LJWorld.com

BigPrune (Anonymous) says…

There are three types of cities:
cities that make things happen;
cities that watch things happen;
and cities that wondered, what happened?

Lawrence has watched things happen for 7 years at least, and now people are starting to wonder, what happened?

Create something that will bring people to town and keep residents from going somewhere else to buy goods. Banking on our history as the main attraction to draw people isn't going to cut it.

srj (Anonymous) says…

The Legends is killing us. Does anyone buy here furniture any where but Nebraska Furniture Mart? Remember he high prices at Ed Marlings? And what can you do with kids in this town for fun? Googles, Swimming? No real arcades, no mini-golf, no go-carts. And don't forget a new huge waterpark and casino will be going up at the Village West soon.

Years ago they fought from having a real mall in this town to save downtown, and people are just going out of town to shop.

Godfather94 (Anonymous) says…

I read an article the other day that Lawrence was growing in population. I have lived in Olathe for 32 years now, and this community has grown about 500% in that time period. One thing I have learned is in a community which has a population growth, you have to have two things happen. One, you have to have a growth in residential housing. In order to keep the dolllar in your community, there has to be a growth in all types of commercial building. Olathe has succeeded in both. When I read srj last sentence in his comment, my first thought was, if a mall would have been built a few years ago, this would have been a good start in keeping the dollar in the Lawrence. I don't know how many years ago it was, but I bet it was before western Wyandotte County started growing. This responsibility belongs to the city planning commissioner. Not thinking about the future. The only possible way (IMO) out of this problem is for your city taxes be raised. Good luck to your future. There is a light at the end of this tunnel.

geekin_topekan (Anonymous) says…

I have never left Lawrence to shop…ever.Except maybe on a Sundays when liqour was only sold in Missouri.
My point is,WHO is leaving town to spend retail bucks?
The same people who came here and created the traffic problems,pushed housing prices through the roof,keep wages down and built our very own innercity right here in Toontown.
Then they spend their money out of town for whatever reason and still b!tch about the homeless,potholes,T and anything else that doesn't fit their idea of Suburbia.
God,quit whining and go home.

458casul (Anonymous) says…

try getting anything done at the planning department there never there and if they are they tell you they dont have time or they wont be there because of sick kid so they have an excuse to not get what you want when they are there all day and have no sick kid.Or just cancel meetings because they have not spent anytime getting the project done.So how can lawrence get anything done

Ragingbear (Anonymous) says…

You mean making it impossible for anyone to get a respectable job, and not allowing any real commerce into Town is bad for our economy?

I know. Let's build a round-a-bout in the middle of a golf course! Those are TWO things! We will be all powerful! Muhuwahawha! Wait… what?

merrill (Anonymous) says…

25 years building a bedroom community is the first and foremost problem…. thanks to the chamber of commerce and the execs of the real estate industry led governing bodies:

Food for thought aka 25 years of bad management practices = stealing from the taxpayers:

Donovan Scruggs, Ocean Springs director of community development and planning, said the city's current budget. crunch can be tied directly to infrastructure expenses needed to serve new housing developments.

“If residential growth paid for itself and was financially positive, we would not be in a budget crunch,” Scruggs said. “But with increased numbers of houses you have increased demand on services, and historically the funding of revenues generated by single-family housing does not pay for the services, they require from a municipality.”

Scruggs said there have been two studies done on impact fees. One 100-page study was on services for police and fire protection, administration and parks. A second study was done on infrastructure related impacts on roads, water and water.

The current proposal calls for the fees to be collected separately.

“We want. to make sure we tie the fees as closely as possible to when the demand is being generated,” Scruggs said. “Water and sewer fees would be collected when the subdivision is constructed. Services more related to occupancy and homes being constructed would be collected later. For example, no one will have a need for a park until there are kids in that neighborhood.”

While developers pay for onsite water, sewer and road infrastructure, Scruggs said it is costly to pay for offsite upgrades needed, such as enlarging lift stations and raising water towers.

