Remedy for downtown retail urged

Beach Closure wrote:

john morris complains about no customers, but what do you expect when he replaces what was once good food with cheaper substitutes and doesn't adjust the pricing. smooth's was probably one of the only reasons i had to go downtown after i stopped leasing office space on pine.
also, i got tired of watching john morris revel in his microcelebrity status while trying to enjoy my lunches.
the food quality at all the restaurants i used to frequent on pine have gone way down. i used to live at 6th and pine about 10 years ago right when they built Rock Bottom and Hooters and the start of the new Pike. since that time, several chain restaurants have been added that none of the Pine Ave restaurants can really compete with.
parking is also another issue. nobody wants to park their vehicle in a graffiti laden lot that charges up to $8 minimum.
the police are always around, but that's it. they are just around. usually hassling bicycle riders and taking up space while the rest of the city is attacked by hispanics and blacks who have played too much Grand Theft Auto or Saints Row...
and then there is the loony bin walmart. if you have never been there, i urge you to go at least once. don't just drive by, go inside to watch the sideshow and very bad parenting. if you can honestly say that this was a prudent decision after visiting, you are part of the problem.
the blue line/metro adds fuel to the fire by dropping off the rest of Los Angeles county's undesirable because our city is a haven for illegal immigrants and gangsters. it also pays to be poor in LB. we have one of the largest homeless populations in the nation because of people like the lowenthals and fosters who want socialism as soon as possible.
for shopping and dining, i will stick with the OC or even Century City.

Swimmaven wrote:

There is a shopping center I used to go in Cypress. Went there for the Borders (since there were no independant bookstores left). The shopping center had oudoor music piped through fake rocks:
CLASSICAL MUSIC.
That cleaars out the undesirables like ultrasound does with roaches.
Try it. I would like it.

OC Surfer wrote:

They should have built WalMart up by PCH and Long Beach Blvd instead giving the riff raff a place to go while allowing space for a more upscale downtown Long Beach.
Even if they kicked WalMart out, and brought Target in its place that would vastly improve conditions.
Remember Nordstrom (or any other high end retail) can sit side by side with Target, but they will never be near a Walmart.

damon wrote:

I'm already in the process of moving away. Found a beautiful place in Santa Monica. I can't wait to get out of this area. Good luck downtown long beach, because you need it. And i couldn't pay people to come down here. But people will happily go to Santa Monica. And so will i.

Lorenzo Gigliotti wrote:

We should have a couple of blocks of stores that sell items that come from our port.
Goods from all over the world and all over the country flow through our port. An international marketplace with outlets or promotional storefronts highlighting the amazing variety of goods that cross through our city and its port would be a truly unique shopping destination that would draw people from all over southern California. The stores could even be grouped by geographic origin or destination and could be enhanced by culturally related cuisine and food outlets.

Ronald wrote:

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Lorenzo Gigliotti
That's a very good idea, and under any other circumstance it would probably work to revitalize the downtown area and Long Beach as a whole. The problem is that were your good idea implemented, the "Blacks" would soon move in to intimidate, and eventually drive out, the ethnic groups who would, presumably, be selling the goods. Nothing would change.
I may be overly pessimistic, but I don't see any way long Beach can recover. Many posters, in order to seem to be politically correct, "Blame Walmart", but we all know what they are really thinking.
Ronald

Juan Pardell wrote:

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I don't blame Walmart because of the ethnic & income demographic it attracts. The fact remains, their stores are not a true downtown urban concept. That is indisputable. You will never see a Walmart in downtown New York or San Francisco. What made your city officials believe it would work in Long Beach?

Ronald wrote:

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Juan.
The "demographics" downtown Long Beach is plagued with has little to to with Walmart. Just walk around the area sometime.
The "downtown" Walmart is a relatively new concept. I learned that during the speeches made the morning prior to the doors being opened for business.
I had long heard of Walmart stores, but I only went into one when I happened to pass by once in, I believe, Bellflower. I was excited when hearing that a Walmart store would open downtown.
You might be interested to learn that the morning that the downtown Walmart opened, I was the first customer to go through the registers.
Ronald