both the people shopping there and the type of people working there. I no longer felt safe. I have also stopped shopping at the Target off of County Line Rd. I go to the Sam's Club in Pearl, and I go to the Target at Dogwood. I would imagine that I am not the only shopper that did this, so Sam's Club can probably make more money in Madison. I know that I would feel more comfortable that the police department in Madison would come and help me if I got robbed in the parking lot. If JPD even showed up, then I certainly wouldn't expect them to try to find the mugger. I think you should stop blaming Madison for "wooing" stores away and start blaming Jackson for not doing enough to keep them there.
This ^
While I don't live in the Jackson metro area, I visit there occasionally for shopping. The Ihop next to the interstate was one such place I stopped to visit, after seeing poor customer service, a rowdy bunch of customers, and an overall lack of order inside the restaurant I left and found a nice and quiet atmosphere at the Madison Corner Cafe.
Jackson makes me feel unsafe. The hood image of the city makes most whites uncomfortable, if it were a city of hard working middle class blacks that didn't dress like thugs, things might be different.
I don't think a store having a predominately black employee force or clientele automatically makes whites not want to shop there. Most of the big box retail stores in Madison have black employees that work there. When I visited the Best Buy it was 90% black, but they were very kind people who actually genuinely wanted to help me in my shopping experience, and that didn't bother me.
I've had no experiences with Jackson PD or Madison PD, so I can't really say one is more dependable than the other. I do know Jackson ranks fairly high on the crime rate. In 2006 on Forbes Magazine it was ranked the 11th most dangerous city in the country, 7 years later it seems to have dropped out of the top 25, but who knows how much safer the streets are? They certainly don't look any safer, and that image and history will hurt businesses coming into the Jackson city limits for a very long time.
I believe that all of the people of this state who have lived here long enough know that there is an element of danger any time you are out and about. You have to know when and where you should be.
If you are going to be out at night and alone, then there are places you have no business in. I see white women jogging, alone, in the dark... crazy! In fact, you shouldn't be jogging even if you are lone big black man. It just doesn't matter!
This state has changed drastically in a short period of time(past decade) and I'm mostly speaking of crime. You have to imagine how the youth were raised and then imagine now, who are the ones now in law enforcement.
We closed one of our loan offices in Jackson and moved it to Clinton, the office was by the older Jackson Mall, and its like a ghetto hell hole in that entire area now, to much crime and well you know the rest!!!!
When I visited Renaissance in Ridgeland the parkings lots were pretty packed. I can't say it's doing well as I have not seen the sales they are bringing in, but there is no shortage of people there, I can say that much.
What you say about Madison is true, people like to go to your common retail chain store to shop in Madison more than anywhere else, because of the fancy columns, the beautiful facades that every store adorns, the art deco lamps, etc. I come all the way from Meridian to go shopping in Flowood, Ridgeland, and Madison...because Meridian doesn't have much in the way of shopping, but the Jackson suburbs do.
I had no idea Jackson police were so lazy, and they actually fight with you based on what side of the county line you're on.
So is the Krispy Kreme in Jackson or in Ridgeland? Is the TJMaxx and the strip mall there in Jackson or Ridgeland? If all those stores are in Ridgeland then I wonder if Jackson has any kind of retail chain stores....
There are a lot of people walking around looking. But I hear sales are a disappointment. Ethan Alan, I believe, closed. It's a great place to walk around in (assuming you can stand the Lite Rock blasting from speakers in the shrubbery), but the merchandise is pricey, and the lack of architectural details, once you get up close to the buildings, is rather unsatisfying. Very bland, aside from the cavalcade of stucco colors.
One place in Jackson where they did get it right is Highland Village. It's a Seventies Contemporary retail development - sort of an open-air mall. There are a good many little details like sculptures, as I remember it. Frankly, though, Jackson merchants are really rude, and after I was stared-down in a little shop run by the Opera Guild - or Symphony League - or something like that, I kind of avoided Highland Village after that (we used to drive to Covington and New Orleans, Louisiana, to shop, because people in the stores were just so much nicer). Anyway, next time you're in Jackson, it's a neat place to walk around. 'Bravo!' is a great place to have lunch. Friends have told me, though, that Highland Village has added speakers in the parking lot, blaring Elton John type garbagey music. Hopefully, the new owners will rip out the speakers, and underplant the mature shrubbery with carefully-selected plants. The place used to have beautiful plantings. But somebody dropped the ball, and the place has been coasting for a while, now. The original concept was so nice. The signage featured a carriage, as in "To the Carriage Trade", and all the landscaping (and the expensive brick they used) really did draw the Carriage Trade from all of Central Mississippi. There was even a double-decker bus from London in the Parking Lot.