“Now if we have to upgrade a lift station, it is paid for by the general fund revenue paid by each taxpayer in the city,” Scruggs said. “Someone on the west side of town would have to pay for subsidizing the growth in demand caused by the development in the east part of town.”

The eastern part of town is where the greatest residential growth is being seen. Scruggs said there has been so much growth in recent years that the city has to elevate its water towers to keep pressure at adequate levels. “That was a direct result caused by the growth,” he said.

Scruggs said that impact fees are legal if they are done properly.

“Madison's impact fee program had problems,” Scruggs said. “Ours will not have those problems. It can be done right.”

Ocean Springs had 120 homes constructed in 2000, 90 in 2001 and is on track to have 120 homes constructed in 2002. If impact fees had been collected on the 310 homes built in three years, the city would have extra revenues of about $2.1 million.

In order for the city to have orderly growth, developers need to be responsible for a certain amount of the infrastructure. Most builders understand impact fees are for a purpose that improves their development.”

ksdivakat (Anonymous) says…

You cant have a “career” in lawrence, to many students who will do the work for min wage or less, so you have to go outside of lawrence to have a career. If your already working in the kc area, its just easier to get off work and stop by the mall or whatever to do your shopping. Kc has alot of fun things to do for family, kids and even adults…Lawrence is not so kid friendly, it costs an arm and a leg to get your kids into anything parks and rec, and aside from that, theres nothing to do unless its school related. The good people of lawrence need to wake up and get a brand spankin new city counsel in there, a new mayor, and make the city counsel work for us instead of working for their pockets!

458casul (Anonymous) says…

kirk mcclure not mentioned once thank god

merrill (Anonymous) says…

Lawrence needs to focus on Lawrence not on surrounding retail activity. Lawrence has it's own niche and we should put our energies in that direction. Taxpayers are being misled once again by our governing city,county and planning commissions.

“kirk mcclure not mentioned once thank god” Kirk has never been in a place to make the 25 years of wrong decisions leading to economic displacement = too much retail and to much residential = not enough dollars in Lawrence,Kansas to support too much of everything. Lawrence has become a model of how not to grow a city and our city,county and planning commissions continue to take the community down that road.

People screaming out let the builders do whatever they damn well please has not produced a strong economic community. 25 years of more than 4% annual increases in property taxes testifies to that situation.

A community such as Lawrence was never a shop till you drop community because why would anyone want to come to Lawrence to shop big box stores? They have their own big box stores with far greater selections. Tanger Mall and Riverfront Plaza are both failed retail examples.

Topeka metro and kcmo/joco metro have been the shopping giants forever because they have the population to support such activity. These areas were built slow and methodically over the last 100 years. It's only reasonable to accept that Lawrence people will wander off to these areas rather than pretend that Lawrence will be a shop till you drop community. Downtown should be the core business district because that is what draws people to Lawrence… that and KU. Small town sprawl is eating away
at our budget dollars = taxpayers cannot this type of growth.

merrill (Anonymous) says…

Take note to the fact that both Topeka and KCMO metro are spending a lot of time and money restoring their downtowns as our decision makers continue down the road of small town sprawl and higher taxes instead of maintaining and promoting our single and most productive economic driver aka downtown.

The real estate powehouses are making tons of money for themselves yet our community is going down the economic drain. Isn't this evidence enough that Lawrence needs new thinking on our governing bodies? New faces did not bring new thinking because new thinking did not finance their campaigns.

dagger (Anonymous) says…

We do all our major shopping out of town there is not enough variety in the retail here that is affordable. My family would rather not wear the same thing every other kid in town is wearing. You can also only get the same old same at any of our resturaunts.

DaREEKKU (Anonymous) says…

I am not surprised. If I want to buy good clothes, I go to the Plaza/KC. If I want anything else of quality…I go to KC as well. The job market here is a JOKE. I know quite a few people WITH degrees that cannot find a job here that pays about 8-10 dollars an hour. The housing prices are more expensive here than in Kansas City because you are paying for “charm”. What charm!? We had a city commission that prevented any type of change, and refused to accept the reality that we are indeed, a suburb of Kansas City. Now we have a city commission that is mowing over anybody in their way for the sake of business interests (and not positive ones).

