I would put a Caldor, a Child World, and a Big D in there.

I would fill it with bunkbeds and wait for the thousands of city residents that will be homeless.

Maybe a Zayres or Ames. Or a movie theater or roller rink. s

Maybe a Woolworths, Grants, or a Cape Cod.

How about an airport?

Maybe you can fit the woonsocket school dept deficit in there

I wish the (probably baseless) rumor that Target was considering that spot were true!
Wouldn't that be great?

I would love to see "any" business in there.

ok I was waiting to see my other Idea and I didn't so here it is, A Gigantic Laundry Place with Dunkin Donuts inside and a All you can eat Buffet for families like the old Ponderosa.

I would like to make it a factory. Woonsocket Manufacturing. It would be part machine shop, part welding shop, and part sheet metal shop with a 4 apprenticeship program.
Build it, outfit it, and do all the hiring, without concern for financing just like our school dept/school committee does.

Although I always read, but never respond to these articles, I have a very strong opinion on this matter. Woonsocket has more than its share of Job Lots, Dollar trees, Family Dollar, Savers, and other stores geared toward the "low income" people. But lots of people , including myself, do not do their shopping in Woonsocket , for that simple reason. It would be SO invigorating to see, a Kohls, Target, Old Navy/GAP, Barnes and Noble, Toys R Us and maybe even another Chain Restaurant such as TGIF or a Longhorns. It would be nice to see people that DO NOT live in the city want to come in to spend their money and generate business for the city. If we do not do this soon, other places will ( if you haven't noticed , where the Walmart is in NS, they are clearing lots and making way for lots of other stores, more than likely, many of what I said. I would love to shop in the city instead of going to Smithfield / bellingham. Lets make this city a place where people would WANT to come in to, instead of a city that we all leave when we need more than an " ugly sweater" for a Christmas party. And to the person who wrote Child World ... THAT would be AWESOME!!!!!!!

I really don,t care am trying to sell and more out of this BLACK HOLE of a city

I agree with Squints. My wife and I (and my older relatives) leave the city to do almost all of our shopping. Except for Lowe's, Diamond Hill Road is an afterthought - even when WalMart was there. I understand that we have a large low-income population, but do we need two JobLots in one city? As an almost middle aged male, where am I supposed to buy clothes in the city? Can I get a dress shirt anywhere? Burlington Coat Factory is about it, and they don't carry a lot of the type of clothes for my demographic. Kohl's would be okay. Even Bob's would be a start. And restaurants? The pickins are extremely thin for sit-down restaurants. I go to Ciro's, Vintage, River Falls, Chelo's, Savini's, Burrito Co., and the new Mexican restaurant on Diamond Hill, but that is pretty much all of it. I held out hope for years that someone would think of a way to lure just one chain store back to Main Street, to start the ball rolling. Now that Dowling Village is going up, I can see that's never going to happen. If Diamond Hill (or Main Street, or Social) had some of these things, my family and I would definitely shop there more. I'd love to see the chains' demographics studies that make them not pick Woonsocket as a location. Then again, maybe that would eliminate all hope.

I think a Target or a Kohl's would be great. A few of the readers wrote in about bringing
in restaurants I agree we that also, something fun. It would be great to bring in jobs to
but I wouldn't put a manufacturing business in that spot, although they would have a lot of potential employees, I feel there is enough old mill buildings better suited around the city that are always looking to lease space.

Wouldn't it be great if, logistically speaking, an "out-of-the-box" developer interested in investing in Woonsocket (without concern of demographic profiling) could:

a. Utilized the former Walmart building and retrofit it for an upscale department store like our infamous McCarthy's used to be, maybe even a Macy's. -or, preferably-

b. Tear down the old Walmart building, and create a multi-level entertainment/retail complex, located along the left and back side of the property, incorporating the site of the former roller skating building with a mix of select retail establishments, upscale national restaurant chains, cinema, etc, similar to Patriot Place but on a smaller scale of course. I envision this complex to be L-shaped (for conducive limited parking accomodations), but wonder if this could be amply supported/patronized by the Greater Woonsocket locale, making it a profitable venture.

Hey,how about a Sonic a White Castle and of course a drive-in theater..

I have submitted the property to IKEA and movie cinema chains. I agree with many of the comments that the best idea would be to do a shopping mall/complex. We have many businesses for low income residents and need to start attracting businesses for moderate income families. There are many retail companies that are doing well despite the bad economy. I like the ideas of Macy's, Target, Toys R Us, Best Buy, Dick's Sporting Goods, Costco, Dave's Supermarket, or if Lowe's leaves; Home Depot.

OK here goes....L shaped type mall with three anchor restaurants. On one end ,Longhorns,,at the other Olive Gardens and, in the middle "Red Lobster" ,the clossest is in Connecticut. In between would be a Bob's mens store, an Ikea,Toys are us andOld Navy/Gap. That should fill up that area with plenty of space to park.

