The Observation Deck

I must admit that I do most of my shopping outside of Lakewood. I try to stay local given the choice, but as others have mentioned, Target, Home Depot/Lowe's, and, unfortunately every decent grocery store are located outside of Lakewood.

I really wish we had a good grocery store here. I'm not impressed with the Giant Eagle on Bunts (the former Tops). Compared to other Giant Eagles in the area, it's just lacking in many areas (particularly the organic foods section).

Also, I know it's not politically correct, but I wish we had a Starbuck's in Lakewood. I know, I know....what can I say? I spend a lot of money at the Starbuck's in Rocky River and the one on Clifton in Cleveland. I'd rather spend it here.

By the way, does anyone know what stores will be in the new Rosewood Place? What is the status with that retail space anyway? It looks like the retail space on the ground floor isn't built at all (it still has dirt floors). Anyone have information on that?

Laurie Campbell wrote:By the way, does anyone know what stores will be in the new Rosewood Place? What is the status with that retail space anyway? It looks like the retail space on the ground floor isn't built at all (it still has dirt floors). Anyone have information on that?

Starbuck!

If that is what you like drink it. I am a Phoenix guy, I have known Carl the owner from the 70s when he started Arabica. Also all of the locations in Lakewood that serve Phoenix Coffee are owned and run by Lakewoodites, including a new location for a coffee shop planning to move in.

Starbucks is good.

I am not a food shopper, but I know other good stores are Rego's on Lakewood Heights, Nature's Bin and LEAF Community is coming on very strong with organic straight from the farm.

Now the bad news. Rosewood's retail space will be filled with businesses already in Lakewood. The move will leave almost a block empty on Detroit near downtown.

For sometime an Asian Noodle place and a coffee shop was looking to move in. Asian place still looking, coffee shop had enough time to speak with other coffee shop owners to look where the city needed a coffee shop.

.

I think it's a shame that we're down to only a couple of car dealerships, in my opinion. We used to have quite a few. I suppose it might be due to lack of space, or direct freeway access. I'm not an expert as to why.
I'd like to see a couple more car dealerships back here.

I would also like to see a strip of clothing, shoe stores and such. Jeans, sneakers, dress shoes, outerwear, wait, I think I'm describing a Lakewood version of part of old Westgate.



Mark Allan Crnolatas

I do try to do as much of my shopping in Lakewood as I can. I shop at Giant Eagle, they generally have what I need. As for the rest of my regular shopping needs, we usually leave Lakewood. I can't get clothes for my kids here. We usually get our business supplies at Staples (outside of Lakewood) and recently when we bought a new dryer we bought it in North Olmsted. Kids birthday gifts are usually bought outside of Lakewood.

I wish I could do more shopping in Lakewood and maybe someday we will be able to spend more of our money locally.

Movies are another out of Lakewood venture that results in money spent. Anyone seen creative alternatives to the megaplex? I'm oblivious to the ins and outs of the theater business but would love to see a small 3 screen, new release operation here in town.

make sure the clothing stores make LONG's for us tall girls

Annie--- I know just what you mean. I'm 6'2" and dresses-----

well you know what I mean

Stan

My opinion on shopping is this... if I cant get it in Lakewood... I go to the city.. If you don't take care of your core city then your city is weakened. Id prefer to live in a city with no BIG BOX stores... and as far as clothing... if it doesn't come from the thrift store I generally don't need it...

My favorite Lakewood stores:
Pet general, The shore restaurant,& Lakewood hardware..

we do need a book store.. I would love for the old building on 117th and Lake to be turned into one... but I don't think that is Lakewood proper.
Lynn

Two things I can't get in Lakewood that I buy a lot of... art supplies and plants. We could use a garden center.

I agree...and now that Ohio Camera is closing, I have to go to Dodd for some photo supplies...though not as much since I'm shooting digitally.

well, no city is going to have everything we need or want ... even retail centers like North Olmstead ... sure, they have a lot, but not everything!

I grew up in Retail Hell on the east side in Mentor ... NOTHING but malls, strip shopping centers, and big boxes. All of the major retailers were there and are there (and more keep coming). And it's convenient ... but at a price. The first is traffic, which is insane. Just getting a few miles across town can take upwards of a half hour. The second is that there are not a lot of small, independently-owned places. And sometimes, you want that. A good example are restaurants. You can't walk 10 feet in Mentor without hitting a Bob Evans (now 2 in the town), Applebee's, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, etc. But a good local place with interesting food? Few and far between. That's one of the things I love about Lakewood, that there is NO Applebee's or Olive Garden. Their food is okay, but it can't match some of the great things I've had in town.

