To the editor:

In response to the editorial in Tuesday’s Journal-World, “Retail draw,” you first must decide where the draw is. Are you going to target the younger set, i.e. college age with lots of charge cards and little expendable currency or the middle-age working or the retirees who are coming back to Lawrence to live? There is little for me, a retiree, to wander down Mass Street to shop for. Most of the stores are for chic young adults. There are no mature woman shops there.

Plus for me, I tend to eat where I know the menu, not some strange ingredients that I cannot pronounce. Spicy foods do not agree with many older people. Then, there is the noise, smoking outside before you can even get in the door, loud music and parking that is too far for the older people to walk safely.

I would like comfort food that I know what I am eating. There is no Cracker Barrel with its wonderful gift shop within 45 miles of Lawrence. There is no place to get good fast food fish like Captain D’s. There is no Red Lobster or Olive Garden. There is no Bob Evans with its down-home food.

I do not need the fancy calorie-laden sauces on the meat or the prices some of the nicer places charge. There should be an ice cream place in northwest Lawrence near the high school, stadium and indoor pool. Convenience should be made available to all. These are just my thoughts having moved here almost three years ago from the big city.