"Don't know how many downtown Biz owners you know, but “liberal elite arrogance” does not describe many that I know."

You missed the key word "I believe." That means he doesn't actually "know" anything, he just "believes" that it has something to do with evil liberals. That is one of his primary Articles of Faith, probably the the most important Affirmation of them all. "All problems are caused by liberals."

D_Puddy (Anonymous) says…

Thanks for the info on Thursday evenings Bren. Good call.

D_Puddy- You're welcome....most of us are open on Sunday afternoons as well.

Yes I have thought about this matter more than once.

How about this? Why not consider hours such as 11:00 AM until 8:30? 11:30 AM perhaps?

Frankly Lawrence is barely waking up at 10 AM so why open before 11 AM?

If someone wants earlier hours Weavers opens at 9:30 AM and has a very nice housewares department downstairs.

Sunflower Bike and Outdoor has some creative shopping hours which keeps them open a bit later than some.

"Sorry, I calls 'em likes I sees 'em."

Yes, that's the problem. You should call them as other people see them, because your own perception is so warped by real or fake bias as to be almost backwards.

"Why do liberals lambast me when I try to help them to understand the truth, facts and how the real world works?"

Probably the same reason an electrician would lambast a customer for explaining that their lights didn't work because of evil electric sprites. An understanding of truth, facts, and how the real world works isn't one of your demonstrated skill sets.

Perhaps not everyone wants to be forced to shop on a certain night (Thursday)? Perhaps people have lives on the weekends? Perhaps not everyone who shops is off during the day and can get downtown by 5pm?

There are people who like to go and shop during the week, after work. There are people who work out of town and can't just pop down to Mass St on their lunch break, or be there before 5pm.

These are things that DT retailers need to take into account.

Perhaps try a MWF late hour type experiment. Give people choices, rather than forcing something that doesn't work.

Oh merrill, I WISH I didn't have to wake up until 10 a.m.! :)

I read somewhere that the "open late on Thursdays" (not just in Lawrence, but lots of other places) dates back to the days when it was traditionally "Cook's night off." Interesting if true!

Bottom line (and it was said before) IF THERE WAS ENOUGH MONEY TO BE MADE, THE OWNERS OF STORES WOULD STAY OPEN 24/7. They don't close their doors to lots of paying customers because it does not pay to do so! But they aren't going to stay open 3 extra hours to make $20 more. That doesn't make sense.

There have been many attempts to figure out what hours bring in the most customers. Experiments have shown that after a certain time, business slows down to a point it doesn't pay to stay open. When an owner knows they will at least break even, they will stay open. No matter what time that might be. But if the percentage of income is exceeded by the cost of staying open (paying help, lights, etc.) they won't do it for long.

Maybe the answer is to have a different feel to Mass street on weekends (when most people want to walk around and stay out late). Block off Mass street from all (but police) car traffic (I KNOW that means finding other places to park....) and (a) Let it be known that many/most businesses will be open till 10 PM (or later) and (b) allow citizens to walk around with their adult beverages, outside - much like New Orleans and other tourist spots. Nothing like a little alchohol to fuel spending more freely.

Our downtown rocks compared to most smaller, older towns.

I was recently in Charlottesville, VA (Univ. of Virginia). I had heard so many things about their downtown. Went down there the first night in town to try to see some local music and have a few drinks. Their downtown wasn't even half the size of ours, was almost exclusively snooty, super high end shops (seriously, so high priced made Lawrence shops look dirt cheap), had no night life, just a handful of restaurants and only one bar was busy (there were very few bars). Only the one busy bar was going to have live music, but not even starting until after 11:00. Until then, it was silent downtown. We were shocked and very happy that Lawrence had such a great downtown.

One thing I will give downtown Charlottesville - they have closed off Main St. to pedestians only. I wish we'd do that to Mass St.

logicsound04 (Anonymous) says…

"I think we can add a new word to Pelosi Boy's vocabulary.

Arrogance: the act of a business owner closing his/her store at a specific time based predominantly on the need to continue turning a profit."

There's nothing in there to make it a right-thinker post. Here, let me help.

Liberal Arrogance: the act of a business owner closing his/her store at a specific time based predominantly on the need to continue turning a profit.

See, now it's a right-thinker post. No one could tell the difference.

Bren says...I want everyone in Lawrence to enjoy downtown and all that it has to offer.

What does it have to offer? Our downtown is nothing but a drinking/drunk tank filled with bars. Hold on, before you get all upset with me. I do shop downtown sometime, but the fact is that many people can't afford to shop there. The prices are outrageous. I went to last years sidewalk "sale". I needed a pair of tennis shoes. I found a pair but even at the sale/clearance price, the shoes were $90.00. I went somewhere else away from downtown and found the same shoes for $60.00 and a second pair was 50% off.

