The comments from shoppers in this Washington Post article can say a lot about what will bring people downtown.
"Gaskins asks her 17-year-old daughter to take the Metro into the city to browse the aisles at Hecht's and H&M... Retailers "put better stuff downtown," Gaskins said after leaving H&M with her daughter on a recent shopping trip."
as Andre Turman, an 18-year-old District college student said of downtown shopping, "It's not like a mall. It's pretty limited."
Lisa Branco, a 33-year-old consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. who works in the District, says she "hates the mall." During her lunch hour, she stops at the new Ann Taylor Loft on 7th Street NW. "This is much better than driving an hour, parking the car in a garage and battling the teenagers," she said.
Wendy Elsasser, an Alexandria resident who works downtown for the federal government, said walking the streets there "used to be scary." Now "it's turning around," she said."
Retailers still sound tentative, but they could partner with transit officials to help make Metro stations "lead" shoppers to stores with vendor stands or displays, and merchants can partner to create lunch-time, after work, or weekend events as incentives. What key stakeholders should recognize is that the vitality of the downtown depends on thinking beyond the boundaries of the store, or street or district. Public spaces, all the areas that tie the downtown together, should be thought about by the larger group. When all this happens, this center, a mere 1/5 of the square footage of the mall at Tyson's Corner, will pack a real punch.
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