You wonder why retail sales have gone down and yet the city approved a second Wal-Mart….wal-mart!? Build upscale shopping with name brands and scrap the cheap crap. Also…maybe a few box chains (high quality) strategically inserted downtown might help.

doc1 (Anonymous) says…

I shop out of town because there is no selection. If I want to buy something at Home Depot I often go to another one because the city has downsized the stores so much there isn't nearly the selection of products as in bigger stores. It's the cities fault.

flutter (Anonymous) says…

You're right…buying quality clothing in Lawrence is a joke. Yes, locally-owned stores are great in several ways….but the ones in Lawrence just don't offer clothing that I want to wear. I don't understand the resistance to “chain” stores like Banana Republic, etc. Yeah, they're not locally-owned….but if Lawrence had them, wouldn't they provide employment for Lawrence residents and keep more people in Lawrence to shop?

average (Anonymous) says…

May I ask divaKat what it is about Lawrence that does bring her here (I assume she's in Lawrence, if she's posting on this board)? Your job is in KC, shop in KC, KC is more kid-friendly, and there's more to do? What's the appeal here, then?

The fact that retailing is the sine qua non of our lives, cities, economy, and culture is disturbing.

Easy (Anonymous) says…

I live and work in Lawrence and I avoid Downtown like the plague. No place to park, To many freaks down there, and who could forget the homeless as well. I have yet to see any homeless up at the Legends and I was just there last week.

merrill (Anonymous) says…

“Also…maybe a few box chains (high quality) strategically inserted downtown might help.” Yep But because of 25 years of bad retail planning this may or may not work.

Quality department stores were anchors in downtowns for decades while the smaller MOM and POP stores surrounding them were also profitable. They fed off each other.

Also rumor has it that a study is underway to determine whether or not Overland Park is becoming over saturated in retail.

Hotrod_granny (Anonymous) says…

First of all in order to own a home in Douglas County you have to work outside of Douglas County to afford that home. So if your driving out of town to work why not shop close to where you work. I live in Lawrence, work in KC shop on my lunch hour and again before leaving KC. I havn't shopped in downtown Lawrence in over 15 years.

Multidisciplinary (Anonymous) says…

Ragingbear,
let's watch the incoming apartment/golf complex. I'm sure your proposed roundabout in the golf course may come to fruition.

As for clothing. Look up and down your street. Look at people in Lawrence. Look at national stats. People are very overweight to obese+. Yet most Lawrence stores carry clothing for small sizes. If the mom or dad have to shop out of town, don't you think the rest of the family sales will go out too?
And worse, ever been in the Lane Bryant “stores”. It's 95 % clothing that may sell for women and girls in Wyandotte Co., but no self respecting person in Lawrence would wear..that's the only way I can say it nice.
Just try and find a bra for big (capital BIG)breasts, even if you have a thin body in this town. HA.

lee2550 (Anonymous) says…

Heres a reason I shop out of Lawrence. I have an old Jeep that needed exhaust work. Just a 6 cylinder, one exhaust. I shopped around and 470 dollars was the best I found. Of course when i called they gave me a ballpark figure of 250 dollars. After I left it there, they called back and said there were a few more bends in it than they thought, the cost was now 470.00! So, I picked it up, took it to K.C. and the shop there told me I didnt need the head pipe, it was in great shape, all I needed was a muffler and tail pipe. $130.00.. OUr businesses here are greedy, is a lot of the problem.

beobachter (Anonymous) says…

If any of you posters read the print edition, did you note the large picture attached and where the shoppers pictured were from, Charlotte NC and KC? How does that show Lawrence shoppers are rushing there?

logicsound04 (Anonymous) says…

I don't understand—the city commission told us the new Wal-Mart would turn Lawrence into a retail draw…

Does one Wal-Mart not work the same way? Do we need two to be a draw?

