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Downcity/Providence Retail

AriPVD

By AriPVD
in Providence

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basachs Burg

basachs

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The Bay is awesome. The one in Montreal especially, but all of them are pretty good. They are pretty entrenched in Canada though, and are successful with the Bay and Zellers brand, along with a home store I think. Doubtful they would expand.

Another Canadian dept store that was good was Eaton's, but alas they are no more.

Bloomingdales is not dumbed down, nor is it less upscale than Nordstrom. They are at the same level. The one in Chestnut Hill still carries some serious upscale merchandise way better than anything we have at our Nordstrom's. I could see Nordstroms turning into a Nordstrom Rack, at least part of it. Sort of like a Filene's/Filene's Basement type deal.

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runawayjim Metropolis

runawayjim

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i was making a joke about the no malls in CT thing. :P my mother always has to go to the mall here when she visits for some reason. however, i managed to drag her around westminster and to the open market. the new oop location is SO MUCH BETTER than the one in the mall. mom bought some stuff there and my aunt bought some stuff in bowl and board.

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Liamlunchtray Burg

Liamlunchtray

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i was making a joke about the no malls in CT thing. :P my mother always has to go to the mall here when she visits for some reason. however, i managed to drag her around westminster and to the open market. the new oop location is SO MUCH BETTER than the one in the mall. mom bought some stuff there and my aunt bought some stuff in bowl and board.

I was downtown doing a screening at the RIIFF saturday and stopped over at the market for the first time. I had thought it was a whole lot bigger than it is. Has it shrank over the summer or was it always that small? There was a good bit of foot traffic going on which was nice. I put up some movie posters and had a crazy conversation with the Dels guy. His cohort was explaining about how he wanted to buy rocky point so he could build a ride all about ET. It would be a giant spaceship that takes you back to ET's home planet. After the ride you get off and jump in a big inflateble moonwalk thing. Awesome!

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Garris Town

Garris

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...stopped over at the market for the first time. I had thought it was a whole lot bigger than it is. Has it shrank over the summer or was it always that small? There was a good bit of foot traffic going on which was nice.

I was there the week before for the first time and was surprised too, about 8-12 tents just barely filling a small space against Westminster Street.

One of the merchants there said it had gotten much smaller in the past few weeks, not because business was bad (it apparently is pretty decent), but just because people are away for the height of the Summer. Foot traffic has apparently been down too, for much the same reason. The merchant said that the open market runs through October and he was anticipating things will pick up.

I myself might be selling my photography through one of the people there. We'll see.

I have to say, though, that I thought the offerings were strongly biased in the jewelry/handbags/women's clothes categories and not so much the "general artisitic" merchandise I was anticipating. Unless buying for a female friend/significant other/family member, I didn't see much there that would interest male shoppers.

- Garris

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runawayjim Metropolis

runawayjim

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I was downtown doing a screening at the RIIFF saturday and stopped over at the market for the first time. I had thought it was a whole lot bigger than it is. Has it shrank over the summer or was it always that small? There was a good bit of foot traffic going on which was nice.

there was a ton of foot traffic downtown this weekend. there was that little hispanic festival going on at the skating rink and in biltmore park.

the open market has shrunk quite a bit from the first day. i have a feeling it won't continue to next summer. when we were there (around 2), there were maybe 2 or 3 other people walking through it. considering there were only 5 or 6 vendors, it wasn't really worth it. i would've bought some photography from the guy there, but he was charging quite a bit ($80 for a 8x10). so i didn't buy anything there. oop and bowl and board has a lot of people going through though. it seems as though the open market people didn't take the suggestions we gave them in the open market thread. with no food or anything to really draw people, it was basically the same stuff that i had seen a few weeks prior and the same stuff i saw at the first one, which i imagine was the biggest. i would've liked to see it do well, but one can only look at the same jewelry so many times.

I have to say, though, that I thought the offerings were strongly biased in the jewelry/handbags/women's clothes categories and not so much the "general artisitic" merchandise I was anticipating. Unless buying for a female friend/significant other/family member, I didn't see much there that would interest male shoppers.

- Garris

i've been 3 times now and it was that way every time. the first one had a lot of tents, but the last one i went to (mid-july i think) was pretty dead with maybe 8 or 9 tents. and this past weekend only had like 6 tents. i heard the same thing you did about picking up in september, but i don't really see why it would if all the offerings are similar. this weekend was like 4 jewelry tents selling similar jewelry, the photography guy, and one other tent.

