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Letters
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Business New Haven
4/5/1999
By: BNH
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Simpletons 'R' Us
The “national chain is bad” and “mom-and-pop is good” mentality exhibited in the editorial of the March 22 issue (“Broadway Bound”) is simplistic and clichéd. Excellent service, good design sense, and exciting merchandising and products, among other qualities, should be the benchmarks for judging a good retail experience.
I will choose the Gap over the uninspiring clothing stores currently on Broadway anytime - in the same way that I will choose most of the shops in the College/Chapel district over many national chains. The Yale University Bookstore and the Yale Co-op should also be judged with these criteria.
Remember your admirable (and paraphrased) call to arms of not long ago: “Let's rise above mediocrity and strive for excellence.”
- George Zdru
New Haven
Das Kapital
It was quite a surprise to see the March 8 editorial, “Broadway Bound,” published in the pages of a business journal. Consumers vote with their dollars. It's called capitalism, and it is a system that works not just in the world around us, but in New Haven as well.
The goal of [Yale] University Properties is to provide the goods and services that people want and need in an attractive, appealing and inviting environment. To that end we have invited more than 70 people to focus groups to tell us what they want on Broadway; more than 220 others have voiced their opinions through surveys.
Successful local merchants will thrive and remain. Unsuccessful ones will be replaced, perhaps by high-quality local operators, such as Trailblazer or the Booktrader Café, and perhaps by a national tenant, such as Barnes & Noble or Origins - whose Broadway stores is one of the most successful in the entire region. (Apparently, lots of people like Origins, and it brings other customers to the Broadway merchants during the one-third of the year when students are not present.)
We are content to let the marketplace be our judge. Capitalism - even Business New Haven should try it. You just might like it.
- Joe Fahey
Director of Operations, University Properties
Yale University
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK
Business New Haven welcomes letters to the editor pertaining to subjects written about in these pages. Send to LETTERS, Business New Haven, One Church Street, New Haven, CT 06510, or faxed to (203) 781-3482. FAX: TO 203-781-3482 EMAIL business@businessnewhaven.com. Letters are subject to editing for space and clarity and must include the author's daytime telephone number for verification.
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