I do as well. I remember when it had a sign that read something like "5, 10 and 15 Cents Store." We once called it the "Five and Dime." There was a Woolworths store on Main Street that almost took up the entire block. You could enter on Main Street, walk through the store and exit on the other side of the block.
It was torn down, and eventually, a large and very costly store took its place. Very high end crap, like the grocery that charged 8.00 for a crappy sandwich and two dollars for a can of Coke. As I recall, this was in 1980 or there about. Later or sooner, perhaps, I am not sure.
That establishment failed; a few more stores tried to survive and those also failed. Eventually, lots of stores--perhaps 70%--closed on our main street. We lost some very old stores like Auerbachs, the Paris, Woolworths, several photo stores, lots of little stores people loved. Our Christmas parade became a joke and eventually people left. A city planner told us that once you drive people away from an area, they stop returning.
The ZCMI was replaced with a big mall and another mall was built across the street. Rather than place the mall five blocks down, they connected both malls with a walkway so people did not need to walk along the mean streets of Salt Lake City. This caused shops to close.
Today, I never visit our main street because I do not want to be knifed in the back or shot.
Sorry for the thread hijack.
