Empty Storefronts

[magpie-leah.livejournal.com]

Hey everyone,

I'm a part-owner of Magpie in Davis Sq. I'm also just a big fan of Davis Square -- I lived there for many years but recently moved to the other side of the river. I come back to Davis a lot because there are great coffee shops to meet friends at or do some work at or read a book at... and I love the plaza area in the summer... to poke around in McIntyre and Moore... and so on...

I've been to the last two Davis Square Task Force meetings and I've been thinking more and more that it would be so great if "we the people" who live in or love to visit or own a business in Davis Sq could do something to help determine what goes into the empty storefronts rather than just waking up one day and seeing a sign for who know's what is "coming soon." I know the subject has come up at the last two meetings as to how and whether it would even be possible to proactively attract businesses that people would like to see in Davis but we never really got to talking about this in any depth.

So, I just have a few questions: What storefronts are still empty at this point? I've heard the Buck-a-Book is going to be an Italian restaurant (and the back of Buck-a-Book is now a Planned Parenthood express center.) So does this mean Disc Diggers is now the only storefront still open? And does anyone remember approximately what the square footage of that space is?

Again, I don't know what *can* be done to try to attract businesses that people would like to see but I was thinking maybe we could open up a discussion here and then maybe report the findings to Rebekah Gewirtz at the next Task Force meeting. Maybe she'd have some ideas like coming up with a "fact sheet" with the demographics of the area that could be sent to businesses whom many people like the idea of?

OK. Sorry for such a long message! Just thought it might be interesting to get some focused discussion going!

Leah

EDITED TO ADD: Based on responses to this, here's a list of storefronts that are still empty:
1. space next to Au Bon Pain where the T-Mobile used to be
2. Mini-Mart next to Buck-a-Book
3. former home of Disc Diggers
4. the bottom floor of the Citizens Bank building

Comments

[cemeterygates.livejournal.com]

The space next to Au Bon Pain where the T-Mobile used to be is still open. I'm not sure the square footage, but it's about the size of the Disc Diggers space.