Formula Stores Revisited

August 9, 2007 · Posted in Small Town Life 

Hold onto your butts, folks! Here we go again…
City Council and the City Planners are getting together tonight to put into place an ordinance to keep out those evil “formula stores”. View the article in its entirety here.

Here are some highlights:

The ordinance stresses a need to preserve a small-town atmosphere in Old Town.
“The Historic Downtown Commercial Districts are a special and unique asset within the city which could be impacted by the presence of formula establishments that are out of harmony with the downtown districts and which do not contribute to the small town atmosphere,” the ordinance reads.

Is anyone else besides City Council still suffering from the delusion that this Historic Old Town still exists? And how many consultants at $300,000 each are we going to hire to evaluate what types of businesses will be appropriate for our small town atmosphere? We all know how much City Council loves their consultants.

Tonight’s meeting will be to discuss this ordinance. (I may have to attend for the sheer fun of it.)

The ordinance defines a formula business as “a type of retail sales activity or retail sales establishment, including restaurant which, along with 10 or more other retail sales establishments, maintains two or more of the following features: a standardized array of merchandise, a standardized façade, a standardized décor and color scheme, a uniform apparel, standardized signage, a trademark or service mark.”

Okay, that’s wonderful. We are going to have approximately 100,000 square feet of new retail space downtown within the next couple of years. I’m pretty sure that it is safe to say that these spaces are not going to be inexpensive. Let’s face reality here. Who, but corporate backed retail, is going to be able to afford to run a successful business downtown? Would City Council rather that these store fronts remain empty? Or better yet, a Mainstreet lined with “Going Out Of Business Sale” signs. That’s always attractive. It would be nice to have stores that don’t have to cater to the tourists. Unfortunately, that is exactly what the Mom & Pop stores seem to do. Are we doomed to having more of the same; Steamboat t-shirts, Indian jewelry, ridiculously priced clothing and elk horn furniture? The lack of selection is exactly why I don’t shop here now (except for groceries). In fact, with high speed Internet, I haven’t shopped here for years and I hardly think that I am alone. Just think of all that yummy sales tax money that would stay here if stores actually had stuff locals wanted and non-tourists could afford.

“I’m a free market guy,” Cook said. “Plus, I think design guidelines can handle the impact of any formula store that might look at the downtown.”

I find myself in the truly awful position of actually agreeing with Cook. I would also like to know why City Council gets to have this enormous power over where we get to shop. Aren’t these people going to be out of jobs soon anyway?

Jim Cook and City Council will continue to do whatever they want with “their” town and, quite frankly, I no longer care. So why this long post? Possibly because the whole debate is so preposterous and I find humour in it. Mainstreet and the Downtown businesses are not why I moved to Steamboat Springs 17 years ago and they are not why I am still here. I live here for the mountains and so far Cook & Company hasn’t bulldozed them. See ya at the meeting!

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