I'm sure it's just because the second one hasn't been completed yet.

lee2550 (Anonymous) says…

Well, about 30 years ago, the Lawrence “fathers” started pushing hard to get the trendy, rich Johnson County types to come to Lawrence, and they did. But they didnt bring their businesses with them and they continued to shop in K.C.

craigers (Anonymous) says…

How can they even think that the bleeding might stop after the Legends gets away from the “new” feeling? It is a great atmosphere, with music playing, fountains going, and shops that people like all in one place. And then to top it off, you can go to NFM and Cabelas to look around and then grab a bite to eat at numerous places that Lawrence doesn't have and probably would say no to.

dirkleisure (Anonymous) says…

You know what will solve this? Another Wal-Mart.

The real issue here is a lack of interest on the part of developers. You can blame the government all you want, but the only major retail proposal in the last 10 years has been for a second Wal Mart.

As for the comment about the Home Deport and Best Buy, the “city” had nothing to do with the size of those stores.

The capitalists in this town have no vision to equal the one set out in Wyandotte County.

rollcar (Anonymous) says…

I've lived in Lawrence for 10 years, and while I do frequent downtown, it's more of a novelty than a true shopping district. All of my clothing is purchased in KC. Think about it, for an adult male, where is there to shop downtown? Urban Outfitters? The Buckle? The Gap? American Eagle? These are all stores geared toward college students (making no mention of the fact that they are also all national chains, not local). The only place downtown to get a selection of true business casual shirts, ties, socks, etc. is Weavers, and it consists of one room filled with clothes my grandfather would wear. And how about childrens' clothes? Where do you buy childrens' clothes downtown? At the used store? That's a fine option, but the majority of clothing most people purchase is not used. They closed the Baby Gap, so what other choice do we have but to go to the Legends? I realize this is a college town, but where there are college students there are college graduates. If Lawrence aspires to be anything but a college town/bedroom community, they need to do more to attract and retain adults and families.

hawkperchedatriverfront (Anonymous) says…

I would hate to refresh memories but a letter to the paper before Nebraska furniture mart opened detailed this very news item, now being talked about. This is old news. The Chamber of Commerce in Lawrence ran off a casino. Forget whether it was the Delaware or whatever. It would have been bullt. The San Diego group was ready to go, but thanks to the Chamber and the likes of K. Heck, and the J/W didn't help either. it went adios. Lawrence has had this mentality that downtown is sacred. It will be a sacred burial ground soon when the shops cant last more than two years. Watch for some more closings downtown by the fall. With the city and the county wanting to mess with Farmland, it will only get worse. Let the private developers have at it. Keep Lawrence city commission and county commissioners out of Farmland. For god's sake, keep the Chamber out and certainly the not for profit Douglas County Development, INC should be disbanded. It has not worked at all, except to benefit, the still unnamed. There are not enough people in this town to support much more and even Eudora will land a big box store right off Church street one of these days and suck the $$$ right out of Lawrence. The only way Lawrence can progress is to start tearing down the inner city. Look at Hillcrest Shopping Center. All that land and not much of anything there. Misson Kansas bulldozed an area that big and started over. But here, the businesses are marginal and a complete waste of land. Rightthinker is correct but is assuming that there are “lawrence leaders”. Not. Who are the leaders that have come from the Leadership Lawrence classes? I pose this question to businessmen in town. I have asked almost monthly for the past two years to name 5 persons that coud be considered leaders in the community. The same answer comes up. No one. There are no leaders. Dolph, work on that for a Saturday column. Dare you.

monkeyhawk (Anonymous) says…

Part of the problem is that we have a Hack instead of a Marinovich.

Add to that a bozo business czar and elitism, wild animals with guns downtown, puke on the sidewalks and panhandling guests, perfect recipe for a dead city. Lawrence should take anything it can get because the doors are not being broken down to get in here.

I'm sure if our leaders could, they would ban retail dollars from leaving the county (along with imposing that intangible tax on your savings). There should be no surprises, this is the culmination of no growth mentality & deadbeat losers proclaiming that if you don't work here, don't live here. What needs to be understood is that living in Lawrence is no huge prize, and the city does not automatically “deserve” to be patronized merely because it exists.

