Have you mapped out routes for the big after Thanksgiving sales? If you want to hang around for some of grandma’s pumpkin pie and take the stress out of holiday shopping, we might have a solution.
There’s been a lot of press about the Small Business Saturday buy-local campaigns, but have you ever thought about the gifts you can buy right downtown, all week long? Okay, admittedly, we have a way to go (or a way to grow), but there are still great options all within a quick jaunt of where you work, live or play.
Let’s start on Gay Street. We’ve got less-is-more wallet action at Zeroz, and right next door is Sugardaddy’s who will even mail granny in Arizona a holiday care package.
While you’re on Gay Street, find gifts for foodies or the caffeine addicts among us, and for those who you never know what to get, just one word – jewelry. Diamond Exchange and Chet’s Jewelers have just what you need, and don’t forget the manicure gift certificate at Nail Styling Salon so the jewels will drip from perfectly groomed fingertips.
For the football fan on your list, head to The Peanut Shoppe for an assortment of goodies to munch on during the upcoming bowl games. Keep on truckin’ to the Statehouse Museum Store for Ohio gift items or chatkes with a political flare.
Haven’t found the perfect gift yet? Fill your bag with trendy home décor items at Crimson Design Group, and don’t forget the fresh flower arrangements while you’re there.
There are lots of options. We’ve only just started to help you with your list so get out and explore. For more downtown retailers, check out DowtownColumbus.com or the Small Business Beanstalk. Let us know what you find.
Fourth of July was months ago, but there’s no typo when we say save the date for Independents’ Day.
The fourth annual Independents’ Day lights up Cbus to celebrate entrepreneurial spirit and all things independent on Saturday, September 17 from noon to midnight at Gay Street and Pearl Alley.
Bring your inner artist and add your own creative touch at the live mural painting that will take shape during the festival. And, if you work up an appetite, Dine Originals has you covered with plenty of good eats. Keep your eyes peeled – you might even see a food truck or two.
Music, art, great food, but the blast continues with clowns, fortune tellers, magicians and crafters set up throughout the festival. Dance in Columbus will offer improvisational, contemporary, jazz and guerrilla performances, as well as creative movement experiences for children.
The last time the peeps in C-Bus saw this much rain Grover Cleveland had just been inaugurated as President – for the second time; Frank Lloyd Wright had opened an architectural firm; and Thomas Edison was fine tuning his new-fangled phonograph. Needless to say, the Gore-Tex rain slicker was a few years away.
It could be worse; we could live along the Ohio River where they are getting even more rain. All the green stuff on the other side of the window pane loves it; so as you watch the grass grow, we’ve thought of a few more things you can do to make life less soggy.
10. Clean out a desk drawer and spiff things up a bit. Graham’s Office Supply has just what you need. Besides, new Post-Its will help distract you while you’re waiting for that gargantuan file that your boss just emailed you to download.
9. Pick up a few growlers of beer from The Elevator and invite a few friends over to start construction of a mini-ark. Mmm, Dopplebock.
8. Head on over to the Ohio Theatre to see Mary Poppins. The umbrella that Mary uses on stage is big enough to keep your entire office dry.
7. Dream about warm sunny days when you Kick It Up at Columbus Commons for Downtown Kickball. Have you sent your registration yet?
6. Hire a trainer at your favorite gym. It may not lift your attitude, but you’ll be too exhausted to really care.
5. Hit every downtown restaurant for happy hour specials. Cocktails abound downtown; start creating your list here.
4. Stroll down Gay Street and take a whiff of all the spring flowers. Heck, Gay Street is also a good place to begin your Happy Hour Hop.
2. Take your inner child to the Center for Creativity at the Columbus Museum of Art and recharge your artistic self.
And the number one thing that will help get you through this rainy season… Lunch on us and here’s your chance. Post a comment about how you like to spend your time downtown and you’ll be entered to win lunch from a variety of downtown restaurants, worth more than 30 bucks. Yum.
On October 29 the summer Pearl Market closed for the 2010 season, wrapping up another very successful year of bringing fresh, local produce, foods and unique goods to the downtown community. Over the course of the summer, 58 merchants and 30 farmers peddled their wares in the Pearl and Lynn alleys with spillover on Broad and Gay streets. The Market operated for 47 days this summer, with an average of 3,500 people exploring its offerings on any given day. That totals almost 165,000 visits – all from people who enjoy shopping, lunch, entertainment and some fantastic people watching.
Numbers like these reinforce the importance of Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District’s commitment to running the Pearl Market. Our Market Manager, Adam Schroeder, has helped expand the Market’s offerings through outreach to potential farmers and vendors and has improved the Market’s accessibility and visibility. This year, after a trial run in the 2009-10 Winter Pearl Market, guests of the Market could use credit cards or the Ohio Direction Card to purchase tokens redeemable at almost all Market vendors. The move from cash-only purchasing made it easier for last-minute shoppers, and the ability to use the Ohio Direction Card opened the Market to a new demographic. The program was a huge success with over $14,000 in credit card transactions and over $2,400 in Ohio Direction Card/EBT transactions.
