A while ago I saw someone mention that Worcester needs to be more walkable, which would really benefit these retail shops. I completely agree — but have no idea how that idea comes to fruition in a city like Worcester where basically everyone drives. My first thought would be filling in “the gaps”. For instance, walking from Culpepper’s on Cambridge st. to Polar Park seems doable for me (an adult male) but it’s not necessarily inviting given the little pockets of nothingness in between. And if I were a female I wouldn’t do it (sadly) especially at night. Fill in those gaps between the outskirts of the city and downtown with shops/restaurants and basically more people and it feels safer. I’m sure zoning would have to be tampered with a bit to make this happen. Fingers crossed because I would love to see this trend reverse. Covid, inflation & the looming recession isn’t helping anything either :(

I work downtown, right around the corner from 145 Front st. and the Grid. Neither residential complex seems to add noticeable weekday foot traffic.

We lost some good lunch options to Covid and inflation has definitely impacted the ones that are still kicking. Not everyone has $15-20 to spend on lunch. And people would probably be more inclined to spend time and money downtown if there were actual stores (e.g., a gift store that isn’t Worcester-centric, toy store, small market, city Target, whatever).

Also, for all of the “walkability” improvements, Main st. and the surrounding streets are still majorly oriented to car traffic. Things might appear close on a map, but it’s deceiving because you wind up stuck waiting 2-5 minutes at every single intersection for a walk light. And you’re walking past ugly parking lots and empty buildings, so even a short walk feels like it takes longer than it should. (Speaking as someone who used to walk a lot more when working/living in Boston.)

Close down streets to automobile traffic, run the buses more frequently, allow for mixed zoning, provide access to capital for people who live in these communities

I wish some of those empty office buildings could be repurposed for housing to bring life into downtown.

Speaking about maker to main specifically…

Maybe people don’t want to overpay for the same stuff you’d get at Whole Foods/target for cheaper.

It’s a gentrifier store in a non gentrified area.