I am not familiar with Whole Foods plans, but it doesn't seem like it would be taking anything away from their HQ if they opened a small urban store ala Trader Joe's in the Rainey St. area. Just thinking about options and keeping it local.

I agree completely. I have shopped the Market St. Safeway many times. My neighborhood HEB here in Austin has equal selection and way better prices. Safeway prices are high, very similar to Randall's pricing here in Texas. Randall's is owned by Safeway and uses the same marketing gimmick (Safeway Club Card in Cali; here in Texas it is the mostly unremarkable Remarkable Card) to track sales and create the illusion of savings.

[QUOTE=migol24;6448107]No it's not. Its pegged as such for tourists, and no different than any other place. All the locals don't appreciate that all the chains have virtually driven all of the locally owned retail businesses. Of the very few that remain, Gump's is one of them. Union Square is just like any other part of shopping district in America and not uniquely San Francisco.

Here I disagree. Plenty of local SF residents shop Macy's, Nordstrom's, Sak's, Neiman-Marcus, and Barney's in downtown SF. They also patronize smaller chain operations. My point is that these stores may be branches of national chains, but they are very, very good versions of the brand. They are larger than most branches and known to stock merchandise in depth, offering a wide variety of personal services not found in your typical mall outlet. These large stores anchor the downtown shopping district of SF and provide the needed heft that any viable downtown shopping district needs in terms of traffic volume. No serious downtown shopping venue can be created solely by a collection of small stores offering local products. Ideally a downtown shopping district would offer a variety of shopping options and be able to cater to local customers and the out of town visitor.

austlar1, I dont really disagree with your assessments. I'm simple coming at it in a different angle. For one, there's a lot of rich people in SF that can afford and do shop at places like A&F, Sacks Fifth Ave, Louis Vuitton, etc. The crowds here in Austin are different. There's hardly the rich people here like in SF, at least I don't think. I also don't think there would ever be a successful shopping district in Austin like it and thats due to the fact that it's not in Austin's character. The neighborhoods in SF were what made SF unique to me and from the people I met... the young, hip, crowd, the counter culture vibe that SF has long been famous for, etc talked a loooooot of trash on USQ. Again, I can see that the shopping district competes with some of the best in the world but it is an elitist district. If this happened in Austin downtown then we can truthfully say that its turning more like Dallas or Houston. Heck, most people here in Austin talk trash on 2nd district, let alone the Domain, and these are very tame versions of elitists shopping districts to say the least. Again, I completely agree that a variation is cool probably with a fair group of people but most would certainly want to keep it local. The problem I find with most of these Austin citizens is that they are soooooooo opinionated but they never do anything about it. I also find most of them very uninformed. A lot of these people dont want any of these developments happening. I dunno... I guess I'm just digressing now. People can be very weird to say the least. Last night at work some kid I work with has another friend who works at the Brew & Brew thats right across from where the Corazon project is getting built. His friend says he doesn't want to work there when Corazon opens up because they'll be douchy people living ad shopping there. I could go on and say why I think its a stupid way of thinking and one of those reasons is that he'll be making MORE tips with that project opening up but then I'd make another long and winding rant. My point is that people here in Austin are pretty picky. If shopping districts like the Domain happened on dowtown you can kiss the cool vibe goodbye. Ironically, the very fact that people don't look into these things and don't get involved it will start turning into anywhere downtown. I'm not that pessimist though... I do like where downtown is going for the most part.

I mentioned on another thread that I don't go clothes shopping very much. That being said, I'll offer my opinion on this subject anyway. :D

I'd prefer the stores downtown reflect our culture in Austin. That means keep it weird. And not weird how tourists think...like oddball. Keep it local. If they can't be one off stores started here in Austin, then strive to have stores that at least have Texas roots.

People who come visit for pleausre or for work at conventions want to be able to shop local. They can go to Neiman Marcus back home. I understand the other side of the coin as it relates to locals who live downtown needing some major stores to shop at. The influx of chains is probably inevitable. I just hope it doesn't drown out our weirdness.

http://i.imgur.com/h4GPGYr.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/gdEu3IY.jpg

I snapped these of the ACC highland mall project. Construction is coming along nicely.