Special events and offerings served to boost interest and attendance at the Market. Five Tasty Tuesdays were held, during which staff prepared recipes featuring Market products and provided samples and copies of the recipes to customers. (If you missed our Tasty Tuesdays, you can still check out the recipes at downtowncolumbus.com/pearlmarket/special-events). The Ohio Proud Mobile Kitchen set up shop in the Market on two occasions. Area chefs shopped the Market and then prepared some tasty samples for Market customers. Other special events included the Second Annual Kids’ Day on July 27 in conjunction with COSI, which garnered media attention on all of the major network television stations. And there was Tomato Day, Strawberry Day, Squash Day, Taste of the Summer Harvest and Taste of the Fall Harvest, all of which featured special recipes and samples of the special ingredient or ingredients of the day. Plus customers were able to enjoy live entertainment every Market day from a variety of musical guests, which sometimes led to actual dancing in the streets.
Capital Crossroads kicked off the Friends of the Market program this summer to allow fans of the Market to help support daily operations. Both individual and business Friends of the Market options are available for purchase, benefits of which include a listing on the Pearl Market website and a reusable canvas Pearl Market shopping bag. By the end of the Summer Market, 30 individuals and one business had signed up to be Friends of the Market. If you are interested in more information or would like to take a peek at our Friends list, visit downtowncolumbus.com/pearlmarket/friends.
The Market received much earned media from newsprint to television all season long. One of the highlights included Fox 28 reporter, Johnny DiLoretto, who came to the Market and aired his entire morning show live in the alley. He promoted the Market and interviewed vendors, which was a great way to support the entrepreneurial spirit of the Market vendors. In addition, Market promotions were enhanced through our marketing and communications channels, including Facebook, Twitter and our weekly Right Now Downtown email blast. Each vehicle was used to share information on special events and a weekly Market Special was available to Right Now Downtown subscribers. One of our Market vendors penned a weekly blog post called the Market Maven and we posted a number of videos showing interviews with vendors and highlighting what makes the Market unique.
Though the summer Pearl Market has wrapped up for another year, the Winter Pearl Market is just kicking off. The Winter Market will be held on Tuesdays and Fridays from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. November 2 through February 25 at 33 N. Third Street.
I love that my three-year-old son now wakes up on Tuesdays and screams, “Market! We do to market today!” At the beginning of the summer, it was a bit harder to entice him to want to go. But now he has learned the beauty of samples, fresh tomatoes, live music we can dance to, and friendly Market staff who are always up for playtime. Andy played his guitar and sang for us at the Market last week and it was lovely! He had all sorts of people singing along with him and dancing down the street, which got me just a bit closer to my dream of living in a musical.
As we near the end of the summer Market, I’ve noticed some vendors having clearance sales. One of them is Salon D’Art. Her prices are already extremely reasonable and her jewelry is gorgeous! Her things are more like pieces of art than jewelry. This is definitely the place to find one-of-a-kind pieces.
My favorite vendor from last summer was definitely Sugardaddy’s, probably owing to my serious brownie addiction. They have since moved into a store right around the corner from the Market. Last week, in another sign of the changing seasons, Tom stood out in the Market with pumpkin brownie samples for Sugardaddy’s. They were cooked perfectly and utterly delicious!
Have you seen all the big heavy duty trucks and bulldozers moving dirt around the site where the new Bishop’s Walk condos will soon be? It’s enough to put five-year-old boys with their Tonka trucks into a deep trance, but soon it will be dreamy for those who want to make downtown a lifestyle.
Phase Two of Neighborhood Launch is officially underway and 14 additional residential units will be available before long. In case you were teetering on that beautiful wrought iron fence out front of the first phase, we wanted to give you the Top Ten Reasons to Consider Making the Plunge with Bishop’s Walk.
10. You can grab your witches brew and head to the Neighborhood’s very own Halloween Party and solve the Clue Mystery Murder.
9. Plan your own grand celebration next to the fountain in the courtyard… or toss your significant other in if he/she is getting on your nerves.
8. Rumor has it that you might even find Sugardaddy’s connections close by, and who couldn’t manage with a little more of those scrumptious pieces of heaven?
7. Live and play and maybe even work downtown. You’ll be one of the cool kids now.
6. You are a mere 53 seconds away from the best cup of coffee in the Midwest, maybe the world. Repeat after us… Café Brioso.
5. When you want to unwind Monday after work, Due Amici fills Gay Street with live jazz music and the wine is nothing to sneeze at either.
4. Ditch your keys – everything is in walking (or biking) distance. Think of the money you can save on car insurance, which leaves more change jingling in your pockets for drinks at Tip Top Kitchen & Cocktails.
3. Impress your partner when you arrange for a horse-drawn carriage to pick you both up for a night on the town.
2. Save tons of time and support local businesses when you buy farm-fresh produce from area farmers in Pearl Market.
And the number one reason you should consider the cool digs at Neighborhood Launch – you can roll out of bed a half hour before you need to be at work downtown, throw some gel in your hair and still get to your desk with time to spare.
