I don’t know about you, but twice a week when I go to Buckeye Brothers in the South End of Springfield to buy Powerball tickets and receive wisdom from my friend Dave Glantz, I play a little mental game.
It’s a game everyone who plays the lottery has in their mind: what would I do if I win Powerball?
My wife and I usually joke about it. Our ideas generally swirl around helping certain family and friends while avoiding other family members and friends. You know what I mean and they know who they are.
There’s talk about buying a house on the Cape and/or in Scotland. There are also discussions about what charities we would like to help.
I’d like to get an electric car, take some trips and buy some pieces of art, as well.
Deep in my heart of hearts I’d like to do some economic development. I know, why work when you are on easy street? It’s my curse.
Every city in Hampden Country needs a locally owned used/new bookstore. Bookstores help build community and strengthen neighborhoods, in my humble opinion. While in Dallas earlier this year visiting our granddaughter, we were taken to an arts district in that city and saw a great concept for a bookstore. It featured new and used books and other items but it also had a bar — booze and coffee.
It attracted a lot of people. Could that work for downtown Springfield, Westfield, Chicopee or Holyoke? I’d like to think it could. All of these communities have colleges and this could be attractive to a younger demographic, as well as geezers such as me. Toss in a magazine and newspaper rack, free, secure internet service, host community events and have hours that extend into the evening.
I’d put money into that idea.
Here’s another: Let’s establish a food hall that is also a year-round farmers market. It would be a collection of stalls featuring both produce and products made by area farmers and small-scale bakeries, as well as mini restaurants.
Many cities have something like this, and we should as well.
I even have a location — the Mardi Gras block. Where the exotic dance club was is a very large space. I know you wouldn’t know that, but trust me.
Gut it and you could plenty of room for the food area. The upstairs could be seating for people to dine in. Add a liquor license and again, have evening hours with special events and entertainment, and I think it would be a real winner. There are already 132 parking spaces associated with the building.
My third effort at depleting my millions would be centered on the very real situation that we don’t have enough movie theaters in our area. In Springfield we lost the theaters near the Liberty Street plaza as well as the theaters at the former Eastfield Mall.
My concept would be to have an independent first-run theater rather than a chain. Having been the founding manager of Tower Theaters in South Hadley many years ago, I know what can work in order to compete with the chain theaters.
These three ideas would be locally owned and operated, and in the case of the food hall, allow for local entrepreneurs to develop and grow a business. They would also create jobs and, I think, adjacent businesses as well.
Another side effect might be a readjustment about how people think about downtown areas. If I had a dollar for every time someone has told me that downtown Springfield is dangerous, I could have retired a couple of years earlier. Putting more businesses like these three would bring in more people and in turn help dispel some of the ill-advised perceptions.
Earlier today, I stopped by Gasoline Alley on Albany Street in Springfield and the Urban Food Brood to get an iced coffee at Monsoon Coffee. I also bought some apple coffee cake baked by Nosh. What they are doing, along with several other food businesses, is great. They are providing a needed venue in the city, creating jobs and making people think twice about going to either of the big commercial coffee chains.
We need more of this in our region. Small business is the backbone of our economy and the more we can do to encourage it, the better.
In the meantime, I’ll keep playing the lottery and dreaming about all that dough, after taxes, of course.
G. Michael Dobbs has worked for Reminder Publishing for 23 years of his nearly 50-year-career in the Western Mass. media scene, and previously served as the executive editor. He has spent his time with the publisher covering local politics, interesting people and events. The opinions expressed within the article are that of the author’s and do not represent the opinions and beliefs of the paper.
