Sear’s and Penny’s closed downtown stores that were very profitable in favor of the Mall Concept. Now we do a lot of shopping online and can save both time and money. The brick and mortar stores are in a struggle to meet this new competition model and shoppers are armed with prices down to the penny when they actually do go to real stores.

Same goes for Movie Theatres, online streaming and big screen TV’s make for a nice evening to nowhere right at home in a big recliner and a bowl of popcorn.

I wish the new mall owners well but for me it will be a trip to take a look but as for shopping, time will tell. The older I get the less I like crowds of people, incompetent sales people who have no knowledge of the products or in the case of a sale… we just sold the last one. Online puts the buyer in charge and comparison shopping is a snap. The product is shipped to your front door in a couple of days and if you don’t like it you get free returns in the case of Amazon and other like minded cyber-stores.

Meridian may be popular for those certain families who enjoy commuting, strip malls, big box retail and all of the other crap that is found in every other city in the nation… but there are plenty of people in the area who absolutely cannot stand that crap and who refuse to even go out there.

I for one am glad downtown Boise isn’t like Meridian or Eagle. The moment it becomes that is the moment I move away from here.

EDITOR NOTE–Agree Eagle and Fairview is busiest intersection in the state. Also in past 40 years I have watched downtown Boise become a great attraction for “adult entertainment,” (expensive food and lots of booze joints) while legacy retailers have fled to the burbs. Meanwhile Meridian has grown from about 2,000 residents to 64,000!
You see complaining, I see reality.

This street right now seems to becoming offices, but desperately needs some future mixed use office/retail development to help support the street life and create a walk-able section of downtown. This location could then support some downtown residences

Downtown Boise has the grid and the tree lined streets with detached sidewalks. You cannot duplicate that in Meridian. A downtown grid is the very opposite of suburbia.

Yet, the downtown grid is slowly disappearing into super blocks. Historic preservationists focus their efforts on single entity buildings without looking at the big picture that’s the historic grid which ties together those old buildings with easy walkability.

Preservationists always lament the loss of old Boise old buildings, but what about the loss of the grid at The Grove? Now St Lukes, having already confiscated Bannock, wants to do the same with Jefferson. JUMP will forever disconnect North 10th from South 10th and make Broad St. a dead end before it needs to be.

Bodo is the last time streets were opened instead of closed. Bodo has been successful, it’s hard to argue otherwise.

Guardian, you want a quainter downtown? Demand that the street grid be preserved and closed streets reopened. Don’t let Gardner forever ruin the Grove St. corridor with a building. When people come to their senses, they’ll want a continuous Grove St back.

*Suburbia costs all of us in national health, arable land use and personal welbeing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifKOB-d3uds