OnlyTheOne (Anonymous) says…

There's another area at which to point the finger in Lawrence's loss of buyers - I'm tired of trying to buy in this town.
Oh, sorry we don't stock that.
Oh, sorry we're out of those.
Oh, sorry nobody in the whole store saw you for the 30 minutes you milled around looking at those but now that the store is empty can I sell you something?
Oh, sorry we don't have room to stock those in that size.
Why would you want one of those?
Oh, sorry we don't know anything about that vehicle - absolutely not ONE word about finding out though!
But this is the one I like most - the retailer that parked his high dollar Volvo (Maybe BMW can't remember which) directly under the business' sign which read, “buy locally!” that's paraphrased it might have been, “support your local businesses.”
Lemme say it succinctly retailers, you can't do business from an empty wagon and you get what you give .

crosstownbytch1 (Anonymous) says…

I will be 30 this year and I have lived hear my whole life. I remember when we had a skating rink,mini golf, planet pinball, among a few other thing I agree this town has went to hell when it come to have stuff for the kids to do. And as far as shopping out of town I dont because just like someone else said if you live and work in lawrence it is very hard to get by just paying bills, so i spend money buy at walmart or some of the other stores that are cheap.

offtotheright (Anonymous) says…

Chris Burger, president of Downtown Lawrence Inc., understands how a case can be made that Wyandotte County is sucking away shoppers from Douglas County. But he’s not convinced that it’s a permanent loss.

Downtown Lawrence has been around more than 150 years, he said, and building momentum as a commercial center since the reconstruction following Quantrill’s Raid in 1863.

The Legends? While it boasts a $248 million price tag and 1.1 million square feet of retail and entertainment space, it’s been open for fewer than two years. Some retailers near the Kansas Speedway, however, have been attracting shoppers for longer. Cabela’s, for example, opened in 2002, and Nebraska Furniture Mart opened the following year.

“Wyandotte County is doing a great job in attracting a lot of businesses, and continues to add to it, so the intrigue factor will probably be here for quite awhile,” said Burger, an attorney for Stevens & Brand. “But, eventually, their buildings will grow tired, and then they’ll have to rebuild it all.

You sir had better wake up and smell the coffee (god knows there are plenty of places downtown to do that)!

Exactly where is one supposed to shop for anything from furniture, to decent clothing in this town? There is nothing here.

There is no where down town to shop. There are a few (a few) good restraunts if you want to fight the bums. I prefer not to.

I don't go downtown to shop for anything.

lee2550 (Anonymous) says…

Living in Lawrence is no huge prize???? Has to be. Check out your property taxes!!

monkeyhawk (Anonymous) says…

The entire Lawrence retail sector should close for three hours and go to Starbuck's for a bone up on customer appreciation.

hawkperchedatriverfront (Anonymous) says…

Marinovich was a teacher also. But Marinovich like Lawrence leaders failed to spend tax revenue throughout the city. Wyandotte County from the river to the north county line and east from 68th street is forgottten. No money spent, just as is in Lawrence. Kasold and all points east are forgotten. Here is a simple question: When was the last time 13th street from Oak Hill cemetery to Oread Avenue was completely upgraded? One of the longest streets traversing thru so called historical neighborhoods is one of the many shabbiest streets in town. The funeral homes are ashamed to use it but none of the owners have the guts to go before the city commisson and ride their collective arses to do something about it. Kansas City Kansas sucked up Argentine, Rosedale, Armourdale for the once wonderful revenue from the industry etc but now have long forgotten the importance of the area and continue to expand west. Lawrence is doing the same thing. Sucking the taxes from real estate east of Kasold, but failing to put anything back, instead focusing west. As I have said, the five target neighborhoods are prostitutes for the city.

kubacker (Anonymous) says…

Stir it all togather, bake it in the oven, and then put a few driveby shootings and some parking lot kidnappings on top for the icing on the cake!

OnAir (Anonymous) says…

The coffee we need to smell is that NFM is a killer. It drove Benchmark out of business and has nearly closed down every furniture store in Kansas City. Well done WYCO in bringing in such a draw.

