SAMBA meeting at Boomtown

[thelakelander]

Stephen Dare, of Boomtown at 9th & Main, will be the main speaker for February's Springfield Area Merchants & Business Association general meeting.  The topic will focus on the challenges of bringing vibrancy back to Main Street.
The meeting will be held at 9th & Main, from 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. on Monday, February 11th.

[fsujax]

Sorry, I missed the meeting.  What happend? any good discussion?

[thelakelander]

I don't know the whole story, but Boomtown is no longer at 9th & Main.  The restaurant portion is now being taken over by a different group that plans to open later this week.  The meeting was a pretty good one in that a lot of people who normally don't so up came out.  Tory at 9th & Main, was the last minute guest speaker and he filled everyone in on their new plans to try and bring a little stability to that location.

However, the MetroEdge retail study started a nice debate on what we want Main Street to be and how are we going to get there.  Some want to shoot for new construction and national retailers while others believe we should try to fill in the existing vacant spaces before worrying about if a Publix or CVS wants to come in.  Another angle was the role of SAMBA and how the group can take a part in recruiting and attracting more businesses into Springfield. 

Overall, it was the most interesting SAMBA meeting that I've been apart of since I joined the board in December.

[Juker777]

Anyone know what caused the demise of boomtown in Springfield ?  Traffic count on road, urban density to support, etc...?