Today, I learned that Region’s Bistro on Mill Avenue was closed and that the Coffee Plantation is closing right behind them. While the “economy” is kicking the crap out of some places along one of the valley’s better known spots, one has to wonder if that is the only problem. Poor management, poor marketing, poor service? Could that be part of the problem? Heck, Regions had great food a cool look and was in the heart of the Mill Avenue District. What was their biggest mistake?
When talking to people about Mill Avenue, I often hear…
“Mill used to be cool, before it became a mall.”
“Why are they pushing out the small guys and bringing in the chains?”
“We are losing a lot of traffic to Tempe Marketplace”
“I remember when…”
My response is usually, Bull, there is a ton to do down there, people just have been looking at the wrong sources of information. The success of events like the Tempe Music Festival and the Arizona Aloha Festival among many others show that the area is a great place for a rockin’ good time.
I must admit, Mill Avenue has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. Believe it or not, I love the place. In fact, I met a bunch of really cool people off of Mill for lunch today at Chronic Tacos. Not the “power politician” type of crowd, these are guys that really know the vibe and the pulse of the “city.” I use the term city lightly because they don’t care if we meet on Mill, at Lux or at a dang grocery store. Guys like Tyson Crosbie, Brian Shaler, Austin Baker, Chuck Reynolds, Jeff Moriarty and others got together just to talk about things going on around town. Talking to people like this, it is easy to see how “cool” is happening in places that can sometimes be over looked.
Heck, over the past several months, I have talked to many of the “ movers and shakers” in Tempe and on Mill only to hear, “Let’s get together soon.” “That’s a great idea” etc. After that, you get a feeling that a few of the people on Mill are waiting for the economy to turn around instead of bringing the economy to themselves.
On my way to Chronic Tacos, I sent out a message on Twitter mentioning that the new Region’s Bistro on Mill had closed. Later in the day, my friend Diane Wallace mentioned her surprise of their closing and mentioned the fact that the Coffee Plantation is also closing it’s doors. This set off a ton of responses on the web about other places that have struggled. Many large places like Border’s and the Bamboo Club made news when they closed as well.
The current market needs value-priced food or entertainment with good atmosphere. Is that impossible? I doubt it. Heck, there are places doing a great business on Mill. Monti’s, Mojo, The Tavern, Rula Bula, Cafe Boa, La Bocca and many others are places many people love to visit often. There are recreational dollars being spent – just not as many as some would hope. Most of us can relate with that, right?
With some time, some effort and some more “cool” stuff going on, it really can’t be that hard to get Mill Avenue back on track…
Why is Mill Avenue going down?:
– Single lane of traffic turning Mill into a parking lot.
– Development on the lakeshore with million dollar condos that no one will ever buy.
– Ongoing tax penalties to those on Mill as well as us who live near the lake (even on the north side).
– Tempe Marketplace
– The increasing number of street closures.
– Tempe allowing the 5-stack bar building (S/E corner of 5th & Mill) in business. (hence.. the removal of the McDonalds)
– TEMPE TOWN LAKE
Tempe’s ongoing greed has turned what was once a nice place to walk and go to diverse shops into a corporate jungle and yes, in a way a mall/power center.
Hopefully, changes will be a comin’..
=m
Regions Bistro closed already? Too bad, but their service was terrible.
You can’t survive in any economy when you don’t treat your customers right.
Regions’ demise is sad but not entirely surprising. Last time I ate there, they had mysteriously not received their latest delivery from their liquor distributor. That’s usually a sign of trouble. It’s too bad because I thought there really was some spark in the kitchen. I wonder if the Scottsdale location is still open?
As for Mill, it has been one bad move after another:
— A move toward chains followed by the City of Tempe’s truly insane decision to subsidize competing chains two miles away at Tacky Marketplace.
— A move toward speculative luxury condo development when rentals would have been a safer bet.
— Poor handling of the parking situation. As much as I would prefer for everyone to get to Mill via rail; some will insist on driving. Although parking is actually abundant, the perception of scarcity and overzealous tow trucks kept a lot of people away.
You make a good point about festivals at Tempe Beach Park, but those are generally self-contained. Relatively few customers stay around to support other Mill businesses. The bright spots are the small businesses you mention. We need more of those. Let Mill be Mill instead of a grandiose vision that is not attainable.
I posted about this early on twitter and posted on the azcentral blog post and have got some feedback about that already too… but all these here are good and valid responses…
I worked on Ash/Mill for 6 years and went to ASU before that and they’ve always tried to make Mill more trendy like scottsdale and bring in wine bars and martini bars that always fail. Look at the corner that ziggy’s used to be on… they can’t keep ANYthing in that downstairs or upstairs place… always crappy restaurants.
Mill has a few issues off the top of my head….
– BUMS… quit Fkn begging and get them out of there
– Super crazy religious nutzos screaming in megaphones
– Dave said it good… crazy vulture towing guys scare everybody away
– They stopped validating parking… wrong move
– The added tons more parking meters and the parking cops are on that sh*t in a second if you’re off
– Birds… TONS of birds that sh*t on everything including people… the sidewalks are COVERED with bird crap – that doesn’t look good.
– The multi million dollar towerS that are unfinished and a complete eyesore…
– Tempe Beach Park is cool but nothing to do there unless there’s a concert or event.
– They don’t allow anything on the lake… you can rent paddle boats… boo that’s boring nobody cares.
– Because of the single lane I avoid Mill in a vehicle like the plague ever since they did that – stupid.
– The old Harkins closed…
– Did I mention the bums and that smelly hippy shop that everybody except the bums hate?
– Parking sucks and unless you know the spots you can’t find any… hardly marked.
Mill dies at night anymore when ASU is out… it’s almost like downtown Phx at night when school isn’t in… weekends stay okay busy but not close to normal during school.
Anyways… blah. Best times on Mill anymore are when ASU games are in town… Everything is ASU Gold 🙂
Thinking about some of the other comments here:
The panhandlers and street preachers don’t bother me. People like that are part of the fabric of urban life. There’s very little aggressive panhandling on Mill compared to other urban areas nationwide. It’s good to discourage vagrancy, but if it’s taken too far, we’d end up with Mill Avenue being a suburban Disneyland. No thanks.
I also like the way Mill is configured right now with one lane of traffic in each direction and a lane of parallel parking creating a buffer between people and moving vehicles. That type of design enhances walkabilty and values people over cars — something more city streets should do.
Finally, I’m not sure why Tempe Town Lake is a bad idea. From the north side, you can launch your own non-motorized boat (canoe or kayak typically) as long as you buy a low-cost permit from the City. I’ve done that many times. From the south, the Lake provides a gathering place and a focal point for events.
As mentioned in my first post, the City of Tempe has done some amazingly stupid things will Mill and its subsidized competitor, Tacky Marketplace, but not everything done over the last few years has been a mistake.