Downtown is not going to give up, but also should not pretend it can compete against the likes of Wolf Lodge, the racetrack, and NFM. It cannot and should not try to be all things to all people, but needs to push the City to start getting ahead of the curve, or anything. The City chases and never leads.

just_another_ninja (Anonymous) says…

All the while KU Athletics continues to watch revenues soar as they try tirelessly to lock local Lawrence businesses out of the opportunities that continue to surround the program.

Where you at KU Ath?
— KU vs. MU
— KU Orange Bowl celebration

BigAl (Anonymous) says…

I support my hometown and do almost 100% of my shopping right here in Lawrence. I support business that supports me. Every dollar spent in Kansas City or Topeka does absolutely nothing for me, my family, my friends or my home town. I believe in Lawrence first.

offtotheright (Anonymous) says…

Bet you are dressed nicely! haahaa

Marty_McFly (Anonymous) says…

I really long for the good ol' days where we could all go downtown and have a soda and listen to the jukebox.

bluerose (Anonymous) says…

what i'm wondering is how all these people have so much disposable income that they can not only shop, but drive far to do it.

my car doesn't run well enough to drive out of town any longer, but i am certainly not suffering from any deprivation. i seem to be able to get everything i need in lawrence (not walmart. never.) or online. but perhaps my needs are minimal.

man, i hope i get out of lawrence before there is a MALL here!

rollcar (Anonymous) says…

I'm all about supporting the hometown, but when your choices are exactly zero, what option do you have? Other than the used store, where exactly does downtown Lawrence want me to buy my kids' clothes? How about a fishing pole? A set of golf clubs? Am I asking too much here?

MacHeath (Anonymous) says…

How can a community this size compete with Cablela's and Nebraska Furniture Mart, both of witch anchor a large mall?
Lawrence never could, and never will. Lawrence can not compete with Kansas City, on that level of retail, and never will be able to.
So, like it or not, the “Aspen on the plains concept” that Marion (ack, puft, excuse me) mentioned, is our only draw.
Get better parking downtown, and find another place for the homeless to hang out, run Steffes out of town, and we might see a few more folks go downtown..and maybe draw a few more folks from outside of town, kinda like Parkville does.
And, we have two Wal-Marts, so Marion can get a good deal on his depends, without having to buy online.

toefungus (Anonymous) says…

Lawrence is in for a long period of problems. Limited population growth, limited retail growth, negative industrial growth. The University of Kansas is not growing much either because of tuition increases over the years which saps more purchasing power from our out of town studends. Transportation costs and housing will suppress growth in a big way. That powerful sucking sound from the east is getting stronger.

livingstone (Anonymous) says…

Time to wake up and realize that even without a Walmart in Lawrence, somewhere, somehow, the big retailers are able to divert the money, even when they're so far away. That's the reality. Why are we blaming only Walmart? That's capitalism and democracy at work.

Jackson (Anonymous) says…

$4.00 per gal. gas may encourage commuters to re-locate closer to their jobs, if they can sell their McMansions.

northtown (Anonymous) says…

No jobs for the working man= no shopping in your fine little town either!!!!!!!!!!!!

Multidisciplinary (Anonymous) says…

Marty,
you still can, Sandbar has soda and jukebox.

midwestmom (Anonymous) says…

We live here, work here, own a home, pay our taxes (higher every year) and can't hardly wait to leave. Five years max, we retire and we're taking our law abiding, tax paying selves to a community that might appreciate us as citizens. I'm fed up with bad or no service. I'm tired of not feeling safe downtown or having to explain to my young child why that person is urinating against a building in broad daylight or passed out in a planter. This is not a family community. Somewhere - we've substituted no freaking common sense for compassion. Everyone should be held to the same standard. I'm not a homeless basher, but if you break the law, go to jail. Pay your fine or do your time. Be respectful of property, private or public. If you can't - it's a problem and you should be held accountable for it. There are not any kid friendly activities here. We have driven to KC twice in the past month to take our child roller skating and then ice skating. You can only watch so many movies. I think LPRD does a good job of offering sports activities for our kids on a pretty limited basis, but what are teenagers options on a Friday or Saturday night around here? It's like there was a whole segment of the population forgotten - families. Lawrence is filled with poor wage options and overly expensive houses on tiny lots. It is so sad to me to see how much worse Lawrence has become over the years. Downtown used to be a jewel. Not anymore. It isn't surprising that the expensive parking garage is a huge white elephant. It's dangerous and poorly located. How do we encourage family oriented business in Lawrence without financially supporting them? Probably the same way we encourage employers to look at Lawrence. Okay, I'm done, but do the commissioner's every really look at what is going on in this community anymore?

