Panera on Main Street?

[danno]

I do want to find a billion dollars stuffed in my wheel well tomorrow morning (odds are against it).

So thats where I should be looking... my wheel well.  Who knew?  I have been checking under the sofa cushions.

[Omarvelous09]

The real question is - What will you do if Panda Express comes??

As long as they occupy existing buildings... i welcome the growth. Sometimes you need a good mixture of corporate & small businesses to round out a neighborhood. It would be nice to have some other than fried/BBQ chicken, McDonald's and Krystal's. Oh yea...Long John's. 

[ChriswUfGator]

The real question is - What will you do if Panda Express comes??

As long as they occupy existing buildings... i welcome the growth.

Amen.

If the San Marco or 5 Points theatres got bought out by Regal Cinemas, or Bold City got bought out by Budweiser, then there'd be a valid reason to complain about corporate chains. Because then you'd actually have lost something of local flavor.

But when they're just taking over an empty building (of which there is hardly any shortage in S'field), I don't see how it could ever be a bad thing, or where there's any room to have any reservations about it. Worst-case scenario, even if they don't make it, then their deep pockets have already paid for the renovations and build-out, which makes it much more likely that others will want to take over that space later.

Win, meet win.

ETA: CLT is quiet tonight.

[sheclown]

agreed.

[ChriswUfGator]

I don't particularly want a full street of chains but a couple good ones mixed in with unique upstarts is fine by me.

Guess I have to quote myself since ChrisUF decided to cut it in half to suit his needs.

Hey, what can I say? Dan B's been teaching me all sorts of new tricks lately.

But kidding aside, you did express some sentiment against a "street full of chains" and that's the part I thought was relevant. I wasn't trying to change the meaning of your words, and don't think I did. Clearly, you have a reservation about the chain factor, as did multiple other people. That was all I was addressing.

[fsu813]

nvrenuf,

yes, Chriswuf seems to have a ceratin way with words. a way that misrepresents the orginal posters words, that is. so it's not surprising that he took your comment out of context.

also not surprising, in his list of qoutes, he included 2 (mine & another) that were in favor of the Panera, yet he presented them to be a negative. he also said that Dan missed them.....but he actually used them in his orginal post. (whew).

I wish people would be more honest in how they communicate. I mean, i know ceratin people have clear agendas, but come on. Doesn't mean you have to be dishonest about it.

[Dan B]

I actually don't think Chris has an agenda, at least, not on this issue. I think he is primarily a Dare sycophant. Aside from that, Its possible that somewhere along the line SPAR did him wrong, and he enjoys seeing SPAR get beat up. Aside from enjoying the tumult, however, he doesn't seem to have any clear mission.

[chris farley]

Dishonesty seems to be the keyword in these articles.  I cannot believe the twisting of  words and ideas.  Didn't Orwell have "5 minutes hate" sessions each day in 1984, maybe each thread no matter what the subject could start off with such a session revamping each regurgitated  piece of info - emails - and get it over with so a decent discussion could then be held.

[02roadking]

Topic is:      Yes, I'll take a Panera Bread in Springfield. Thank You.

[chris farley]

Me too!

[Dan B]

Me three.

[Springfielder]

as I've said earlier....I'm very okay with it

[ChriswUfGator]

nvrenuf,

yes, Chriswuf seems to have a ceratin way with words. a way that misrepresents the orginal posters words, that is. so it's not surprising that he took your comment out of context.

also not surprising, in his list of qoutes, he included 2 (mine & another) that were in favor of the Panera, yet he presented them to be a negative. he also said that Dan missed them.....but he actually used them in his orginal post. (whew).

I wish people would be more honest in how they communicate. I mean, i know ceratin people have clear agendas, but come on. Doesn't mean you have to be dishonest about it.

I posted your negative comments from your posts, because the posts weren't wholly positive like you're now trying to imply. You're being disingenuous, and acting like you said "I love Panera, bring it on!" when really your comments were of the "Ok, BUT..." type.

If there was no "but..." then I wouldn't have had anything to quote, would I?

[fsu813]

if you see my comment as negatively tinted, then you have a 'half-empty' perspective.

[ChriswUfGator]

I actually don't think Chris has an agenda, at least, not on this issue. I think he is primarily a Dare sycophant. Aside from that, Its possible that somewhere along the line SPAR did him wrong, and he enjoys seeing SPAR get beat up. Aside from enjoying the tumult, however, he doesn't seem to have any clear mission.

I do happen to like Stephen, but I'm hardly his sycophant. And I think your comment is ironic, because the only sycophants around here are the cadre of defenders who think SPAR can do no wrong. But as to your second point, yeah, I gotta admit there's no love lost there. I always found it weird that one or another of my properties would be fine for years, then all of a sudden COJ would show up saying they got 10 complaints in a month. Didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what's up, especially when they were doing it to other landlords I talked to. It's pretty despicable. And thanks to sheclown's excellent detective work, they got busted red-handed with their hands in multiple different cookie jars.

So it turns out that at the same time they're out hassling everybody else, they've been running around behind the scenes trying to make it easier to knock down historic properties, taking big payouts from developers, and waging petty wars against a city attorney, and on and on and on. LMFAO!!! I mean, there is just a certain level satisfaction in watching someone like that get hoisted on their own petard.

About Panera, I think it'd be great for S'field. Personally I like Panera, even though they're a chain.  I just ate there for lunch yesterday. I'd definitely go to it, since the next-closest one is at the roosevelt mall and that place is an overcrowded nightmare. I also go to plenty of local businesses, it just depends on the mood.

I guess the only thing that bothered me enough to speak up in this thread, is the clustering factor. Clustering is real. Thrift stores, restaurants, corporate chains, local businesses, etc., all work together naturally to bring customers to their neighbors. You'll have people who go to lunch and say "let's check out the thrift store", and people going to the thrift store and see the Panera and say "hmm, I'm hungry...", and still other people who will want coffee and decide to go into 3 layers. It's a natural synergy. The cluster itself becomes the draw, instead of any individual business, and they all win because of it. But for it to work, people can't be so insistent about what they"don't want" or "won't allow". For it to work, the mix needs to be as diverse as possible. You can't just have 10 storefronts that are all the same thing, that won't draw anybody.