As a former resident of Downtown who now lives in N. Collinwood but still works downtown, I am baffled by the lack of common sense demonstrated by those bemoaning the emptying of Tower City. The most common suggestion proffered by Those Who Think About Things is to encourage "uniquely Cleveland" retail outlets which, though laudable, results in a surplus of stores selling grandma's tchokis and costume jewelry. What population is this suggestion trying to woo? Certainly not the downtown population of single professionals with scads of disposable income and an innate sense of style. Given a choice between traveling a half hour to one of the suburban "lifestyle" installations or popping over to Tower City to outfit oneself or one's kitchen, which do you think a busy 20, 30 or 40 something would choose? The current dilemma is not competition from the suburbs, it's that the kind of stores currently populating Tower City do not contain the chains that draw the attention and dollars of the people actually living and working downtown. Ubiquitous stores like the (late) Banana Republic, J-Crew, Ann Taylor and Brooks Brothers are a nice start, but they are also a dime a dozen. The stores that would bring urban shoppers back to the fold are those with nationwide and/or global cache, e.g. Anthropologie, H&M, Betsey Johnson, Urban Outfitters, etc. Aren't these the same stores being introduced at Eaton Center, Legacy Village and Crocker Park? Well, yes. The problem is that Eastside vs. Westside competition results in gross inconvenience to shoppers who would like to hit all of the aforementioned stores at once rather than expend valuable frequent flyer miles puddle jumping from one side of town to the other. If Tower City could spruce itself up a bit so as to do justice to its own majestic beauty and obtain a critical mass of stores catering to the downtown population, it could save itself.from Cool Cleveland reader Christina J. Moser cj_moser@yahoo.com
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