Marty_McFly (Anonymous) says…

Multidisciplinary (Anonymous) says…

Marty,
you still can, Sandbar has soda and jukebox.

––––-

If they have a sodajerk who wears a white uniform than I might have to check them out.

misseve (Anonymous) says…

To answer WHO is leaving Lawrence to shop, that would be ME! This towns shopping leaves a lot to be desired. This towns retailers does not cater to plus sized people. It does not cater to children who want to wear something other than Gap. I do not just shop in Wyandotte county, I go to Topeka and Heck i even go to Missouri to find the things that i need. Honestly why would I dine at the HH concept? The regular Herford House sucked. I love the Legends. I take my kids to the Nike Outlet, I go to the Converse Outlet, We may eat at Famous Dave's or Cheeseburger in Paradise. I am sorry downtown is suffering. The only places i frequent downtown is Big Daddys for my Tattoos and Fifth Planet for the other things i need. Lawrence needs to wake up and smell the dollar signs.

75x55 (Anonymous) says…

Oh, the wonderful Lawrence “Downtown”. I won't be wasting my time there much.

I was 'downtown' at 6:15pm recently, and it was dead. Shut down and nothing of any interest other than a few trendy eateries tucked in between many dark windows and locked doors.

Pretty stupid for a 'bedroom' community - to shut down commerce when the buyers get back to town…

Mkh (Anonymous) says…

People please calm down…the second Walmart is coming soon and will save us!

We don't need nice retail areas for people to come to, we have Walmart and Doug Compton…when you set the bar that high, how can you ask for more?

rollcar (Anonymous) says…

Yeah, I've always wondered that myself. People with disposable income, by and large, WORK! Yet when I get off work in the evening and head downtown to shop, everything is closed. What's up with that?

georgeofwesternkansas (Anonymous) says…

Lived in Topeka for 25 years and Lawrence was never an option for Shopping. Who would want to bake in the summer or freeze in the winter when you could go to Oak Park Mall and enjoy the day.

Lawrence has kicked Topeka's butt over and over but never devloped the shopping thing. Too bad Lawrence is a nice place.

50YearResident (Anonymous) says…

I used to work downtown so I am well aware of the parking problems. The reason I quit shopping downtown is because of the time limits on parking. Two hours max if you park close enough to walk to shop. It puts too much rush on those of us that like to browse at leisure and have something to eat. I get really nervous after 1 1/2 hours and have to rush back to my car to prevent getting a parking ticket. That never happens at the malls. It's just too much of a hassle for those of us in the older generation.

blahblahblah (Anonymous) says…

What everyone here has failed to mention/realize is that Lawrence cannot support any type of upscale retail. Outside of the university community, the town of Lawrence as a whole is a sh!thole. How many trailer parks are in this town anyways? Do you think that those people would frequent a Banana Republic? Since a lot of students at KU are from JoCo/KC area, it makes sense that they would drive the 30 minutes to shop places they know are quality. Clothes shopping in Lawrence, if you aren't an undergrad or townie, is a waste of time.

Puggy (Anonymous) says…

Amen MKH, the City Council and Lord Savior Compton are well aware that we are losing retail dollars, that is why we are getting that second walmart. It is a huge tourist draw (not many towns have walmarts, let alone two) and in about two year there will be a similar article to this in the Wyandotte Times talking about all the retail dollars kCK & KCMO & JoCo are losing to Lawrence because of walmart. Because of the walmart and the genius Smart Code development on 6th & Wak that is so nice and walk