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Cotuit Megalopolis

Cotuit

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The city does get quite a bit busier when the students return, its quite a transformation, especially the J&W kids. And there are a lot of RISD kids that are potential vendors at the market. When it was first being talked about the RISD kids were quite interested in it, so I would assume that there will be a few that will grab tents for the last few weeks. There's also more people in the city the first few weeks of September bringing their kids to school and RISD has Alumni Week in October, which the Market really should work to capitalize on, and the following weekend is the Red Bull Soapbox Derby.

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bhooley Whistle-Stop

bhooley

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there was a ton of foot traffic downtown this weekend. there was that little hispanic festival going on at the skating rink and in biltmore park.

the open market has shrunk quite a bit from the first day. i have a feeling it won't continue to next summer. when we were there (around 2), there were maybe 2 or 3 other people walking through it. considering there were only 5 or 6 vendors, it wasn't really worth it. i would've bought some photography from the guy there, but he was charging quite a bit ($80 for a 8x10). so i didn't buy anything there. oop and bowl and board has a lot of people going through though. it seems as though the open market people didn't take the suggestions we gave them in the open market thread. with no food or anything to really draw people, it was basically the same stuff that i had seen a few weeks prior and the same stuff i saw at the first one, which i imagine was the biggest. i would've liked to see it do well, but one can only look at the same jewelry so many times.

i've been 3 times now and it was that way every time. the first one had a lot of tents, but the last one i went to (mid-july i think) was pretty dead with maybe 8 or 9 tents. and this past weekend only had like 6 tents. i heard the same thing you did about picking up in september, but i don't really see why it would if all the offerings are similar. this weekend was like 4 jewelry tents selling similar jewelry, the photography guy, and one other tent.

It's better than what was there last year - which was nothing. But seriously, from nothing to a decent open market is definitely positive. The fact that it's having a down period is normal for any new product or business. There's the honeymoon period and then business may dip, then return to a steady pace. I personally think this market is a great idea and see it maturing into what the public wants over time.

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runawayjim Metropolis

runawayjim

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It's better than what was there last year - which was nothing. But seriously, from nothing to a decent open market is definitely positive. The fact that it's having a down period is normal for any new product or business. There's the honeymoon period and then business may dip, then return to a steady pace. I personally think this market is a great idea and see it maturing into what the public wants over time.

oh, by no means did i say i want it to fail (that would be stupid). however, i am not sure of the lasting power if the vendors there are all selling similar items. as garris said before, it's very female oriented.

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MichaelQ Unincorporated Area

MichaelQ

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I could be wrong, but it looks like the CVS across from the Arcade is about to undergo some construction. Aisles have been removed, shelves are emptied, and the lighting fixtures on the wall adjacent to where the Christian reading room used to have been taken off.

In addition, has anyone noticed the shop on Eddy Street near City Hall? I think it's called Grandburo or something similar. Whoever opened it did a nice job.

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Cotuit Megalopolis

Cotuit

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I could be wrong, but it looks like the CVS across from the Arcade is about to undergo some construction. Aisles have been removed, shelves are emptied, and the lighting fixtures on the wall adjacent to where the Christian reading room used to have been taken off.

They are supposedly expanding into the Christian Science Reading Room space and building a pharmacy (which is ironic). I think Ari mentioned it a while back. They will also be knocking down the Arcade and Turks Head for the requisite 78 surface parking spaces needed by a CVS.

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Mij Whistle-Stop

Mij

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They are supposedly expanding into the Christian Science Reading Room space and building a pharmacy (which is ironic). I think Ari mentioned it a while back. They will also be knocking down the Arcade and Turks Head for the requisite 78 surface parking spaces needed by a CVS.

I could do with out the arcade but i would leave the Turks Head. Makes for nice ambiance on water fire nights.

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basachs Burg

basachs

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They are supposedly expanding into the Christian Science Reading Room space and building a pharmacy (which is ironic). I think Ari mentioned it a while back. They will also be knocking down the Arcade and Turks Head for the requisite 78 surface parking spaces needed by a CVS.

Why bother? They can just park across the street at the 110 W Parking Lot

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Garris Town

Garris

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Apparently, the number of vendors at the Open Market will be increased dramatically this weekend, possibly as many as 40 (up from less than 20 last week). This may be a good weekend to check out the Open Market.

- Garris

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Cotuit Megalopolis

Cotuit

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Apparently, the number of vendors at the Open Market will be increased dramatically this weekend, possibly as many as 40 (up from less than 20 last week). This may be a good weekend to check out the Open Market.

Did anyone go? I had to work Saturday morning.

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Recchia Town

Recchia

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I was downtown on Saturday and walked by, it didn't seem like there was too many more vendors than the last time I was down there which was maybe a month ago. Westminster Street was hoppin though, Oop was packed and so was Bowl and Board.

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