Monday, November 25, 2013

Letters, a bookshop, to open downtown | The Herald-Sun

This reminds of some local history relevant to Obey Creek. We used to have a bookstore in Southern Village. It was a very nice one, but its days were numbered despite the really hard work put into the business by its owner. She tried many variations on the basic theme but nothing worked.
There was a time when we might have said that we have a "need" for a bookstore in Southern Village and later in Obey Creek. My feeling is that the time for a bookstore has passed, although I could imagine some interesting satellite operations from time to time for McIntyre's from Fearrington.
The subject brings us back to what our real needs are for the space at Obey Creek. Do we need a green lung more than a new set of stores cut from the same cookie cutter as other strip malls in the area? Can't we shape this into something more special than that?
I ask again - what do we need that can be addressed in some way through creative use of the Obey Creek land?
My friend in India had no trouble listing the key trades that needed to be represented in a town for the town to be successful. Have we met all the essentials already? Or do we have more, or are we solidly into the "nice to have" options? The weight of traffic and the state of the environment weigh a lot heavier in that case against these ideas. Let's make sure we know which is which.

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