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Apr
29
Struggling Downtown
April 29, 2008 |
New restaurants are opening monthly in the Power & Light District, and crowds are flocking to Downtown. Unfortunately many local and/or non-chain businesses are not getting much of the love.
Winsteads recently closed up their diner in the food court at One Kansas City Place, the state’s tallest building. The Mango Room recently closed after enduring months of construction outside its front door at 12th and Main. Although one has to wonder if that particular restaurant would have done better in a location like The Crossroads or West 39th Street.
Magazines and Coffee is a year-old newstand and coffee house in the TWA Building that is now operating on a day-to-day basis. Their Crossroads location seems to be too far from the foot traffic of the Downtown Loop, and their lack of evening hours cuts them off from getting getting business from the many new Downtown residents who are still stuck commuting back to the suburban office parks.
If you visit Downtown to check out the Power & Light District or the arena, spread some love around to the dozens of locally-owned businesses on the periphery of the district. If you live Downtown, be sure to make an effort to support the business people struggling to provide you with goods and services.
Comments
10 Comments so far
The Mango Room may have had problems beyond construction. We went there a handful of times and had very mixed experiences in terms of the quality of service. It’s also hard to regularly go out for $20 entrees and $10 martinis.
Nevertheless, excellent point on the need to support local businesses. Does anyone know of a good index or list of them, particularly those that are off the beaten path, like Magazines and Coffee?
BTW, Magazines and Coffee had a sign up today that Friday was going to be their last day. It’s been for sale for awhile, but in 4 days, will no longer exist. Very sad. The people there are very nice and make a good cup of Joe.
Downtown is affecting the entire city. This subsidized entertainment in a box is going to put many local proprietors our of business and effect neighborhoods everywhere.
The local businesses that put KC on the map and have paid taxes for years, including those that will support the P&L, couldn’t be slapped in the face any harder.
Why is this a surprise to anyone. Everyone knows that any city the size of Kansas City can only support a finite number of anything, be it entertainment, dining, coffee shops.
I hope that the Westport shops and resturants don’t go away. I hope that some of the funky small diners in funny places aren’t displaced.
I know it’s hard to believe that there are people that really don’t care about going to the “downtown”.
I have noticed in Westport lately that it hasn’t been crowded.
Personally, I think the bars in the Power and Light District are a ticking time bomb. There is a severe lack of security for the amount of people who are in there. The security measures to get in seem minimal, they don’t check purses or pockets. It’s just a matter of time until someone does something crazy.
The word is that The Mango Room may have lost its liquor indefinitely. People who went to the restaurant in the month prior to closing said that business had been picking up significantly.
As much as I’d like to blame the Light & Power boondoggle, I think there’s a lot more to it than just that. Restaurants everywhere are going out of business, not just downtown, because peoples’ disposable income is dropping. Businesses like Winstead’s (and to some extent The Mango Room) that subsist on downtown workers going out to lunch are especially hard-hit, since one of the first places that people start cutting back is by taking their lunch to work instead of going out. (Another is that mid-afternoon coffee break.) As someone who works downtown, and frequents (frequented) some of the places mentioned, I can vouch for that being exactly what’s happened in my workplace. We’ve gone from going out for lunch 3 or 4 times a week to going out once or twice a week - and I’m sure that’s not uncommon. Combine that with the influx of “new places to try”, and we haven’t been to some of the old standbys in a few months.
I think if existing downtown places are trafficked enough to weather the opening of L&P, (I’m thinking Cupini’s, Arun Thai, Planet Sub, City Center), then once the newness has worn off, and people realize that they can’t afford to eat at Ted’s or Raglan Road on a regular basis, then things will average out … but for the places that were already hanging by a thread, this is pretty much the perfect storm.
I personally know people that used to swear by The Mango Room but hadn’t been in a while because of spotty service. My guess is they fell back on their laurels, and with added comptition, it became too much to overcome.
The businesses near Kemper Arena are also complaining about P&L. Yet when I was down by there for the Pet Expo a couple of weekends ago, they weren’t open while thousands of people were walking by. Hint: You might want to be open when there IS a crowd. I, for one was very hungry and would’ve stopped by Sutera’s for pizza. The snack bars in the American Royal building weren’t very appealing.
The Mango Room’s business was picking up over the past year. They added live jazz over the past year on weekends and the place was doing well. The lost their liqueur license and they closed within a week.