Reader says I came to Ridgewood because I want a small village.
If I want a big hospital I go to Hackensack or New York. If I want a great concert I go to Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall.
I don’t even want a million restaurants here. When I first came here there were one or two or three.
There should be an ordinance stating number of duplicate businesses.
I want a quiet charming not much traffic village.
Politics and greed is going to change all that.
I chose Ridgewood over Glen Rock and Midland Park in part because it has a downtown with shops , restaurants, movie theater, etc. I like that I can walk into town for dinner or some shopping. I like that Ridgewood sustains a weekly newspaper and a blog.
I am sick and tired of walking past shuttered stores and empty lots. Its time to embrace some of these property owners and figure out how we can revitalize this town.
It doesn’t have to be Montclair but we are falling behind Ramsey at this point. Ramsey has a dynamic farmers market, 2 restaurants in the top 10 in NJ and nary an open store front.
If you are sick and tired of walking past shuttered shops, then buy the buildings and lower the rent. The landlords have not accepted the post bank / Realtor boom reality.
If Red Mango, which was always packed, can’t make a go of it in Ridgewood, then I wonder how anything can. The landlords are happy to leave the storefronts vacant in anticipation of fleecing the next poor schmuck “small business entrepreneur” into bankruptcy.
If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would just assume they actually want the storefronts empty, so they can make the case for development and cash out.
Nah…but they LOVE Ridgewood, right? Right? RIGHT?
Landlords want to make money. That is their only motivation. They would lower rents if it made sense to lower them.
Red Mango had people in it on weekends but rarely lines out the door. I would be surprised if it was ever busy during the week.
More 20s-30s or retired people living near the town center=more foot traffic=more business
#3: You’ve never owned or run your own business, right? I know the answer, so no need to answer that question.
The visual number of customers, such as your observations at Red Mango, have very little to do with the success of a business. I do know, personally, that in quite a few cases, business that have folded in Ridgewood in recent times have failed because of reasons that run far deeper that simple numbers of customers. You would be amazed at how many instances there have been of internal family issues, substance abuse, and sometimes rank amateurs thinking that a retail business would save them from an already bad financial predicament.
As for greedy landlords, that is simply nonsense. These landlords are mostly business savvy, and are not making a dime while their properties remain vacant. Unless you’ve heard of Ridgewood turning into one big shopping mall, I very much doubt they are holding out in the hopes of redevelopment.
Yes #5 Landlords are the salt of the earth.
Who are these fictitious people who will have tons of disposable income and will bring more business to our downtown? Don’t believe the hype! Won’t this commuting crowd just require more nail salons, cleaners, restaurants, etc? Won’t we just turn into a town that caters to the transit crowd? Do the 25,000 existing residents not even get a say in this? Look at other successful towns and see how they have moved forward when faced with these decisions. Our village seems to have totally lost control of the planning process. Yes, more housing would be great. More housing at a much lower density, like Summit or Westfield. They have gotten this right, we seem to be failing miserably.
Get rid of the Hudson County mob. They’ve destroyed Hoboken and Weehawkin. Don’t let them destroy Ridgewood.
If you want to see what these people are attempting to do: go to “The Promenade” on Rt 208.
Do you want the CBD to look like that?
Tell us more about who these Hudson County mob members are #8, inquiring minds want to know