While all of NYC seems to be in a tizzy of excitement over the opening of Trader Joe's on Friday, we in Syracuse await the Saturday debut of C.L. Evers & Company Market. Everyone admits that having a grocery of some kind located downtown is a key to continued residential growth and C.L. Evers is a start. Ironically, though its stock is different, it bears a closer resemblance to Trader Joe's than I would have thought.
From the looks of things yesterday, C.L. Evers won't be open a day before Saturday but folks were working furiously to fill shelves, coolers, and bins with food for the "young, too busy to cook, but want's to eat a good meal" set--the latter two attributes we can all identify with from time to time. Like Trader Joe's, this is not the place to go to get all of your shopping done, but it will certainly provide a missing service for everyone--downtown dwellers or not.
From what I could see through the windows, many of the "dry goods" are not ones that I would personally choose to buy--it just isn't the way I cook. But I could see myself dropping into C.L. Evers in several scenarios: I have a meeting on Montgomery Street and realize that I need some onions for dinner--a quick run over to C.L. will fill in the gap. Or, as so often happens--the day gets away from me and I'm stuck without lunch and a four hour meeting downtown--C.L. Evers looks to have a pretty good prepared food and deli section for a quick grab and go. I could also see myself down on Clinton Square for one of the dozens of festivals, post-road race parties, or concerts there and instead of being hungry or thirsty (because I forgot or couldn't bring my own) I can run over to the Amos building for a bite.
This is all great but C.L. Evers has a minor obstacle to overcome--location.
Now that I finally found the Amos Building, I realize it is in a pretty good location. But would someone please tell the owners that not everyone in Syracuse--especially newcomers like me and others who might consider a downtown move--knows where the Amos building is. I'm embarrassed to admit how much time I took on Saturday driving around trying to find it. Simply adding the following line to ads, emails, and posters will help: Located in the Amos Building on Erie Blvd. off Clinton Square.
The thing is, the way one-ways streets work around Clinton Square and the fact that the Erie Blvd. facade is so non-descript being eclipsed by the Art Deco wonder that is the Niagra Mohawk building, I had no way to know that I was passing the Amos building over and over and over and over again. (I missed the signage on Clinton Street.) The beautifully ornate front facade of the Amos building fronts Water Street.
Now I will admit that I would have found it more quickly had I been on foot--and that is the big lesson for me and for all of us trying to tread more lightly on the land. Once on foot, the location made great sense and was much more accessible. Wouldn't it be fantastic if instead of complaining about the lack of parking downtown, we simply walked more? And wouldn't it be more fun to walk if there were interesting things to see and do? After walking around on Saturday I discovered that this is actually the case--going from the Red House to Ambrosia to Eureka Crafts--and had I known where it was, the Amos building--is just a 15 minute jaunt. How cool is that? But I digress...
Well, until I can actually get inside the store I'm going to refrain from commenting on what's on the shelves. I do sense a great opportunity here for C.L. Evers and for Syracuse as a whole. I just hope this effort really energizes our budding downtown scene for the good of everyone.
The store seemed really good looking, the product selection leaves something to be desired. This may change as they develop. Good prepared foods though.
Posted by: Kris | March 17, 2006 at 07:56 PM