I do understand why the prices are so high. It is so expensive to rent space downtown. Most of you know that the rich only want to get richer. So what, if the retail merchant closes shop, someone else with a dream of owning a business downtown will fill the vacant space.

I do think longer store hours would benefit us. It would be difficult for businesses to justify extending their hours though. I will continue to buy locally and downtown when I can afford to do so. I do think downtown should be more family oriented.

Mr_Nancy_Boy_To_You (Tom Shewmon) says… "Why do liberals lambast me when I try to help them to understand the truth, facts and how the real world works?"

Mr_Nancy_Boy_To_You (Tom Shewmon) says… "I think Todd Palin is pretty hot."

Bren (Anonymous) says…

"Chain stores are required to stay open because of the corporate model."

Pilgrim2 (Anonymous) says… "Which is how downtown Lawrence should behave if it wants to compete."

Wal Mart can afford to stay open 24/7 because they only add one or two more people to handle customers while the shelves are being restocked. And while Target and most of the other chain stores don't even stay open past nine or ten, the main way they can do that is the driving force of their corporations. If Sunflower had 1000 bike stores nationwide and the profit margins of Wal Mart, having them stay open 24 hours a day wouldn't be a problem.

Why not just go down on the weekends? Why not eat dinner and expect to go shopping before? Why not eating dinner earlier in the evening? Why should the stores spend more money staying open later for the small handful of shoppers that would show up?

I agree with Pilgrim2...

Like all new businesses even...you make an investment (time, capital, labor, whatever) and may even lose money in order to eventually become (hopefully) profitable. An existing business significantly changing its hours can be very much like a new start-up in this respect. Someone has to make the leap first and its unrealistic to think (or demand that) it will be the consumers.

Something for everyone to try to understand - downtown Lawrence is not a strip mall. Most of the stores down there can't afford to stay open late. Most of the stores still wouldn't have enough customers if everyone realized they are staying open late because they are specialty stores.

I love how everyone is me, me, me. For my convenience, you have to stay open late, even though I may just want to browse after eating dinner. You are so used to being catered to by big box stores that you've forgotten how little stores operate. Comments about how they may lose money to stay open late to hopefully turn a profit is assinine. You're telling these businesses, which are doing ok with the hours they keep, to possibly risk going out of business so you can have the option to browse in the evenings. What a greedy world.

I love to eat dinner and then window shop. Try it, it's quite nice. If I see something I want to buy, I go back on the weekend.

Really, you people need to be happy we have such a vibrant downtown. Go visit other small towns and see what they offer. Downtown Ottawa comes to mind. Ha ha.

"But they aren't going to stay open 3 extra hours to make $20 more. That doesn't make sense."

It also doesn't make sense for me ( joe taxpayer) to pay for parking, trees, snow removal, and lighting for downtown...... If I want to get drunk.... I will stay at home.... Pay your own bills, downtown merchants, that's what the rest of do!

I have to agree to a certain extent. On Christmas eve last year I went to shop at the Toy Store and was shocked when I arrived at almost 10 am and they weren't even open yet!

Extended hours during the holiday shopping season seems like a no-brainer to me. I stayed and waited the ten minutes, but two other people just left. Bye bye business this year, and the next and the next.

These businesses have a lot of opportunities of which they are apparently oblivious.

So it costs money to stay open late and pay staff to man the store, with potentially low traffic.

If I were a store owner concerned about overhead, I would park my butt behind the sales counter after hours, send the staff home, and serve my customers. Demand is there or it isn't, but I would be darn sure I captured every sale I could.

You got a buck? I want it. Better to have it in my pocket than for it to never be spent, or given to some other mechant, be it a bar or otherwise.

Beo, out of the blue, you slam Christians.

It's all about the timing. Wait for it.......

You obviously have an axe to grind, and we know what it is.

Mr_Nancy_Boy_To_You (Tom Shewmon) says… "Are you making fun of me that I may possibly be a homosexual? I thought this was strictly forbidden and not in stride with the left's political correctness and commitment to diversity and inclusiveness."

No Tom, I'm glad you finally came out of the closet. It's something I've always suspected from your posts, but it's nice that you've come out to the world and finally embraced your sexuality.

Nancy boy says "Why do liberals lambast me when I try to help them to understand the truth, facts and how the real world works?"....

Perhaps it because you DO NOT know the truth or the facts, much less how the real world works.

Back to the discussion, I like the downtown just the way it is.

I'm not about to tell someone else how to run their store until I've looked at the books. Anyone who presumes to do otherwise is an idiot (no matter what their espoused political beliefs are).

And really it all depends on which store you're talking about. All of the bookstores are open later but I doubt that the toy store, or the shoe stores or the antique stores do that.

I guess the LTE Writer just doesn't like to browse for books after dinner and wants to look at T-Shirts or something.