Penn Hardware at Bleigh has pretty good hours for an indy hardware store. I'm pretty sure they are even open on Sundays. But I always call first before going there.

If someone wants to work for themselves, all they need is a decent idea, a little capital, and a lot of persistence. With the ubiquity of the World Wide Web, now may be one of the best times in decades to open a mom and pop Main Street business. One difficulty now is that Main Street stores need to have convenient hours like the chain stores in the mall and that means hiring more workers than just mom and pop.

Right now Frankford Ave could probably use
- a meat and fish store
- a gelatto shop (maybe as a combination coffee shop)
- there is also an opportunity to sell fresh produce at the south end (maybe combined with a strong cheese selection). Capriottis is great, but a good hike from Robbins Ave.
-an independent book store with new and used books (maybe also combined with a coffee shop) could probably do OK as well.
- most ethnic restaurants on Frankford Ave seem content with mediocrity. I think if we had a few more that were really committed to making consistantly great food, they would do very well. (I look forward to trying the new Thai place).

If anyone wants to step up, there's opportunities to be had.

__________________
"Things are starting to get interesting right about now"

Scoats - publician, writer, artist.

All comments made by me on his board are given freely and probably worth what you paid for them.

I'm not really hip to the ethnic restaurant thing. That's really not my bag, but that's just me. If there's a demand for it, go for it !!

I'd still ike to see Frankford ave turned into a serious party spot similar to New Orleans and N.Wildwood. I think that would be AWESOME !!

Lets loose the dollar stores, the nail salons, the pawn shops, and the cheesy used car lots and lets build up some cool fun spots up there. One thing that I think we'd have to work on the neighbors with is dealing with the added noise. I don't think it would be that big of a deal, but I think we'd have to work on the neighbors a little.

My vision is to make Frankford one big fun cool place to visit where you can walk all along the ave with an open container from one spot to the next without any proplems at all. Light it up, and make it fun !! Put little patio areas ot front of all of the bars / restaurants / shops similar to New Hope and make it FUN !!

You know what I mean?

I dont think we need more bars in Mayfair, do you live near the strip? I can tell you first hand..there is already too much nonsense from the party atmosphere of some bars which only gets worse come warmer weather and I am not just talking about noise...there are brawls, drugs being sold, property being damaged and lots of other things a family neighborhood doesnt need.

New Orleans and Wildwood make most of their money on tourism, We obvisouly arent a tourist destination up here...many bars are very empty in the summer, given a choice, I think the younger set would rather party by the beach instead of in the city.

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This is the world we live in
And these are the hands were given
Use them and lets start trying
To make it a place worth living in.

I live on the 3300 block, just 3 blocks away from Frankford ave.

I don't know if I entirely agree with you on this one. I'm constantly up on Frankford ave most of the time north of Wellington, as I want to frequent as many places as I can. I'll wander from Harringtons up to SmokeEaters and yeah, dependng on which bar you go into there can be a LITTLE riff raff, but for the most part, everyone is cool. I rarely see a fight though.

I think part of the problem is that we don't have ENOUGH places yet. Once we have the ave set up as THE part spot, THEN we'll have an increased police presense and trouble will be LESS frequent. Right now we'rre kinda in the middle, and the police are still kinda scattered.

While I agree that Mayfair isn't "THE" tourist destination, I honestly think that can easily change.

My usual hang out is SmokeEaters, and I've seen many many times where there will be a group of firefighters or police officers from different cities that will come to SmokeEaters. Sure, it's because it's a firemans bar and all, but if we had other interresting bars along Frankford ave, I'm sure they'd wander outside of SmokeEaters and tell their friends back home.

It isn't going to happen overnight, but unless we do something QUICK, we're going to loose whay little we have left.

Scoats--

I looked at the membership on the website and noticed that none of the undesirable businesses are members (Nail Salons, Check cashing......). Have they been solicited for membership? If so and they did not want to join, these are the types of businesses that need to go. They are here to make a buck without any regard for the community and it shows by the looks of the storefronts which bring down the avenue.

The membership list is inherited from last year when the CDC was the engine behind the MBA. Every business on Frankford and Cottman Aves was either approached directly and/or received a letter (or four) inviting them to join. The cost is $250/yr. Those businesses you describe as undesirable chose not to join, which really shouldn't surprise anyone.

The current leadership of the MBA relies entirely on email, which sadly does leave a few businesses out of the loop. We are all actively running our businesses. We have no time to address, stuff and mail letters that will be mostly ignored anyway.

The current version of the MBA is first trying to do some things to give businesses a reason to join with us. It's a strategy of being small, focused and active. Next we'll work on getting more businesses on board, a strategy of being bigger, yet still focused, and more active.

Membership dues are coming again in June. We'll make an attempt then to get more members, including the nail salons and other businesses you describe. I accept that some businesses have feel little to no civic responsibility and don't want to waste too much time courting them. Even if they do reluctantly join, they are unlikely to contribute anything positive. I'd rather use the time to do positive things with positive people. And we fortunately have quite a few positive people, and I think we can create more.

There will always be some hopeless cases, but you never know. If we give other businesses a reason to care and be involved, they might.

__________________
"Things are starting to get interesting right about now"

Scoats - publician, writer, artist.

All comments made by me on his board are given freely and probably worth what you paid for them.