Quote:
Originally Posted by 1487
Not everyone shops in RTM. Not everyone shopped at the Gallery. I don't see the issues. RTM is one philadelphia attraction that caters to certain people- that is fine but the idea that ANY retail operation in center city should appeal to the exact same crowd as RTM makes absolutely no sense to me. To me RTM is sort of like Pats and Genos. Everyone knows about them and some people would even steer their out of town guests there- but they arent necessarily places that locals frequent. And shockingly, there are people in Philly that dont live in CC so while RTM may be a place where single CC dwellers do a significant amount of food shopping I assure it is not a primary destination for family grocery getting for the average Philadelphian. Thats just a fact, not a criticism of the Market which you all hold so dear.
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Ugh can we please put this to rest?! You have some interesting ideas about the RTM that aren't grounded in reality. First of all, no one is claiming that the RTM is the go to grocery destination for the majority of the city. There are over 1.5 million people in the city, that would just be absurd. This is why
br323206 stated that you're creating a straw man argument.
What people are claiming (and the facts back this up) is that the RTM serves a population that is fairly representative of the city as a whole. From the RTM's own adverts, about 33% of the patrons are from extended center city. CC is of course disproportionally represented because the RTM is located there. The remaining customers are not all tourists though, not by a long shot. People from all races and classes tend to shop there. Stand around watching the line at OK Lee' produce some time and you'll see an awful lot of folks using WIC to buy their food. People do come from all over the city and from all walks of life. Although I'm sure some areas are better represented than others, it's definitely not all tourists.
The Market is also much more affordable than you make it out to be. The prepared food stands charge a higher rate for food than your local Wendy's because their higher rent subsidizes the actual fresh food stands. That's why the Produce, meat, fish, etc stands are actually relatively affordable.
You make some good points on the whole about how Center City should not just be a playground for the wealthy, but those points will continue to get lost in the mix if you continue to fixate on defending your offhand inaccurate remarks about the RTM.