Come out this Saturday for an explosion of creative energy in the center of Cbus when Independents’ Day kicks off in Lynn and Pearl alleys and along Gay Street for its third annual celebration.
This completely volunteer driven hoopla celebrates the entrepreneurial and independent spirit of Columbus and will feature more than 100 artists, crafters and vendors, 40 local bands, the Dine Originals, local non-profits, the Small Business Beanstalk, Urban Scrawl(ers) and a zillion others.
“It’s going to be an amazing celebration of everything independent,” said Wolf Starr, logistics coordinator for the event and founder of Small Business Beanstalk. “I’m involved because downtown matters to me and keeping this neighborhood alive is the most important thing as citizens we can do – it’s fun and safe place to hang out with friends and get to know your neighbors.”
This all-for-one-and-one-for-all festival will keep the creative juices flowin’ well into the night so don’t miss out. Check out their website for a recap of the event last year and to see what’s in store.
Join us, and if you don’t see what you’re looking for this year, get your plan together and grab a tent and table to share your ideas and wears at next year’s event, because the blast is sure to be even bigger.
We’re so excited about what the future of Pearl Market might be. Check out this video where Cleve Ricksecker dreams big and our vendors share what they love about selling their wares a the Market.
The Columbus High Five looked pretty good last weekend. I took my 11-year-old daughter, Lilly, to a sold-out WICKED at the Ohio Theatre on Friday night. Before the show, we ate at Tip Top. Gay Street was full of sidewalk diners at Latitude 41, Plantain Cafe, Tip Top and Due Amici.
Speaking of Gay Street, the cast and crew of WICKED are staying at the Residence Inn. Chandra Lee Schwartz, who plays Glinda in WICKED, says that she is enjoying her stay in Columbus and has flattering things to say about the “town.”
The Gay Softball World Series clearly added energy, with 2,500 athletes staying in downtown hotels. As Lilly and I walked to the Ohio Theatre from Gay Street, we passed a rooftop party at the Renaissance Hotel and a surprising number of other pedestrians.
After the show, we encountered gridlock on High Street as we approached the Short North. We turned on Vine Street to head west toward Neil Avenue and encountered more traffic as we passed Park Street at 11:30 p.m. Vine and Park streets had hundreds of people walking from club to club.
Columbus seems to have a phobia about congestion. Several years ago, for example, I served on a taxicab task force to discuss ways to make cab service more appealing. We spent a great deal of time talking about how to encourage more people to hail taxis and made several recommendations to the City to eliminate a perception that it discouraged hailing.
Safety officials were particularly vexed by late-night taxi service on Park Street near the North Market. From 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Park Street looked like Manhattan, with a steady stream of taxis dropping and cruising for fares. There were too many taxis! Cabs stopped in the street! People stepped into the street to climb into a cab!
The fear of congestion runs deep in some Columbus circles. Last week, a Public Safety official asked the Pearl Market to eliminate its vendors on Broad and Gay streets. Although the Public Service Department had issued permits, the Public Safety Department had not.
According to the Safety official, the “problem” with the Pearl Market is pedestrian congestion! There are too many people on the sidewalk! People are lingering!
In honor of this request, I feature a picture of the ideal downtown sidewalk.
SATURDAY ALL WEEK LONG
EXPLOSION OF ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT
The last time the peeps in C-Bus saw this much rain Grover Cleveland had just been inaugurated as President – for the second time; Frank Lloyd Wright had opened an architectural firm; and Thomas Edison was fine tuning his new-fangled phonograph. Needless to say, the Gore-Tex rain slicker was a few years away.
On October 29 the summer Pearl Market closed for the 2010 season, wrapping up another very successful year of bringing fresh, local produce, foods and unique goods to the downtown community. Over the course of the summer, 58 merchants and 30 farmers peddled their wares in the Pearl and Lynn alleys with spillover on Broad and Gay streets. The Market operated for 47 days this summer, with an average of 3,500 people exploring its offerings on any given day. That totals almost 165,000 visits – all from people who enjoy shopping, lunch, entertainment and some fantastic people watching.
I love that my three-year-old son now wakes up on Tuesdays and screams, “Market! We do to market today!” At the beginning of the summer, it was a bit harder to entice him to want to go. But now he has learned the beauty of samples, fresh tomatoes, live music we can dance to, and friendly Market staff who are always up for playtime. Andy played his guitar and sang for us at the Market last week and it was lovely! He had all sorts of people singing along with him and dancing down the street, which got me just a bit closer to my dream of living in a musical.
LAUNCH INTO DOWNTOWN
BOOM, IT’S ALMOST HERE
The 
Columbus seems to have a phobia about congestion. Several years ago, for example, I served on a taxicab task force to discuss ways to make cab service more appealing. We spent a great deal of time talking about how to encourage more people to hail taxis and made several recommendations to the City to eliminate a perception that it discouraged hailing.