Whriligig is closing.... noooooooo, that is shocking.

They just started.... Hang in there... Whirligig, find a way to survive..., please, we need you.

Secondly:

Thanks Enpen, for the friendly reminder. I also want to point out that shopping local shouldn't be your "civic duty", but it's actually better on so many levels.

First off, you will get a better product.

Try us, if you're in doubt. Local small businesses have better products and a better shopping experience. Local shop owners are dedicated to their business, financially and emotionally.

I don't just sell SIGG water bottles because they make business sense, I love them. I used them growing up hiking in the Alps all the time.

If we could only question "convenience" for a second, and what it means for our lives we wouldn't look at downtown Olympia as a place we need to get out of our way to go shopping.

But a place of diversity, of excitement.

Dang, it is sexy to shop in downtown - there I said it.

mathias 

PS: The Farmer's Market is opening in less than a month!!! 

Too bad we don't have any nice, quality, downtown housing to bring those dollars in...

Huh. That crap parking lot sure makes people want to come shop downtown since it's so easy to find a parking space. Right?

It's so pretty too.

the slouching dollar, high fuel prices, etc. There are other issues with downtown as well. A tough demographic to appeal to is one, which is a small group to some extent. Also there is the lack of parking. And then the free parking is a problem too, both in type and availability.

It's really too bad we don't have a downtown that is vibrant. Bremerton went though this kind of change, and the downtown became a ghost town for a long time. It is coming around some now, but it has taken a long time to come back. When Silverdale became business friendly, Bremerton died. Olympia has been anti-business for a number of years, and Lacey is pro-business. Now in tough economic times Olympia will feel some pain.

A big part of Olympia's tax base comes from sales tax. So if you want parks, and bike lanes, nice roads, and even low income housing, it takes tax money. There has been talk of the Auto Mall moving to Lacey. Home Depot has considered shutting down the Fones Rd store. It will only take a few of those kinds of changes to really hurt this town financially.

Other towns in this state have brought their downtown around and really succeeded. But for that to happen, there needs to be big changes downtown, and I don't see that happening. It's far more likely good things will happen for downtown with the current City Council, but even they can't do miracles overnight.

"I de-clutch, you know." Juan Manuel Fangio when asked how he avoids flat-spotting his tires when he spins the car.

has to change. The current model is not business friendly. I doubt the powers that formed the current downtown will want to allow for change. And certainly it will not happen overnight. You are talking several years at an absolute minimum.

"I de-clutch, you know." Juan Manuel Fangio when asked how he avoids flat-spotting his tires when he spins the car.

"Downtown needs a spark"

The above quote is from John Diamant, owner of Jing Jing's Art and Antiques.  He and his wife will be closing their business at 207 4th Ave E. just as soon as they find a tenant.

I tend to agree with John.  Downtown is pretty bland.  Other than a handful of bars/music venues and the guitar shop, there's really nothing for me.

Two businesses to close doors [The Olympian, South Sound, 3/9/2008]

I am of the opinion that what the Downtown area of Olympia needs is a truly novel feature that would inspire civic pride and further participation, economic and otherwise, in the downtown sector.

Just imagine a beautiful open natural area juxtaposed with a dense, vibrant and colorful urban core. The contrast would be so awesome. Okay, imagine that the area to the West of Water street is an ecological, natural, open area... It would help further downtown as a destination. It would set an example of our dependence on wilderness; it would serve a recreational, as well as an educational function.

It would increase interest in the downtown sector, and subsequently it would increase business!

I feel that I have to go all the way to Seattle to find businesses that share my values. It would be great to have more animal friendly businesses in Oly. When I make a purchase at a business in which the owner implies a social justice/eco-friendly orientation only to find out later that they wear/sell leather or eat/serve meat, neither of which are sustainable...it makes me never want to go back.

You don't just have to lure people into your business, you have to appeal to them enough to draw them back in. There's a niche for animal rights in Oly, it's being called the next great social justice movement, and most businesses here are missing the boat.

By animal friendly I mean to not profit from the suffering of animals and even to offer products/services that allow for the avoidance of participating in practices that exploit animals. An example would be the window display at Radiance...they're displaying not only works that offer alternatives to animal exploitation, but that empower women by treating experts in nutrition as authorities in the matter rather than solely stocking and consulting works by white males who seem invested mostly in protecting their oppressors privilege. The book that Radiance is displaying which encourages me the most is called Becoming Vegan and it is written by the authors of the American Dietetic Associations Position Paper on Vegetarian Diets. Go Radiance! I want to skip and cheer each time I walk by :)

Examples of animal rights oriented restaurants in Seattle are the Hillside Quickies chain (wonderful, future oriented business sense there!), Pizza Pi, which was starting to fold but for which values driven folks picked up the hand to play again...same thing is happening with The Globe because of the outcry from the veggie community when it closed. People believe in the values behind these businesses and the concepts are fresh and unique so that they fill a distinctive niche in the market. It's not the same, tired, mainstream, privilege protecting stuff. These businesses are change oriented!

How many restaurants that profit from the death and dismemberment of animals does Olympia need anyway? Why are animal rights oriented people expected to "look the other way" as their table neighbors engage in behaviors that we consider to be exploitive and unnecessarily so? I'd rather ride a bus to Seattle than be expected to normalize violence against animals.

Hillside Quickie

Pizza Pi as reviewed by Happy Cow (the store site must be temporarily down.)

Thank you for asking, Rob.

What do people think?

...a coalition of willing folks to help realize a vision for a community "day-use" spa & wellness center.

I'm seeing this on Capital Lake, where the old lavatory (across from Traditions).

I see a place for folks to catch a shower and be able to do laundry that is affordable, and also a site for wellness and spa.

The site would elevate folks (simple as that), give social service a place to accomodate "day-use" of facilities for folks that need services such as shower, lavatory, and >maybe< laundry...

...as well as a destination for bicyclists on the morning commute (locker & shower), a place for yoga, and a spa for wellness (soaking, sauna, massage), and maybe even lease sites for practioners?

any thoughts?