The demographic is all wrong Garrett. If Wal-Mart cant "make it" in Woonsocket, you think anything else will?

Get real everyone

Sonic. Now you're talking! Great idea Rick.

Kerry, your post is the only sensible post on this thread! Once the WED gets done with their budgets for 2011 and then for 2012, the supplemental tax bills come out and future tax rates go up to the maximum allowed. The property owners, the business owners and everyone else who owns property or runs a business in Woonsocket gets bled to the absolute bone. Is it any wonder why residents and businesses are fleeing from this god forsaken city at record rates! The Wal-Mart site will be abandoned as will the Lowe's site in the near future. Woonsocket residents, get use to it. This is what the cost of doing business with the WED has brought to this city! Watch out for the TUMBLEWEEDS!

The Walmart site was doing well. They did not leave because they were not making a profit, they left to North Smithfield to make more profit. Many people on this site, many people in the City, and many people outside the City would shop here if we had stores that they shop in. We have the ability to have these stores here without the traffic congestion they have on Route 1 in Attleboro.

Thank god many of you are not developers. Some fun ideas, but you are being ignorant to the climate that surrounds a place like The Woon. It is not merely demographics, foot traffic, and spreadsheets that are the issue, it's more the attitude of the community. Take a look at what is already there and how it compares to others you've been to. Diamond Hill has by far the worst examples of each successful franchise. Wendys, Dunkin Donuts, Planet Fitness, Shaws, to name a few, are just poorly run and left to rot in Woonsocket. Likewise, you can find the same businesses within 10 miles and get better service and not feel grossed out as you leave. (my younger brother actually got banned from Planet Fitness when he complained about the cleaniness...he now drives to Cumberland).

Low standards is a perpetual spiral to nowhere. In order to attract higher end business, we need to instill a community willing to appreciate such things. I wouldn't open my business in Woonsocket just to be sandwiched between a run down liquor store and landromat while getting shoplifted every Thursday. You think the Mayor leaving the Vermettes building as a pile of rubble for over 4 months, in the most eye-catching part of the city, garnered any respect from the business community or from the population from surrounding towns? Just an example of how it starts from the top down.

ps. whoever said Applebees is a better quality chain, i hope that was sarcasm :)

If wally world still owns the site then all we can hope for is a sams club . but I dont see the demand.

well none of those ideas are going to happen, not now or in the future, Lowe's will be going as well by the end of 2012

Casino, Casino, Casino, did I say Casino ? lol Casino

WoW!! Talk about dome and glum for Woonsocket's future. I know things are tough, I live here, but stores can make a go here, the bottom line has to be more than the top line and Wal-Mart did good here, the only reason they left, is Woonsocket wouldn't let them expand to include the grocery portion of the store. Which if you have been, isn't much to brag on, Price Rite and Shaw's would have been real competition, while Stop & Shop has such high prices this is a great relief to North Smithfield residence.

Not a day goes by that I don't regret moving to this city to take the job I was offered ...

Signed
Young single college educated taxpaer

Hi dubes
It will only get worse.
When quality companies like Hanna Instruments quietly leaves for Lincoln R.I it is a vote of no confidence with elected officials.
Coffee an donuts work in elections but don't work in the private sector..
Good luck in your search.

RBeau.
Check the Hanna website referencing new location.
Thanks

Greg,
They are keeping Woonsocket the headquarters and Lincoln is the expanded warehouse with several departments. They are not leaving Woonsocket and have no intentions to. A member of my immediate family works there.

Wow....so many ideas by so many people. However, I don't hear nor see much from our Economic Development Director. Oh, sorry, he sent A letter to Lowe's and they didn't respond. He did his job.

Unfortunately, Woonsocket is still the laughingstock of the State of RI, which certainly has nothing to be proud of when you look at ITS financial position. When I tell people I'm from Woonsocket, they still make cracks. I would bet that the Economic Development people in the State never even mention Woonsocket as a place to move/open their businesses. If the State doesn't help, it certainly makes it difficult to do it on our own. Dowling Village has hurt Woonsocket's chances of luring businesses for middle income shoppers here. While Woonsocket is surrounded by many towns, many of them thrive because they have the land to expand. Patriot Place is about the size of ALL of East Woonsocket. We just don't have the land to create the multi-business mall/shopping plaza that many would like to see. I think you will find that the only businesses that will expand into Woonsocket will be the lower income type businesses, What I see WalMart transformed into would be a large indoor flea market, like I used to see in Florida. Not too inspiring, I know, but probably the most logical.

dimond hill road needs highway acess to route 99 and 495 if this was done it would make a big diffrence in the type of store it would attract.

How about a store called Wel-Mart? A store, funded by us taxpayers, where welfare recipients of the city can get even more things for free. We're already paying for their 50 inch rental TV's, cell phones, appliances...etc. Let's make it easy for them to get it all for free at one convenient location.

You know what they can do w/ that property? They can bring back roller kingdom and give us something to do in this God forsaken city.