One challenge with establishing a natural cultural district in the early stages, especially one that’s retail-oriented, is reaching a critical mass where it feels like a place. One solution is to build a microcosm of a such a flourishing retail center so people can experience the vibe of the larger district, and for that we have Hollywood’s Space 15 Twenty to thank as a model, to a certain degree.

Featured in the latest Springwise, the concept is brilliant - Space 15 Twenty is a collection of

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You hear a lot of talk about city economic development agencies emphasizing the importance of the creative industry, quality of life and the downtowns/main streets, but seldom do you see a program that backs that up as succinctly as Lille, France’s Maisons de Mode (Houses of Fashion).

Essentially, the City of Lille, understanding the economic multiplier of supporting the creative industry and vibrant downtown quality of life, invests in store construction, low rents and free publicity to

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What makes the Dining Hall in the Little Creatures pale ale microbrewery such a popular destination in Melbourne, Australia? It could be that it converges two kinds of places creatives crave into one they can relate to - a third place.

The Beerhouse: - In Germany, the beerhouse is the standard. Characterized by long wooden communal tables and Germany’s famous Hofbrauhaus, patrons enjoyed themselves as if they were at an indoor picnic, while dancers, singers and musicians provided a truly

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That’s according to a 2007 Johnson Gardner study, based on 2006 numbers in Portland, Oregon, commissioned by Oregon Metro, as only recently reported on in this recent article, Trendy shops put a shine on home values.

Their study concludes that property values within a block and a half would be affected accordingly by the following businesses:

- Neighborhood theater - 14-30% higher property values. Some positives cited by the study include an increase in pedestrian traffic (safety) at more

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The signs are there:
- In a CoolTown retail study, 44% of the downtown businesses in five of the most progressive college towns are restaurants.
- According to the article,
Restaurants popular as a draw for shopping centers, 20 years ago restaurants made up 10 to 15% of the tenancy in Dallas commercial centers, but today that number is closer to 25 to 50%, with restaurants now often serving as the anchor.
- The first two of four phases for neighborhood revitalization today starts with

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If you’re wondering where creatives stay in the city known as the home of the happiest people in the world (Copenhagen, Denmark), it’d be Hotel Fox, no doubt.

In a rather bizarre venture with Volkswagen, an aging hotel was brought back to glorious life by commissioning 21 artists, illustrators, graphic designers, graffiti artists that decorated its 61 rooms in anything from Japanese Manga to neo-Baroque to Pop Art. The rooms come in T-shirt sizes (S, M, L, XL), and savvy guests choose rooms

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Next time you’re in London seeking local, independent businesses, or if you’re looking for inspiration supporting such destinations, make sure to peruse the Unchained Guide. The coolest part of this online directory is how you can search for businesses based on the following characterizations: Arty, Buzzy, Classic, Contemporary, Designer, Eclectic, Ethical, Ethnic, Green, Indulgent, Posh, Preppy, Quaint, Quirky, Romantic, Sophisticated, Sporty, Street, Techy, Traditional, Trendy. You’ll find

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The previous entry was for the beer crowd. Today’s is for the wine set.

First of all, yes, there is such a thing as an urban winery, like the Signal Hill Winery with downtown locations in Cape Town, South Africa, and Beaune and Bordeaux in France. The primary advantage? According to winemaker Jean-Vincent of Signal Hill, being at a regional center without a committed vineyard allows him to select only the best grapes from the best microclimates.

However the upcoming NYC City Winery (in the

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If you’re looking for a benchmark restaurant that represents most everything that a restaurant should be (as far as omnivores go), The Linkery in San Diego is a necessary destination. It starts with a founder like Jay Porter, “It would be a place that would, as a business, provide a community space that would bring people together. And it would celebrate really good quality food and drink and beer in a simple way… hopefully it could be a place that could become a center for something that adds

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As stated in a previous entry, the primary reason why an overwhelming majority of new retail developments lease to national chains rather than local independent businesses is that chains can pay higher rents.  They’re able to do so because they already have an established customer base before they open.  This makes it extremely difficult to establish a natural cultural district, which is why we have ‘Anywhere USA’ instead.

How can local indie shops and restaurants compete with such a

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To refresh your memory, a VIBE is a variegated independent business entrepreneur, the creative, evolved version of the franchise operator, that opens multiple unique, authentic businesses under different names and concepts, but with a common system of delivering high quality product and service.

Smart City Radio recently interviewed a young budding VIBE and former attorney in Pittsburgh’s East End, Jamie Wallace who opened his first restaurant ever, Abay Ethiopian Cuisine.  It soon became

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Locavore is the Oxford Dictionary Word of the Year - a local resident who tries to eat only food grown or produced within a 100-mile radius.

As of December 14, 2007, there’s now a place in the U.S. for a local resident who tries to buy only food grown or produced within a 100-mile radius. Located in the hip Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, Urban Rustic, a 1200 s.f. grocery store and cafe will be stocked primarily with that in mind. It shouldn’t be a surprise that one of the shop’s

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Especially for cities with great weather all year round, restaurants often find themselves with fully occupied seating areas outside, and empty tables inside. So, like the open air cinemas of Athens, some restaurants have adapted by turning their interior spaces toward the outdoors.

