Mr. Downtown

There were crews from Triangle on site last week taking down some rebar and hauling off the plastic barricades. Perhaps Peacock and Kent were hard up for some cash and decided to sell some rebar for scrap? How long until the city demands that this eyesore be torn down?

Dogs on Wheels does have the best hot dogs in town. The beer cooked brats are excellent too. The thing that sets all of it apart is the toppings, specifically the sauerkraut. The Hot Dog King's sauerkraut is too mushy, and lacks flavor. It's fun to go, but if you want a mediocre hot dog at a Greenville landmark, visit Tanner's Big Orange. Dogs on Wheels, what do you think of the competition that has popped up around town? I see that guy at the corner of Main and Beattie all the time - does it effect your business? You definitely have the better position.

This space was nothing except an empty lot next to a former drive through bank building.

The "purple porno shop" near the Rutherford intersection (where the Gooder 'N Good restaurant was YEARS ago) has recently closed and the building has been painted a less atrocious color.

Poinsett Highway from Rutherford to Cherrydale is an eyesore. I'd like to see bulldozers running up and down either side of the road tearing down everything in their path. I would probably consider the phone poles to be one of the more aestheticly pleasing things along that road. Are you using a camera phone?

Yeah, that seriously ticked me off this morning when I was planning on coming down the ramp, and the city has absolutely no signage before the ramp to let you know. I ended up going the wrong freaking way on Washington because it put me in the turn lane. The city seriously needs to get its act together on street closures in this area of downtown. Spring is unusable, Broad is a mess, McBee is closed for a project that might not happen - come on traffic engineers! Get out and drive around instead of watching it happen through the windows at City Hall!

I think that I would have to vote for the Northgate Soda Shop, on N. Main. They've got excellent burgers (they get their beef ground every morning at Parkersway on Rutherford) shakes, fries (cut and fried when you order them) and is the last soda fountain in Greenville. They also have lots of great Greenville pictures from the fifties, and lots of memoribilia.

Sounds like more of the threat tactics that we heard back in January. Do it or don't. If you can't make it in the springtime with beautiful weather and lots of pedestrian traffic, perhaps it's time to hang it up.

I don't know about Montgomery Ward, but I do know that Sports Authority is still open, and will be "open during mall construction" according to their sign. I don't really understand how this works - are they tearing down everything around it and leaving it up? Butch Kirven is my new hero. I know that he didn't make the decision, but you've got to give someone credit. Moving county offices to that site would have made less than no sense.

What do you care what other people think? G-man, you're my favorite member on UP because you actually have an opinion instead of being simply a defendant of the city's policies. It is nice to have a fresh voice on here instead of a bunch of people that are just horny to see development take place. Keep on keepin' on.

Forget BPS or Cabela's or BCBG. I want an Ikea.

Thank you! I think that this idea will be a unique add to Main Street, but it does amaze me that so many people are willing to take the risk to open shops that appeal to such a narrow base. Like the Ocha Tea pudding place.

Exactly. I have to wonder who was doing the pre-sales... it shouldn't have been a real estate salesman, as that is a really good way to permenantly lose your license. I didn't realize that Pinnacle units were shells - that's actually reassuring, as the floor plans were so screwy.

It seems so fitting that this announcement has come on the same day that Vardry Ramseur, director of Donaldson Industrial Air Park, was buried. His spirit hung highly in the air at the announcement, and I know that nothing would have made him happier than something great like this happening on such a somber day.

I think that the Camperdown was hindered by location and people not believing that it would actually happen - did people that put deposits down ever get a refund? Pinnacle had wretched floorplans. Have you taken a look at the floorplans on their website? The Terrace is a lovely building in a good location with great floor plans - and it got built! The Peacock...rather 98 East McBee doesn't have any floorplans. They're selling vanilla shells. I have to wonder what will happen if the Peacock fails after opening and someone like Ramada Inn takes over. Do you want to live on top of the Ramada Inn? I'm sure it would be a pretty sweet Ramada Inn.

11:00am

^Chihuahua, too. I think that it's going to be something good. I saw someone from the GADC today and asked them about it and they just smiled.

"C" can stand for "China"

I took offense to the whole "if business doesn't pick up this month, we're out" philosophy. Almost like a threat. Perhaps they could have tried this back in November or December when lots of folks were downtown for the holidays - their location has an ideal view of Piazza Bergamo, and would have been great to watch the festivities from. Or perhaps they could have done it last fall when the weather was nice and people were out and about. Oh, and I have to say that I think that bubble tea looks pretty creepy, anyway. I don't enjoy drinking liquids with opaque "floaters."

Could it be something at the Matrix? The Matrix is on 25.

Mark Sanford is supposed to be in town 2/15/07 for a "Significant Economic Development Announcement for Greenville County" at the Poinsett Hotel. The announcement came from the GADC. Any ideas as to what this might be?

Everyone seems to be so shocked by the closings downtown in the last couple of month (or two). I am not. I think that there are a couple factors that contribute to this: 1. Everybody that has closed has been a "specialty retailer." Bentley's, Sunshine, Eden, O-Cha, Earshot. Each of these places caters to a very narrow segment of shoppers and tourists. A store like Mast General does not pigeonhole itself by just selling one specific group of products. Everyone wants to see a big bookstore or drugstore downtown, and I think that these places would thrive, as they are not limiting themselves to one very specific group that may or may not happen to stroll by while downtown. I would rather see an independent bookstore (the Open Book?) make a run at doing a really first class B&N/Borders type deal with coffee, etc., but I doubt that will happen. 2. It's less than a month after Christmas. It's the best time to get out of retail, as it's all uphill from here for the rest of the year. Please add to this list. It should come as no surprise that every retailer cannot be successful downtown. Let's try to look at the reasons and figure out a pattern for the closings that makes sense. There must be quite a few common factors.

It seems silly not to brand CU-ICAR... Can't you just see a big tiger paw on a sign with very official sounding lettering? It would seem that companies located in ICAR would want to have road front recognition on Laurens Road with at least a business park directory. or Is ICAR one of those great projects that doesn't need marketing or identity? Is it just so good of an idea that pumping it up is silly?

You know, I think that it is so funny how they have been doing the renovations at BoA plaza - They spent the last three months painting the building (and it looks good!), and they stopped at the parking garage. I can't blame them, but what do people that have no idea about the Main@Washingon project think? I understand that there is at least one building in the land that is being assembeled for the project is not for sale - and that TIC is going to end up paying full value plus some for the parcel.

Barefoot moved next door to Jersey Mike's (about 3-4 weeks ago), where the Camperdown marketing office was before their midnight moveout. My guess is that Barefoot wanted a slightly smaller space, and the landlord let them swap leases because their former location is more marketable.