The letter below appeared in LEO last week. I missed it then, but the comments came up again in a conversation with Cary Stemle earlier in the week, and I consulted the on-line archives for a copy.
I was just reading the June 17 LEO Weekly and was surprised to see the buildings of downtown New Albany featured. I was quite happy to see my building on the front of the magazine. However, I was quite disappointed after reading the article that the only business on the block that was not mentioned was the Antique Shop at 145 E. Market St.
Since Cary Stemle made it quite apparent that he did his homework about the businesses on the block that were no longer, let me add updated info that Mr. Stemle did not seem to obtain. First of all, the Little Chef Diner is currently closed. Second, the Antique Shop has survived through many other businesses in the downtown area that have failed. That shop is the second oldest business on the block still open.
A downtown revitalization needs more than bars and restaurants to survive. We bring in people from many different states for the quality of our merchandise. We have been a vital part of the rinse and repeat of downtown New Albany and would like to take this opportunity to express our distaste for your magazine and lack of good reporting.
Ketrina Jones & David P. Scott, Antiques Attic (145 E. Market St., New Albany)
I understand feeling disappointed, but sorry, my only thought is: “You’re soooo missing the point here.”
Our metro alternative weekly finally catches wind of us and does a COVER STORY on New Albany, and what is useful about it isn’t a line item calculation of who was mentioned and who was not; rather, it is the article fostering the positive notion that people should come to downtown New Albany and investigate the scene.
Not only is it inaccurate to suggest that Cary’s failure to list every business located downtown constitutes bad reporting, it’s plainly irrelevant, and more detrimentally, it plays into the single worst problem we have among business owners downtown: An absence of cooperation in collectively marketing the area. I wrote about this recently, suggesting …
It isn’t about a single restaurant or bar downtown marketing itself to attract customers, although this remains a factor. Rather, it’s about jointly marketing the extended historic downtown business district as a destination in and of itself. To paraphrase the imbibing Founder, those of us in the food and drink business will succeed together, or fail separately.
If any business owner downtown feels that it’s all about his or her own business and not about the climate of the extended area, there’ll be a limit to what downtown can do. LEO’s article was a gift extended in our general direction.
For heaven’s sake, why spit on the platter?
