Right Now Downtown

JUST IN TIME

Every passing day seems to fly faster than the previous one.  What happened to those long summer days as kids hanging around on the front porch with friends complaining that there was nothing to do?  Exasperated moms shooed us off to ride bikes with warnings that life would never be this carefree again.  What did these old crotchety women know anyway?

Turns out they knew quite a bit.  Those days disappeared not long after and the weekends soon followed.  Time seems to vanish whether embraced or frittered away.

We steal snippets of time when we run a quick errand during lunch or after work.  That’s one of the best things about working downtown – everything is in walking distance.  We can get our eyes checked at Rinkov Eye Center on Gay Street, grab a cell phone at Verizon at 262 S. Third Street or pick up a snazzy shirt and a pair of slacks for our favorite guy at Justin Harvey at 10 W. Broad Street, Suite 150.

Seeing stores like this downtown shows us the possibilities and what just may be on the horizon. 

“Downtown Columbus is the largest untapped retail market in Central Ohio,” says Chris Boring, President of Boulevard Strategies, who conducted an extensive study of downtown’s consumer markets and potential retail spending.

Retail recruiter Kacey Campbell is a matchmaker of sorts as she helps facilitate efforts to attract new business downtown.  Downtown may not be the place for big national chains, but with a captive audience of 100,000 downtown worker bees and more than 65,000 neighboring residents, it provides a marketable proposition for start-ups and businesses looking to expand.

Comment here to share your thoughts on what retail spots you want to see downtown.