First off, I have nothing against the old market. But after running a business out of a space in the old market and being part of the community for the past three years, I just see a lot of opportunity that falls through the cracks. I also hear a lot of comments from the visitors some of which are surprising.
I am very thankful the Mercer Family has done so much to save and preserve this amazing historic district. Without the foresight and vision of the Mercers, this area could be just like jobbers canyon.
Garrett wrote:Well, the thing is they've tried those things. The CWS as it is now is simply not conducive to sending people down to the Old Market so much anymore.
I don't think the Old Market was ever "The place to be" after the college world series games. I think if you went back to some of the old threads here on Eomaha, you would find a lot of comments about how awesome the old market will be after games once the series moves to the new downtown ballpark. I remember the hot spots being places like McFlys, Paulis, Starskeys, etc. The stadium moved downtown and the people that were not going to the Old Market before are still not going to the old market.
swgiust wrote:The old market may complain about lack of people. But they do nothing to market nor encourage people to get down there.
This is not just a CWS problem, its an all the time issue. I think the biggest problem is that the old market has the "This is the way we have always done it" mentality and if they were not the Old Market, the storefronts would be about as full as crossroads.
The Old Market was the place to be, but then Midtown Crossing and Aksarben Village came online and they have full time marketing teams that are constantly promoting their place and doing everything they can to support their businesses. Midtown has a nice website and a great social media presence that are always being updated. The old market has a crappy old outdated website and an absolutely terrible social media presence.
Midtown Crossing and Aksarben Village are always looking forward to the next big event to draw people in. Always trying to bring fresh new things in to the mix. Meanwhile if you read the notes from the OMBA meetings, you could literally photo copy they because they are the exact same thing every month... Usually read something like this:
1. "Call the police on homeless if they cause a problem.
2. "Watch out for shoplifters"
3. "
FOOD TRUCKS.... OMG THE FOOD TRUCKS ARE RUINING THE WORLD!!!!! OMG, THE FOODTRUCKS MUST BE STOPPED!" The police are looking it to banning food trucks"
4. " CWS is here this month, the OCVB is estimating 30,000 people have 8500 hotel rooms booked. for the 10 days"
"See you next month"....
I never see anything proactive or promotional... The farmers market is their biggest draw for locals, and they do a trick or treat in the fall. Nothing outside the box, nothing they haven't done over and over. There is the Monthly "First Friday" that is put on by the galleries, but even that dead horse has been beaten so far in to the ground that its not even worth doing.
There is an issue right now with the "lack of parking", and they have done nothing to combat that. "I can't believe you have to pay for meters". Welcome to 2016.... Welcome to living in a big city.... Seriously its 1 dollar per hour, some garages the first hour is $2 and then 1 dollar per hour. If you are going out for a night in the market, the $5 you are going to spend is nothing. There is more parking now in the market than I have ever seen.
Another issues lately is the violence. They closed Maria Sangira, but it seems like there are still fights every night. I literally thing there has been a disturbance in the old market every night since Friday. Last night was by T Henry's, the night before by the Parliament, and Friday and Saturday it was by Pepperjax. Not the image the old market needs to be portraying.
I really like the old market and want to see it do well. I just need to figure out what they ultimate goal is and work towards that goal. Right now they do a lot of complaining, but don't seem to form a plan to get to where they want to be.