Shopping Downtown

[balistpgh]

My wife and I were in downtown today for a variety of reasons and ended up shopping there for the day. While I work downtown and live in the city, I rarely find time to shop there. In fact, I really didn't think there was much there. In any case, I have to say I was blown away by the Burlington Coat Factory on Sixth Ave. Great prices, great stuff! My wife picked up a new Anne Klein suit and Guess winter coat for a combined $150. That is amazing!! I went around the corner and picked up a few books at the Barnes & Noble.

With the Home & Garden Show at the convention center, it was really pleasant to see downtown hopping on a saturday. I kept saying to my wife how encouraged I felt with the shopping and the bustling of the downtown area.

[UrbaniDesDev]

I am always amazed at how crowded the sidewalks are downtown. From absolutely all walks of life. You will not see this density in Cleveland, Columbus and few other cities of Pittsburgh's size. None that I know of. You were there in the middle of winter on a week end. Spring is coming. Go downtown around lunch hour on a sunny weekday. Look up Fifth Avenue, Liberty Avenue or down Smithfield. It looks like Manhattan. It doesn't surprise me that developers would be trying to capitalize on this. What does surprise me is they are telling us they will need huge government hand outs to do it.

[balistpgh]

Lunch hours are always crowded. What surprised me was that this was a Saturday and it was packed. Usually 6pm rolls around and there isn't anyone downtown. Whenver I work late and walk out, it is a ghost town. I know there are some diehards on this board who would disagree with me on this point but downtown does shut down by 6pm. I see the potential and want it to succeed and if more people view it as a place to shop on the weekends or catch a great meal during the week, the better. Right now there are limited options for food and they don't stay open late. Case in point, brought an out of towner to Max & Erma's at 7:30pm on a Wednesday night and we were told they were closing at 8pm. Where do you go if you don't want to spend $50 per head, like a Palomino's. There are just very few options.

[PghUSA]

For its size Pittsburgh's downtown is gifted with lots of foot traffic. I just hope the developers truly do capitalize on this (developers sometimes have the potential to unknowlingly ruin a good thing). Also it looks like O'Connor and Costa are changing the atmosphere with the kids and crime issues recently. Just in time for the ASG!

[TheGerbil]

There are some cool stores Downtown, definitely. I like the Nicholas Coffee Company in Market Square. It's a nice place just to walk around in, with all the candy and coffees and teas, and a display of cool teapots by the door, etc.