Nanker Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Well aren't you Mr.Positive? I guess Buffalo should just give up & just bury the downtown area?? 133220[/snapback] The solution is intuitively obvious, right? Raize the entire downtown area and create hockey rinks. Isn't that the white version of midnight basketball? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckeyemike Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Good news for Buffalo. The closest Bass Pro Shop to me is north of Detroit, but we just had a huge Dick's Sporting Goods open near me...complete with a rock climbing wall. I'm in!! Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkyMannn Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Well aren't you Mr.Positive? I guess Buffalo should just give up & just bury the downtown area?? 133220[/snapback] I don't want to be Mr Negative#2, but someone please explain how a retail store coming to Buffalo and bringing maybe 50 minimum wage jobs is going to be a savior. And I can't believe that an outdoors store is going to be some sort of tourist mecca. I'd be a lot more pumped if a new GM or Toyota plant was coming to WNY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Chopblock Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Im with Kalamazoo Mike, we got a Cabela's (similar to Bass pro) in sh*thole wyandotte county kansas city kansas along with the Kansas Speedway..Brought in a lot more than 50 min wage jobs. The place is packed 363 days a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain America Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Is it like Gander Mountain? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjeff215 Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 They're nice shops. We've got one here off of I-85 near Atlanta. I love that place. Prices are high on some things, though. Box of Remington .30-06 165 grain will cost you $17.95 at BPS, but $14.95 at the local wally world. But then again, I bought my gun for $200 less than list there as well. They were selling the blued steel version for the same price as the stainless... -Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtdoak Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 There goes the best free parking for Sabres games. Oh well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_gmac17_* Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 Is it like Gander Mountain? bigger. It's by no means a savior, but it can only help. will bring some construction, and lots of retail jobs - not 50, more like 500 or so I'd guess in total. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kegtapr Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 bigger. It's by no means a savior, but it can only help. will bring some construction, and lots of retail jobs - not 50, more like 500 or so I'd guess in total. 133603[/snapback] It's better then a fast ferry. :I starred in Brokeback Mountain: Johnson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_macdaddy_* Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 Hopefully the B!@#$s that come to town will spend a little cash at the restaraunts/bars.etc and give down there a boost. I heard that there is a new restaraunt in Crawdaddy's. Anybody been there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_macdaddy_* Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 These guys are good. Let's try this Bass holes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuckincincy Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 Not to familiar with Bass Pro but I did watch the special on it tonight on empire. Reminds me a place we have in Michigan called Cabelas. Cabelas is located in a very small town called Dundee here in Michigan. Previous to Cabellas arrival it was economically shot, since then it has flourished. The place is busy 24/7 and people come from all over the United States to go their. It really is crazy just how much Cabelas sparked the Dundee economy, hopefully Bass Pro can do the same for Buffalo and WNY. 133106[/snapback] I mail-order things from Cabela's from time to time. Good products, service, and pricing. A Bass Pro moved into a mall close to me, about 1 1/2 years ago. They do a lot of business. Being the end store in a mall located by an Interstate exit helps. They have a fenced lot where they sell boats. I'd be a little circumspect about the Buffalo area location, as another has mentioned - weather, parking, nighttime security, etc. However, Bass Pro seems to know what they're doing. Hope it works out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 I will preface this comment with the fact that I was born in Buffalo and truly do love the city. They will find a way to screw this up too. Buffalo council will vote something down and yet another good idea will go to waste. I live in Charlotte and we have 2 of these Bass Pro Shops and they are great. The difference between Charlotte and Buffalo are huge though. Charlotte was the same size as Buffalo 10 years ago and we are now the same size as Baltimore and growing. The population has increased by 30 percent in the last 5 years. The city is clean and you dont see a lot of boarded up buildings..The reason? There is not a common council to stop everything. Until the people of Buffalo stop voting these a-holes into office nothing will ever get done.. IE: ZOO, Casino, Adelphia,,ect...ect..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theesir Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 I mail-order things from Cabela's from time to time. Good products, service, and pricing. A Bass Pro moved into a mall close to me, about 1 1/2 years ago. They do a lot of business. Being the end store in a mall located by an Interstate exit helps. They have a fenced lot where they sell boats. I'd be a little circumspect about the Buffalo area location, as another has mentioned - weather, parking, nighttime security, etc. However, Bass Pro seems to know what they're doing. Hope it works out. 133725[/snapback] I did some business in Dundee for a few days and stayed at one of the hotels that was a direct result of the Cabellas store. The hotel was packed and for being in the middle of BFE it was pretty expensive. (read as they weren't giving the rooms away). There wasn't much to do there in Dundee in the evening so I went to the Cabelas store and it was insanely large with a mountain and a trout stream inside! The parking lot was FULLLLLL!!!!! of RVs owned by people spending the WEEK there going to the store and related events that the store ran. Two more hotels and an RV park were being built when I was there, and this is in a town where the only other major