No worries, but I'd recommend you go check it out again. It really is a store that has personality. they have amazing vintage clothing -- dresses, pocketbooks, etc, and nice furnishings. even if you don't buy anything they are very nice and it is interesting to browse.

That being said, a newsstand/bookstore in Fairmount would be excellent.

I feel the same way about that cool chrome/curved building at I think 17th & Fairmount. If that doesn't become some awesome breakfast/brunch place someday I'll be really cranky.

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Adlerian PLEASE SEEK ANOTHER THERAPIST, this one IS NOT WORKING

I love this idea. Cool magazines you can't get anywhere else, good coffee, international candy/chocolate bars/softdrinks, european cigarettes, cigars, maybe an internet/downloading station. There's no variety store around here (I don't count CVS and Rite-Aid - they're boring and I'd rather support small businesses).

I always thought it would be cool to open one near where I live but I just don't have the gumption.

Both STL PHL and brooklyncat mention the main issue - foot traffic. The kinds of places we're talking about generally thrive in busy areas with a lot of pedestrian traffic, which traditionally Fairmount hasn't had. As I mentioned, most of my neighbors, from my observation, anyway, get in their car when they leave their house and drive elsewhere to shop.

That being said, I would say that Fairmount Avenue does have more foot traffic than it did when we moved to the neighborhood 10 years ago. Each new place that opens improves matters. Mugshots, L'Oca, Philly Flavors helped a lot when they each opened. If Bread* can get their Fairmount Ave. location open, that'll be a huge help too. So maybe there is this critical mass developing.

Tim Clair, the Executive Director of the Fairmount CDC, is in the thick of all this, I think. Keep an eye on their site for info.

Garden Fresh has best bagels for miles...but you'll all be sorry when you turn Fairmount Ave. into Main St. The horror.

You know what would increase foot traffic? A dog park.

Anyway, whatever goes into those two spots across from L'Oca, plus Bread next to it, will help to make Fairmount Avenue more of a shopping corridor. A rising tide lifts all boats.

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"You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred." — Woody Allen

(Avatar stolen from this nifty project.)

Wait.

You went to Franklin Mills and lived to tell the tale?

You, sir, must be lying!

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Adam Lang for Congress
www.adamlang.com

Especially if it is Mexican food.

A legit butcher would be nice.

Clothes and shoes, eh?

Sorry, just had to jump in here with a snide observation Even more inexcusable since I don't live in the area...

A lack of foot traffic - and the corresponding scarcity of the kind of retail that makes an urban neighborhood livable and desirable - might have something to with the fact that a small but loud segment of Fairmounters likes extra-wide, garage-fronted town"homes" and dislikes buildings over 35 feet. Having to travel elsewhere for shopping is probably a necessary result of having low-ish density.

I wore a disguise so I could fit in — a mullet and a Whitesnake T-shirt.

I kid, I kid... grew up in the northeast and like to make fun of my roots sometimes. Please don't sic zur on me.

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"You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred." — Woody Allen

(Avatar stolen from this nifty project.)

Somewhat fair. There were a couple of projects killed (one at Poplar and 26th) that got killed in 2004-2005 due to height issues. Not sure but I think the Parkway 22 thing is on hold.

In short, if you want the "stuff" you need people. Fairmount ain't PS Brooklyn.

But, back on message...Mexican please