Up the hill from Highland Village is a little brick building housing The Rogue, which was the menswear shop, until nearby Great Scott (where we were always treated like royalty) opened up. Anyway, the little cluster of businesses in the Rogue's building is interesting, and includes a 'Mooky's or something - a great place to have lunch. Across the Interstate is Banner Hall, which reminds me of a mini-mall we love on Rue Sainte-Catherine in Montreal. Among Banner Hall's offerings is a deli/bakery frequented by a lot of medical professionals, as well as Lemuria, the best bookstore in the state (if you can stand the loud Ole-Miss-Artsy-Style music).
'Fondren' has the hip shops, including Rainbow Whole Foods (a non-profit health food co-op). Hopefully, the sales staff in the little boutiques has ceased to snub people, as they did back in the Nineties, when I tried to shop in the area. (I would take it personally and think there was something wrong with me, had friends not had the same experiences, and had the salespeople in Covington and Monroe and Lafayette, Louisiana not been so lovely. I mean really: I'm not good enough to sell a potted rosemary tree to in Jackson? Not good enough to buy stationery in Jackson? People in Covington and Monroe and Lafayette were as nice as they could be. What's the difference? In any event, the Louisiana stores ended up getting our business.). Rainbow was the exception, although I hear that a lot of the kids working there are slinging attitude, now, too. Oh, the Computer Co-op in that same building with Rainbow offers the absolute best support for your PC.
There are a lot of people walking around looking. But I hear sales are a disappointment. Ethan Alan, I believe, closed. It's a great place to walk around in (assuming you can stand the Lite Rock blasting from speakers in the shrubbery), but the merchandise is pricey, and the lack of architectural details, once you get up close to the buildings, is rather unsatisfying. Very bland, aside from the cavalcade of stucco colors.
One place in Jackson where they did get it right is Highland Village. It's a Seventies Contemporary retail development - sort of an open-air mall. There are a good many little details like sculptures, as I remember it. Frankly, though, Jackson merchants are really rude, and after I was stared-down in a little shop run by the Opera Guild - or Symphony League - or something like that, I kind of avoided Highland Village after that (we used to drive to Covington and New Orleans, Louisiana, to shop, because people in the stores were just so much nicer). Anyway, next time you're in Jackson, it's a neat place to walk around. 'Bravo!' is a great place to have lunch. Friends have told me, though, that Highland Village has added speakers in the parking lot, blaring Elton John type garbagey music. Hopefully, the new owners will rip out the speakers, and underplant the mature shrubbery with carefully-selected plants. The place used to have beautiful plantings. But somebody dropped the ball, and the place has been coasting for a while, now. The original concept was so nice. The signage featured a carriage, as in "To the Carriage Trade", and all the landscaping (and the expensive brick they used) really did draw the Carriage Trade from all of Central Mississippi. There was even a double-decker bus from London in the Parking Lot.
Up the hill from Highland Village is a little brick building housing The Rogue, which was the menswear shop, until nearby Great Scott (where we were always treated like royalty) opened up. Anyway, the little cluster of businesses in the Rogue's building is interesting, and includes a 'Mooky's or something - a great place to have lunch. Across the Interstate is Banner Hall, which reminds me of a mini-mall we love on Rue Sainte-Catherine in Montreal. Among Banner Hall's offerings is a deli/bakery frequented by a lot of medical professionals, as well as Lemuria, the best bookstore in the state (if you can stand the loud Ole-Miss-Artsy-Style music).
'Fondren' has the hip shops, including Rainbow Whole Foods (a non-profit health food co-op). Hopefully, the sales staff in the little boutiques has ceased to snub people, as they did back in the Nineties, when I tried to shop in the area. (I would take it personally and think there was something wrong with me, had friends not had the same experiences, and had the salespeople in Covington and Monroe and Lafayette, Louisiana not been so lovely. I mean really: I'm not good enough to sell a potted rosemary tree to in Jackson? Not good enough to buy stationery in Jackson? People in Covington and Monroe and Lafayette were as nice as they could be. What's the difference? In any event, the Louisiana stores ended up getting our business.). Rainbow was the exception, although I hear that a lot of the kids working there are slinging attitude, now, too. Oh, the Computer Co-op in that same building with Rainbow offers the absolute best support for your PC.
Yes! Let me tell you when I visited the Renaissance shopping area I did a lot of looking around and very little shopping. I visited the Lucky Jean store and found a pair of blue jeans priced at $200!
The Fresh Market in that shopping area seems to get good business, and their prices aren't too unreasonable, they sell a lot in the way of spices, foods, and novelty items that you can't find at your common grocery stores. The Barnes & Noble there will probably continue to do okay since it's the only one in the area.
I have never heard of Highland Village in Jackson. Is it located on the north or east side? It seems like those are usually the somewhat nicer areas of the city. I do know of a Highland Park in Meridian, so hopefully this area paints a strong contrast to the park in Meridian which is well known for its high crime and drug trafficking.
I think I may pay the Jackson area a visit again next month and check out the Highland Village area and see if downtown has anything in the way of local shopping or dining, after that I'll probably be venturing out to Tuscaloosa or Birmingham next.
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