employer is a cement factory. If Bass Pro can bring SOME of this to Buffalo, it may be the first positive thing to happen to the area in years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seq004 Posted November 27, 2004 Share Posted November 27, 2004 As long as Pataki is coming to Buffalo Monday and it gets signed and sealed I don't see how this can be anything but good for Buffalo. It's about time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Lamb Posted November 27, 2004 Share Posted November 27, 2004 As long as Pataki is coming to Buffalo Monday and it gets signed and sealed I don't see how this can be anything but good for Buffalo. It's about time. 134897[/snapback] Pataki came to Buffalo once and signed and sealed a deal with Adelphia Cable too - The Buffalo Comic Council held that "land" (adjacent to the AUD) hostage for a while and then some other "stuff" happened. No 38-story tower = sigh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sen. John Blutarsky Posted November 27, 2004 Share Posted November 27, 2004 OK, since everyone is pooping on the downtown location for the store I thought of some major plusses. A. They would be able to put some dock facilities on the Buffalo River so people can pull their boat straight up to the store, dock, go buy their stuff, and then leave. B. The city has to put in more launch ramps in that area, but that's something you can charge a fee for service....revenue. C. Canadians will come down to buy stuff, but Americans will stop on their way to Canada as well. Lots of people drive to Canada to hunt and fish, that location is actually fairly convenient, i.e near the Peace Bridge. This is good because these are new dollars that will be attracted to the city, not just recycled WNY money. D. If they ever get their S together and put a casino downtown this is another thing to draw people in and get them to leave their money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thailog80 Posted November 27, 2004 Share Posted November 27, 2004 Its going to save Buffalo and reverse all of its problems. 132832[/snapback] I thought Adelphia's Waterfront project was going to do that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chalkie Gerzowski Posted November 27, 2004 Share Posted November 27, 2004 Pataki came to Buffalo once and signed and sealed a deal with Adelphia Cable too - The Buffalo Comic Council held that "land" (adjacent to the AUD) hostage for a while and then some other "stuff" happened. No 38-story tower = sigh 134904[/snapback] You can't blame Pataki for that. Nobody knew that Rigas was serious about destroying his own company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kasper13 Posted November 27, 2004 Share Posted November 27, 2004 How is Erie County kicking in their $14 million for Bass Pro? Raising money by selling bonds based on future tax revenue. Where is the future tax revenue coming from? By raising the sales tax of course. Between Erie County, Buffalo and New York State and the Federal Gov't, Bass Pro gets $166 million to put up their store in Downtown Buffalo. I love Buffalo and the WNY area. That's why I have lived here for 32 years and never moved. Downtown Buffalo was buried 30 years ago. No need to do it now. Let's list the long line of Downtown/City of Buffalo failures shall we......... We have a Metro Rail that goes nowhere and it closed Main Street to car traffic which in turn forced almost every single store on Main Streert to close over the last 20 years. (Go walk down Main Street on a Saturday morning- afternoon- you will be the only one there) and the Main Place Mall is virtually empty (Jim Kelly's Bar & Restaurant used to be part of the complex and it was never reopened as anything else) They have been talking about reopening Main Street to traffic for 5 years now and the City Gov't just lost the funding that was in place from the Federal Gov't to reopen Main Street because they just let the bill expire. Peace Bridge. They have been arguing on what kind of a bridge to build and where to build it for over 14 years. They could have torn down and built 5 brand new bridges in that time. Convention Center that was built in the early 70's is totally outdated and costs the City millions in lost revenue every year. Dunn Tire Park- Home of the Bisons. Has been open for 15 years now. It was starting to fall apart because the City couldn't pay for repairs so they let Erie County take over. Attendance has been falling every year from over 1,000,000 in the early 90's to just over 500,000 this past season. Buffalo Zoo was in disrepair until Erie County took over. Waterfront Development? There hasn't been ANY since the 1950's until Brian Higgins got funding for some sort of park to be built. WHOO-HOO! Nothing there except abandoned grain mills and the old Pier Bar & Restaurant that closed 4 years ago. There are more parking ramps than anything else in Downtown Buffalo except boarded up and abandoned buildings. Less than 1,000 people actually live Downtown becasue there are so few apartments, townhouses and Condos. There aren't any stores to speak of. They have actually started building a few apartments over the last few years. The Skyway is not only a treacherous stretch of road, it cuts Downtown in half. They have been talking for 10 years now about knocking it down. The City has been using Federal Block Grant money to repay on defaulted loans and to pay City salaries to the tune of $550 MILLION dollars over the last 25 years instead of using it for rebuilding and renovating homes and businesses around Buffalo. No NHL means the HSBC Arena is pretty much just sitting there empty. There have been less than a half dozen events there since September. A few concerts, an AHL game and wrestling. It still costs the taxpayers money to keep it running even though nothing is going on. The nearby bars are taking a real beating as well. The failed Adelphia Building. That has a whole other set of problems that came from that fiasco. There are a few theaters and a few bars that are doing OK. Other than that, Downtown Buffalo is a place that people come to work and then go home to the suburbs or come down for a baseball game or a hockey game and maybe go to a restaurant or bar and then go back to the suburbs. The Aud has been sitting there boarded up and empty for almost 8 years now. Now the taxpayers have to foot the bill for a Fishing & Hunting Store that is not needed but just another desperate attempt at a miracle to save the City? No Thanks. I would get rid of all the politicians and all the layers of government and start over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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