Mill ave in downtown Tempe

[Patty.deville]

Originally Posted by LocoAZnative

Anyway I agree Downtown isnt what it use to be, and right now is slow since ASU is out. Once school is back it will be BAU.

If empty storefronts, unfinished buildings, and counting (pun intended) on a population that is only present 8 months of the year are acceptable as BAU, then Tempe is in serious trouble. Tempe should reverse the damage and allow Mill Ave to go back to being a collection of funky shops, dive bars, and indie restaurants that made Mill Ave a success financially and a tourist attraction.

[LocoAZnative]

Originally Posted by Patty.deville

If empty storefronts, unfinished buildings, and counting (pun intended) on a population that is only present 8 months of the year are acceptable as BAU, then Tempe is in serious trouble. Tempe should reverse the damage and allow Mill Ave to go back to being a collection of funky shops, dive bars, and indie restaurants that made Mill Ave a success financially and a tourist attraction.

A lot of the empty storefronts is because of the centerpoint project that went bust. Also, some placed move to Tempe marketplace which didnt help. I was also reading an article about how the landlords still want crazy prices for storefronts and are not willing to budge. So until they lower the rent you wont see any indie store there anytime soon.

[asufan]

Originally Posted by Patty.deville

If empty storefronts, unfinished buildings, and counting (pun intended) on a population that is only present 8 months of the year are acceptable as BAU, then Tempe is in serious trouble. Tempe should reverse the damage and allow Mill Ave to go back to being a collection of funky shops, dive bars, and indie restaurants that made Mill Ave a success financially and a tourist attraction.

I would like to know what you want the City of Tempe to do to attract funky shops, dive bars and indie restaurants. Please be specific with your reply. Are you talking subsidies by the city to only locally owned establishments?

I do agree that more local owned non-chain businesses are preferable to the chains, but it is possible for non corporate owned places to survive as well. I look at places that I assume are locally owned, such as Caffe Boa, Tavern on Mill, Monti's, House of Tricks, Restaurant Mexico, Chuckbox, etc. and they are all thriving. Meanwhile some of the chains like Pizzeria Uno and Coffee Plantations moved out, and places like Five Guys Burgers moved in. Fact is, you go to any high rent district with high pedestrian traffic, like Mill Avenue, you're going to see a lot of chains. It's when you get off the beaten path a bit that you start to see the dive's. Apache Boulevard or South Mill Avenue with lower rents would be a more appropriate place for those kinds of establishments.

[MGotcha]

I stopped going to Mill when they closed Long Wongs a few years back. At that time, it seemed like Mill was being taken over by the big chains. I do keep thinking about going back to the Chuckbox sometime!