Comments on: What’s Killing The Great Shops of Carytown? — Continued (unfortunately)

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 23:00:36 +0000

They’ve been having their grand opening for over a year now!

By: Fiona

Fiona — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:25:43 +0000

pizza on south side of 2900 block by Viva Mexico sells by the slice and their stromboli are worth waiting for

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:25:41 +0000

Another thing…how about some diversity in the stores?

Less super high end furniture stores, and no more specialty boutiques with overpriced trinkets. More MENS clothing shops….or what about more “grab and go” foods? I’d love to be able to get a SLICE of pizza…..

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:22:29 +0000

Very simple. Stop closing at 6pm.

Most of my friends and family LOVE Carytown but think it’s an absolute JOKE that they shut up tight at 6pm. Every business there should be open until 8 or 9 and at a minimum, 7o’clock.

I’d love to shop the stores of Carytown but , like most of the world, I work until 5. That leaves me no time to shop. Therefore, I head to Stony Point where I can eat, relax and shop until 9 or later!

Sorry, no love lost here for the lazy merchants who don’t want to keep their stores open later.

By: Harry

Harry — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:16:22 +0000

I leave for a few days and my hood is getting denounced as “sketchy” by Mr. Bopst!

Say it ain’t so!

I’ve lived on South Colonial for almost seven years, and while we have turn over, we also have more people moving in and looking to do so.

That shooting occurred, what? 15 years ago?

Now, true, dumb stuff happens–there are stupid hold ups on occasion, and one is too many, but, well. Other than increasing police bicycle patrols at night–rather than during the day–and even Carycourt has hired a security patrol–I’m not sure what’s to be done. It ain’t a mall, with all the benefits and deficits of such.

Then there’s the deer that on occasion run down the street, in one of those surreal moments, a couple years ago I was going into Galaxy and behind me actually heard poudning hooves–and three quite alarmed deer went–what do deer do?–gallop?–dashing past and bounding around cars and jaw-dropping pedestrians. How they didn’t get hit or hurt only Mother Nature knows.

By the way, check out our little bit of the Western Territories on Beaumont behind the 7-11. The landscaping there is rocks and cactus and why I love living where I do.

WoBSoc: I Live On The Other Side

By: elphaba

elphaba — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 01:02:50 +0000

i agree with pat, that the shops close too early. if i need something from carytown i have to do it on my lunch break or a weekend, when i’d rather be sitting on my butt than back in the part of town where i work. if they stayed open until 8 or 9 they would get the restaurant goers! i used to work at stony point and a huge portion of our sales came from people waiting for tables or waiting for friends to arrive.

OR WE COULD MAKE IT A PEDESTRIAN MALL! that would be the coolest thing ever.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:00:36 +0000

I agree with Daniel that the south of Cary has changed drastically as compared to days past. I live on the 2900 block of Grayland and have seen at least 8 houses on my block alone get renovated and are now selling for much more than I paid approx 2 years ago. With the new influx of people moving in and spruceing up places things can only get better. Of course I may miss the underground/ front porch barber shop that was constantly busy with its patrons lined up for a seat on the actual barber chair placed on the porch. Ummm now that I think about it, nope. We will just have to see how things continue when the 3 other renovated houses on my block finally sell. I doubt they will bring hair clippers though.

By: bopst

bopst — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:52:38 +0000

I’m glad to hear it (& I’ve seen it first hand as well), but all memories die hard…

By: daniel

daniel — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:15:27 +0000

@ bopst:
You should revisit South of Cary, or as some call it: WotBSoC. Many houses have been renovated and the ‘hood has really cleaned up. I moved in early ‘07; I didn’t get to experience South of Cary as you remember it. But I’ve heard many tales of how it once was from neighbors that have been here for 40+ years.

By: bopst

bopst — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:06:54 +0000

From what I have heard, the rent increases were steep. Given the state of the economy & the allure of corporate malls, the increases helped to put some folks out of business.

Why Mitchell’s Shoe Repair, Farouk’s & Luxor Vintage stay in Carytown is simple: they own their property. I know that Luxor owns and it would be my guess that the other two do to. Otherwise they too would be gone.

Carytown closes up at 6PM because Cary Street is basically one of Richmond’s 38th parallels. The south side of Cary can be pretty sketchy. In fact, the only time I’ve witnessed a drive-by shooting (in Richmond at least) was on the corner of Parkwood and S. Sheppard. It was many moons ago, but much hasn’t changed in terms of the area being conducive for criminal behavior. The established thinking is that by closing at 6 PM, the chance for random crime is curtailed. It’s worked for decades in keeping crime rates low and many people in the Carytown Merchants Association feel that it should stay that way. I know that Can-Can, Plan 9, NY Deli and others stay open a little later, but most close their doors long before sunset.