Editorial: Citizen input is needed on downtown

dar l.
Paynesville, MN     10/29/2009 5:24 PM

But I already gave you a year, Rick! Had a told you my age when I began living in Willmar; I'd have revealed my age. Ufda!!

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Robert S.
10/29/2009 4:00 PM

Diane T. the "snack bar" is where we said it was, as I used to shoot pool just a few doors to the west of it. Right by "Woody"s" bar! (AKA the "Liberty") Remember "Joe's Diner?

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kathy a.
10/29/2009 3:45 PM

I really don't recall a snack bar in Woolworth's and I was there about the same time as Rick ,Diane and Dar. I can even smell the candy counter as you walked in the right hand door!I do remember a lunch place (and a pretty good one ) called the Lakeland Cafe where on the corner of Litchfield ave and 4th street. And I also remember Gandrud's Ice cream parlor on 5th and Becker(?)

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dar l.
Paynesville, MN     10/29/2009 3:26 PM

Women usually don't like to answer that question, Rick:)

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dar l.
Paynesville, MN     10/29/2009 3:18 PM

1948 for me! I guess I wasn't intending to call the lunch counter in Woolworth's the "snack bar". It was a great place to sit on a bar stool and eat lunch, which we didn't get to do often when we were kids.

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Robert S.
10/28/2009 9:11 PM

Doug M., yes that's where the "snack bar" was! 5 cent burgers! 'AWESOME"! Steve P., I agree with you also! The downtown went down just like the Titantic!!!

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dar l.
Paynesville, MN     10/28/2009 4:58 PM

Kathy A, if my memory serves me correctly; the snack bar was to the right as you entered the main doors. Never said it was in the back of the store.

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kathy a.
10/28/2009 11:29 AM

I have to stand firm on the Woolworth's thing. I know in the back of the store they had birds and turtles etc. I don't know where a snack bar would have been .

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steve p.
10/28/2009 11:19 AM

The model of retail has changed. That model doesn't fit with small town downtowns. People don't even know how to parallel park anymore. They prefer big box stores, convenient parking. Sure, little specialty stores would fit downtown. Let's be realistic: the failure rate on these types of businesses is high, and they are hardly recession proof. I've heard no bank will touch financing a downtown Willmar building. We need to look at this issue without rose-colored glasses. Nostalgia doesn't pay the bills. I see downtown moving more toward service businesses: lawyers, accountants, therapists, etc. I think a successful retail business would need to concentrate on these people as their clients. A little place to eat, a coffee shop, etc. Hardware Hank has been successful in this respect. People run over for toilet parts, touch up paint, hardware and the like, for their offices. So, no one downtown will ever compete with Walmart, pipe dreams or not. I hate to say it, but most of the people pushing for a retail revitalization already have some personal or business interest at stake downtown. Trying to get others to party on the deck of the Titanic? A noble effort, yes. Realistic? Hey, great things could be possible downtown. I think we need a more realistic assessment about the future of downtown. At a bankruptcy sale, rose-colored glasses go for pennies on the dollar.

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kathy a.
10/28/2009 11:10 AM

I agree with you Addison, and with all the artists, bakers, and quilters etc in the Willmar area, it can be made into a whole new place. I don't think it can ever be the place where we shopped then met at Thrifty Drug for a coke, but it can go in a new direction and be quaint and productive again. Parking was always a problem and now access is a problem but the possibilities are there. (I don't think Woolworth's ever had a snack bar :)

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