And while the chain retailers are great for getting staples like clothes and office supplies, often cheaply, there's also a price for that too, in that you've got this big huge building that takes up immense amounts of space and has gigantic parking lots. Where in Lakewood would we put such a thing? What do we bulldoze to give us a big box retailer? Whose home gets torn down to make way for a Best Buy? And if those retailers ever pull out ... what do you do with the big box? If you want case studies, head to Euclid or North Randall. Euclid Square Mall is big ... and empty. The city would love to find a reuse for that acreage, but hasn't come up with anything yet. Across the street was a Super KMart, also empty now. Some are pushing for it to be a factory, but it'll have to be rezoned ... and there's already a ton of empty factory buildings in Euclid. Over in North Randall by the formerly-grand Randall Park Mall (once the largest in America), there's several streets that are wall-to-wall big box store carcasses. The companies are easily recognizable ... that was a Circuit City, that was a Best Buy, that was a Staples ... now they're all empty. How are they going to be reused?

No, I think we shouldn't wish for those types of retailers in Lakewood. We lack the infrastructure for them, and I think it would change Lakewood in ways that we really wouldn't like.

That said, we should always try to patronize the small independent retailers when we can ... and the good ones find good products to carry that we can't get easily at a big box, and offer a level of service that we can't get at any national chain. Sure, I run to Home Depot for my home repair needs ... but far more often I run to Ingersolls, Lakewood Hardware, or Cleveland Lumber, because those places actually stock the stuff I need to fix my 1908 home. Home Depot has the stuff needed for a 2007 house. Besides, I know I can go into one of those places, find someone who actually knows their stock and knows how to fix things, and they can get me set up with EXACTLY what I need, whereas the folks at Home Depot can usually only steer you to an aisle or two and tell you it might be there somewhere.


As for a bookstore ... I do like Liberty Books, especially because it's not a huge chain, but a nice independent ... so I don't know if I'd want a bookstore to compete with them, especially one of the big chains ... but it would be nice to have a good used bookstore in town ... with some nice comfy chairs to sit a spell and read in, and perhaps serving some coffee and tea. So that it's not just a store, but a place to hang out, too. And preferably over in the west end of town, so I can walk to it!

Hey, nothing wrong with wishing ...

David Lay wrote:Ohio Camera is closing

What? Ohio Camera is still around? Geez, I haven't been in there for over 20 years! When I was a kid, I used to take the bus downtown to Camera City and buy 35mm film in 200' rolls when Ohio Camera was out. I was in the attic last weekend looking for some old negatives. I ran across all my old darkroom stuff. Including a Beseler 23C with a dichroic color head! Oh, and Dave, of course it has Nikkor lenses. Oh, and a Leica lens for larger format 4x5 film! Yeah, I used to shoot alot with a single shot 4x5 Graflex and a 2-1/4 square Rollie as well. I even used the old flash bulbs. You know the kind that went pop. What Ivor? Flash bulbs? Google it. Just kidding. Ah the good old days... Oh no, now Gary is going to tell us about how he used to bang rocks together to create sparks to expose the silver bromide from the mines under his house that he and Woody Guthrie... ah never mind. Just kidding. It's Friday.

Sorry, back to the topic-
We shop outside of Lkwd for just about everything. Once in a blue moon we might go to PetSmart although we try to avoid scraping the bottom of my car off pulling out of that lot onto Warren. We usually end up going elsewhere. Once Petco opens in River, there won't be a need to mess with that parking lot anymore. Marc's? On the rare occasion my wife wants to go there, it's worth a gallon of gas to ride to Crocker Road (or River) to avoid the parking hassles. My wife will usually go to Giant Eagle in River instead of the Pick-N-Pay on Bunts.

Lakewood should develop the Eastern end of Madison. Say from about Elbur down to the library or so. It's all under utilized. Rip out all the old buildings (or keep the storefronts whatever but they need to be replaced) and put all new structure behind. Put in angled parking and maybe even a walkway or something down the middle of the street. That's wide down there, imagine being able to go someplace in Lakewood and have easy access to parking. Whatever, but turn that area into a Lakewood version of Crocker Park or better. You could have all kinds of shops, book stores, movie theater, the whole shebang with easy access from I-90 via W117th or even Bunts. Why does Lakewood have to take second seat to River, Westlake, *put-city-name-here*?

Ha, maybe it could be called Locker Park. Yeah, that's it... Great shopping, new schools, new condo's and housing, no hoops ( ), new library, ... now you are starting to have some substance behind 'selling the brand'.

All good ideas. How about a movie theater in our city again!!!

What about the detroiter?.. older movies... but still...