11.5 Downtown Kalamazoo

1. Downtown Kalamazoo has much to offer to their citizens but could use some updates. It has a variety of stores, but many are very specific and expensive, which discourages college shoppers. There needs to be more events held downtown to bring larger groups of people downtown, such as guest speakers and plays, which would then lead to people shopping. The walking section is very pedestrian friendly, with wide sidewalks and minimal vehicle transportation.

2. The downtown could have more stores geared toward college students. Stores that are open later and provide inexpensive options would be very successful since there are two campuses within walking distance from downtown. It would also be nice if there were more general clothes stores for everyday clothing and not just specialty stores. The downtown could also use some centrally located entertainment areas, such as movie theaters and clubs.

3. “Their demands coincided with the interests of the state highway departments and traffic engineers, who wanted to keep building roads and whose highest professional goal was the unimpeded flow of cars. Routing highway traffic around the outskirts of town must have seemed the obvious thing to do. The downtowns thus unwittingly initiated their own march to a commercial grave.” This can be seen in downtown Kalamazoo as it can be somewhat difficult to enter with the highways and high traffic roads not as near as could be. Also there are only a few entrances due to some roads being one way. This limits the amount of traffic that passes directly by the downtown area, limiting the number of people who could be exposed to spending money there.