Wow! Very nice. What a dramatic transformation of the old JC Penney building.

I really like the look of the transformation. Love all those windows. Unlike some of their campuses with few windows, that is going to be a refreshing change.

Very nice...

I have no idea what it looked like before. I have no frame of reference.

Imagine any indoor shopping mall. 2-3 story blank walls with no windows and a giant sign on the anchor stores.

Here you go...

http://goo.gl/maps/MexlT

From an update on Orangebloods...

Hey guys, I'm in Austin for a bit and decided to walk around and take some pics. :)

18th & Guadalupe

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3803/...d6ba0f1e_b.jpg

26th (or 24th) and Salado

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2860/...5d092d94_b.jpg

From The Block:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7345/...81da6f38_b.jpg

Another mid-rise, I dunno the name.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7439/...ba36a659_b.jpg

Ever since coming back to Austin... of the changes I have noticed... two things stand out the most to me.

1. West Campus has really blown me away... if you walk through W campus (not just on the drag but further west) you'll find how walkable it is. It wasn't even at all like that when I lived there back from 2007 to 2010. There are some new little cool shops... namely this little coffee shop (i forget where exactly) that is run by asian owners, I think. They make some awesome little pastrys. If you're ever in that area.. keep an eye out for it. It's somewhere around the corner from Pluckers, just can 't think of the street names right now.

2. E Riverside, where I live now, is really vibrant from what I've remembered. I just got back from hanging out with some friends who live on Metropolis and we were talking about all the best places to eat tacos. ONe of the dudes was reading an article about the best places to eat al pastor. I knew exactly the place he was referring to. El Taquito. Anyways... a few hours before that, his roommate and I, were eating al pastor tacos and I was telling him how E Riverside is really blowing up. The condos, Buzz Mill, Emo's and all this awesome Mexican food that rivals what I've grown up eating in Houston, Taco More, and El Taquito of course. E. Riverside is cool. Although I still don't like living on this side of town :P

Then of course, there is always downtown and South Lamar. But the two things I've mentioned are some of the things I didn't even know was happening till I moved back. Then there is also Anderson Ln by Alamo Drafthouse. You guys should visit Epoch Circa 13. One of my favorite baristas by the name of Brandy works there. please tip her well.

Welcome back Migol24! Glad your back in Austin. :)

Migol 24, If they would build more apartments on some of those parcels on Anderson, I think the street has the strange potential to become almost walkable. There would need to be sidewalk improvements and more retail along the front of some of those parking lots, but there are a lot of choices (food/retail/entertainment) in that stretch from Burnet to Shoal Creek that are very interesting.

I think there's a lot of potential along Anderson past those intersections as well (though I'm a bit biased, living in Wooten).

1. The whole corridor, from Mopac to 183/Lamar is identified as an "activity corridor" on the imagine Austin map (for what it's worth).
ftp://ftp.ci.austin.tx.us/GIS-Data/p...4x36-2_Map.jpg

2. Anderson/Mopac is a potential station location for the LStar rail (if that ever happens).

3. The intersection of Anderson and the capMetro red line could potentially support a station.

4. The area along Anderson east of Burnet is probably already even more walkable than the section you called out. The commercial lots there are for the most part narrower and shorter, which is more conducive to a variety of businesses.

5. The whole stretch already has pretty good transit service (for Austin), with both the 5 and the 323.

6. Burnet/Anderson is supposedly the center of population of the metro.

7. It's well positioned between Downdown and the Domain, or Mueller/Highland and the Domain.

8. It has connectivity with both Mopac and 183/35.

I am at Torchy's again and snapped a couple shots of the construction at The Dutchman.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...113846_822.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...113936_875.jpg

I noticed the skyline has a blue theme going on (Skyhouse now too). I personally like exterior accent lighting. Anyone else think this looks cool or if we should have more of it in new construction?