Landing Starbucks to Close

[copperfiend]

I just want to know when we get hot dog carts on the Main Street bridge.

[danem]

Just wondering....why would a place like IKEA or Cheesecake Factory be interested in investing in downtown Jax?

They wouldn't.

What!?  Aren't retailers beating down the door to locate at The Landing once it gets its dedicated parking?

Not trying to be funny but we can't even land a McDonalds downtown.  I'm still amazed by how empty the sidewalks are at lunch time during the work week.  You won't get you an IKEA or Macy's.  However, having dedicated parking could potentially land something like a Walgreens, Office Depot, BW3 or microbrewery. 

I say get all the things that we actually can, especially things that are useful for those who still work and live there, or could potentially work and live there, and those other things will be possible later. Gee, do all that and even Starbucks would come back downtown some day, and maybe not even to the Landing.

One question, isn't IKEA a giant warehouse/showroom store where you drive over, park, and leave with giant flat boxes of to-be-assembled furniture? I can't imagine any downtown needing that.

[fsujax]

hell, at this point they (hot dog carts) will be relocating to Deerwood along gate parkway!

[KenFSU]

I just want to know when we get hot dog carts on the Main Street bridge.

I want to know when Peyton is going to do that sassy dance he did at Club Paris again.

[cline]

hell, at this point they (hot dog carts) will be relocating to Deerwood along gate parkway!

There is a hot dog cart at the Home Depot just up the street from Deerwood

[fsujax]

now they will line Deerwood along Gate, Touchton Rd, etc.

[PeeJayEss]

How about we all just pool our money, buy the Laura St. Trio, rename it the Metro Jacksonville, renovate it, and live in it. How close would that get us to 10000? Then take an oath that we will not spend money outside of downtown. Open our own grocery store and furniture store. Other people will start to use them. Downtown living will be more viable because these necessities are there, and a bunch of great people. Let it spread from there.

Or just go downtown for meals and entertainment and whatever you can. Whenever you want to hit up the town center for something, think, is it at all possible to get this downtown? For restaurants, certainly. For a movie, maybe not (but you can do 5points or San Marco and that will be acceptable). Groceries? Wynn-Dixie should work. Bars? there's plenty, you just gotta know where to look. We can help the businesses that are currently there do so well that they want to expand or are bragging to all their other business friends how great and profitable downtown is.

[downtownjag]

For the record, Chamblins has amazing coffee and at least it's a local owner.  Go there, enjoy your coffee, and forget about Starbucks.  The other one left and they were getting free rent.  Something great will become of our downtown eventually; if only because there is a lot of money to be made.  Then Starbucks will come back and hopefully some landlord charges them double rent like they charge us for burnt coffee :-)

[PeeJayEss]

For the record, Chamblins has amazing coffee and at least it's a local owner.  Go there, enjoy your coffee, and forget about Starbucks.  The other one left and they were getting free rent.  Something great will become of our downtown eventually; if only because there is a lot of money to be made.  Then Starbucks will come back and hopefully some landlord charges them double rent like they charge us for burnt coffee :-)

The coffee that is lower quality than what you can get for 10 times less (just picking a number, its probably more like 100) out of a can, and was also beat in a taste test by McDonalds' 4 times less Premium Roast. Proving that Sprite was wrong: Image is everything - Thirst is nothing.

[billy]

hell, at this point they (hot dog carts) will be relocating to Deerwood along gate parkway!

There is a hot dog cart at the Home Depot just up the street from Deerwood

soon, instead of hot dog carts, packs of wild dogs roaming the streets

[KenFSU]

Something great will become of our downtown eventually; if only because there is a lot of money to be made.

I would also throw in the fact that we have an absolutely beautiful downtown. Our skyline blows away every other city of Jacksonville's size. I was driving past downtown along the Fuller Warren Bridge last night for the first time in months, and it still took my breath away. The lights, and the river, and the bridges, and the buildings. It really is a beautiful downtown. You drive past it at night, and you think "man, there has to be some damn exciting stuff going on across the river." But alas, there isn't. Based on the existing infrastructure, downtown should be thriving -- booming even -- and the fact that it's not really is a testament to the complete failure of our leadership in Jacksonville. It takes a lot of effort to so severely screw up what should come so easy.

[tufsu1]

I must say the place was jam packed last Friday night. People were everywhere. Maybe Starbucks couldnt come to an agreement with the owner on their lease? just a possibility, other than business being so abysmal.

According to one of the Starbucks employees, this is the root of the reason. Sleiman wanted to go up on the rent and Starbucks corporate didn't think it was worth it, citing the slow death of downtown.

which is the same reason Twisted Martini closed.....anyone want to bet Sleiman will say it is bacause there isn't enough dedicated parking?

[blizz01]

was also beat in a taste test by McDonalds' 4 times

- good to know; now we can just go to the downtown McDonald's..........oh, wait.

[cline]

was also beat in a taste test by McDonalds' 4 times

- good to know; now we can just go to the downtown McDonald's..........oh, wait.

You'll have to stick with Burger King downtown.

[wsansewjs]

For the record, Chamblins has amazing coffee and at least it's a local owner.  Go there, enjoy your coffee, and forget about Starbucks.  The other one left and they were getting free rent.  Something great will become of our downtown eventually; if only because there is a lot of money to be made.  Then Starbucks will come back and hopefully some landlord charges them double rent like they charge us for burnt coffee :-)

The coffee that is lower quality than what you can get for 10 times less (just picking a number, its probably more like 100) out of a can, and was also beat in a taste test by McDonalds' 4 times less Premium Roast. Proving that Sprite was wrong: Image is everything - Thirst is nothing.

That's because the bloody Starfuck coffee are double roasted, which is a cardinal sin for maintaining the integrity of the taste of the coffee in my opinion. All of the good oil from the coffee bean is lost in the double-roasting process. I only go to Starbuck for their good desert and specialty drinks like white chocolate iced mocha latte lowfat sugarfree.

-Josh