Notice that much of the interior ground floor of this restaurant in Buenos Aires has a patio feeling, while the equivalent amount on the second floor is open to the sky. Some restaurants, like The Reef in Adams

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You hear the crazy post-Katrina talk about people who say New Orleans should go back to being the swamp it’s inclined to be. It’s probable that none of them have ever been to the Crescent City, because it’s a criminal thing to say once you’ve been there. If Venice is worth preserving despite going underwater every year, a 100-year flood is a centennial inconvenience by comparison.

If there’s one word (there isn’t) that can be used to describe New Orleans, it’s ‘authentic’, and it just doesn’t

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First of all, authentic trendiness is practically an oxymoron, which is why you probably never heard the term. While authentic refers to being true to one self, trendy tends to follow what others think is hot. However, one store in Manhattan (surprise) actually intertwines the two quite effectively - at the 350 s.f. Grand Opening.

Since trendy stores by nature go out of fashion sooner or later, Grand Opening has taken it upon itself to take that trendiness in a truly authentic way - to

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You’re visiting a major city (or living in one) and are not only committed to avoiding the chains when pondering your dining and shopping options, but seeking out those cool, unique, indie places loved by locals and established by creative, progressive entrepreneurs that take those experiences to another level. Enter the eat.shop guides.

All 90 of the profiled businesses are unique, local, independent, homegrown, creative types “who are highly influenced by the arts and sights of the cities

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You dream of opening your own restaurant or bar that you feel the world needs and is ready for, but no one’s providing. Yet you don’t have the money or the experience. Here’s a story that may inspire you, or someone you know, because these are the kinds of people and places that make a neighborhood extraordinary…

It’s the story of Counter, a vegetarian, organic wine bar in New York City.

Starting with $300 and an agreement to use a restaurant’s kitchen in exchange for making their desserts,

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Have you walked through 7-11 looking for something to eat and just can’t seem to relate? Or rather, when was the last time you walked in. Like many cultural creatives, you’re looking for an alternative, something better, something like…

...maybe a Fresh ‘N’ Friends? So the name may be a little corny, but then again, it’d be a foreign language to its patrons (which is otherwise cool) because it’s located in Berlin, Germany. So what makes it different, creative, progressive… desirable?

- Just

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In continuing last week’s entries on redefining streets the way we’re redefining buildings (green), food (organic), and the music industry (crowdsourcing), here’s a sample of that shift on a city scale... a slow city, green city, city 2.0, organic city, remixed city, authentic city if you will.

Paris’ mayor vowed in 2001 to reduce car traffic/congestion by 40% by 2020.  It’s the kind of thing auto-oriented generations see as a travesty of driving freedom (which ironically it’s anything but in

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While it’s , it’s also time for local independent tenants to make it easier for developers to lease to them. The simple reason why an overwhelming majority of new developments prefer leasing out to national chains rather than local independent businesses is because chains can pay more rent, and that’s because they have an established patronage once they open. This is why chains dominate our communities (and if not now, down the road

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In the heyday of cities, indoor public markets were as popular in U.S. cities as they are in most other cities around the world. After a few decades of the suburban experiment, they’re making a return along with emerging populations of downtown residents. Perhaps a little too soon on the scene of this next generation fresh economy renaissance is the Portland Public Market in Maine. It broke ground in 1997, but wasn’t been able to remain open despite award-winning accolades on its design. In

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Cool towns are all about local indie businesses, and that’s why it’s important to listen to author Katya Andresen’s message in her book, Robin Hood Marketing: Stealing Corporate Savvy To Sell Just Causes. You may not want to live among a herd of national chains, but it’s wise to learn from them since they spend so much on market research and innovation.

One such business is Nau. Speaking of robin hood marketing, more than half of Nau comes from Patagonia, a long-time triple bottom line

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We’re all familiar with the public market as either a large regional market, or a small neighborhood famer’s market. The public market originated in Europe, and here’s a reader’s account of how they still provide an ideal model for markets elsewhere.

“Pictures of San Gimignano, Italy (all images) show how the market comes to the people vs. people needing to drive to the market. These markets sold everything from produce to panty hose.  Although San G is kind of a tourist town, these trucks

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Why is there such a frenzy to score a Trader Joe’s in one’s neighborhood? To sum it up with a quote sourced amid the hysteria of NYC’s first Trader Joe’s ever last year (pictured above), “It’s kind of like the Grateful Dead of supermarkets.“

Yes, it’s a chain, but for the neighborhood that isn’t able to organize its own co-op supermarket, finds Whole Foods too pricey for normal shopping, detests the suburban chains, and can’t get everything it wants from the smaller neighborhood groceries,

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Last night, 14 people - Lisa, Angela, Christian, Mike, Sarah, Joey, Justin, Ayari, Raj, Ritu, Heather, Robert, myself and business owner/VIBE Linda - met over pizza, beer and wine to discuss, as a beta community, what Washington DC’s next cafe/bar/coffeehouse should be. It was the first ever VIBE beta community, as well as DC’s first beta community. Two hours later we had laid out the foundation for what very well may be the coolest, most innovative venue in Washington DC.

You’d actually have

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