The New Retail Thread

dshoost88 said:
It is being replaced. By Eataly. Look at the format and purpose of Eataly stores. By my estimate, there will be a net increase in quick, prepped food options there than the current food court.
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Ive been to eataly in NYC.

Point me to where you can get a meal with drink fr under $8 inside it? And be eating in under 4 minutes?

Some of you dont understand that nobody wants to ban Eataly, we just want to keep fast, affordable options for those days when a fast, affordable option is needed.

"Go to South Station"
"If you want chinese..."

Thats idiotic.

It's about having 30 minutes to grab lunch and needing to do so on a budget.

The food itself doesnt matter, the price and speed does. Nobody is mourning the menu at any of the existing food court stalls, we're mourning the ability to have 30 menu options available in front of us for under $10 in under 5 minutes.

Eataly does not offer the low price nor the fast speed. Period.

Eataly is a destination. The food court is a necessity. Guess what, good cities need to offer both.
 
Everybody get over it...food courts are for the arsenal mall and Eately is amazing.

Au bon pain is right in Copley, tasty burger is in back bay station, pret and panera are right on boylston...no ones going to miss the food court
 
In this particular case of new construction, NIMBY = NEIMBY! No Eatealy in my backyard. 😉
 
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datadyne007 said:
Yep. Great article and I'm glad they profile Boston Chowda Co. That's a true gem that's being lost. The Pru food court is about more than Panda Express.
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I'm dying to read your review of Long John Silvers.
 
kmp1284 said:
I'm dying to read your review of Long John Silvers.
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The snobbishness on display in this thread is staggering to me, even by ArchBoston standards.

-Is the food at Eataly of higher quality than the food currently available at the food court?: Yes
-Is Eataly an establishment of higher esteem than the businesses currently occupying the food court space?: Yes
-Will the food at Eataly be more expensive than the food currently available?: Yes
-Do hundreds of people count on the current food court every single day?: Yes
-Will it take more than fourteen months (!) for Eataly to be built out, and during that time will the space remain entirely idle?: Yes
-Will Eataly displace many successful, existing businesses that offer fast and affordable dining options?: Yes
-Once Eataly does open, will it be an overall "improvement" for the area and a feather in the cap of the Prudential Center?: Yes

One can be excited about Eataly coming to Boston while also acknowledging that its opening will inconvenience hundreds of people every day. On one hand Eataly will be a great amenity for the city, but on the other it's one more example of higher-end development forcing out more modest establishments--and the people that rely on them--across our city.
 
It would be nice of they transformed that dreary area by the post office and dunkies into a smaller food court. There's already a pizza place there.

Its really the speed more than anything, it's one of the very few places i know I can walk to, order, and walk back in a 15 minute break.
 
JumboBuc said:
The snobbishness on display in this thread is staggering to me, even by ArchBoston standards.
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You have to admit, he stepped in it with both feet on that one referring to a food court "chowdah" outlet as a gem.
 
davem said:
It would be nice of they transformed that dreary area by the post office and dunkies into a smaller food court. There's already a pizza place there.

Its really the speed more than anything, it's one of the very few places i know I can walk to, order, and walk back in a 15 minute break.
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I agree. I was thinking the Belvedere Arcade would be a good place for the food court, but the Post Office is essential. That definitely won't move or leave. That seating area by the courtyard is really small too and if you put fast food there, you'd get the same crush loads that the food court currently experiences. Sovereign Bank and PF Chang's is also in the way.

The Hynes court could also be an option, but you've got the church there and seating in the middle of the court would impact Hynes and Sheraton traffic flow. It's tough. I think the best area would actually be where Pinkberry & Wagamama is, but there really is no good place in the Pru to move it.

The Pru actually has some important community amenities (post office and church) in it, huh...
 
JumboBuc said:
The snobbishness on display in this thread is staggering to me, even by ArchBoston standards.

-Is the food at Eataly of higher quality than the food currently available at the food court?: Yes
-Is Eataly an establishment of higher esteem than the businesses currently occupying the food court space?: Yes
-Will the food at Eataly be more expensive than the food currently available?: Yes
-Do hundreds of people count on the current food court every single day?: Yes
-Will it take more than fourteen months (!) for Eataly to be built out, and during that time will the space remain entirely idle?: Yes
-Will Eataly displace many successful, existing businesses that offer fast and affordable dining options?: Yes
-Once Eataly does open, will it be an overall "improvement" for the area and a feather in the cap of the Prudential Center?: Yes

One can be excited about Eataly coming to Boston while also acknowledging that its opening will inconvenience hundreds of people every day. On one hand Eataly will be a great amenity for the city, but on the other it's one more example of higher-end development forcing out more modest establishments--and the people that rely on them--across our city.
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+1. The funny thing is the snobbery doesn't seem warranted, most seem like fanboys who given the choice probably couldnt even afford to go to Eataly all the time
 
617 said:
no ones going to miss the food court
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If you close your eyes and repeat it, does it make it true?

You have multiple people here saying they will miss it. You have multiple people on Universal Hub. You have an op-ed.

And yet you idiotically say that no one will miss it?
 
I won't miss it.

I've been to eately in NY and in Chicago, both had my favorite pizza place from Rome called Rossopomodoro...and the market and beer garden (NY) are phenom.

And if they get rid of the food court in Faneuil hall or corner mall I wouldn't miss that either...in my opinion it's progress.

You probably miss the McDonald's and gas stations on boylston st in the Fenway too.
 
jass said:
If you close your eyes and repeat it, does it make it true?

You have multiple people here saying they will miss it. You have multiple people on Universal Hub. You have an op-ed.

And yet you idiotically say that no one will miss it?
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I can't speak for 617, but I read that as "people are making a big deal out of this now, but once it's gone and replaced, nobody will be yearning for the 'good 'ol days' of the food court."

Many posters here are on wrong side of a sentiment that we make fun of a lot on A/B. "This new development is going to ruin EVERYTHING FOREVER!!!!" People get worked up about change like this beforehand (how many articles and comments have we read about how every new building in Boston is going to shroud the city in darkness, overrun the streets with traffic, and turn Boston into Manhattan) and it's often significantly overblown. Between the other quick-serve places nearby, delivery options, food trucks and Eataly itself, I don't believe will miss it nearly as much as they're saying they will now.
 
Does it bother anyone that the "affordable" meal in the food court costs the same today as it did 15 years ago? Doesn't that say something awful about the food and/or the companies providing it? Maybe food shouldn't be so cheap. It didn't used to be.

You don't really want to think about how McDonald's (et al) has maintained the same items at the same $1 price point for the last 20 years. You also probably don't like to think about the reality of how McDonald's (et al) has gotten away without wages increasing much over the same time period. I'm not a "super organic food nut" nor am I a "raise the minimum wage to infinity" nut, but let's just consider that these issues are interrelated.

Bottom-end wages are static, but so too are bottom-end prices. In a healthy economy they move upward slowly in lockstep. It is a chicken/egg problem - pressure has to come from one side or the other to get both moving. Demanding a $7 lunch is, more or less, demanding a $7/hour minimum wage. You can't have it both ways.
 
fattony said:
Does it bother anyone that the "affordable" meal in the food court costs the same today as it did 15 years ago? Doesn't that say something awful about the food and/or the companies providing it? Maybe food shouldn't be so cheap. It didn't used to be.

You don't really want to think about how McDonald's (et al) has maintained the same items at the same $1 price point for the last 20 years. You also probably don't like to think about the reality of how McDonald's (et al) has gotten away without wages increasing much over the same time period. I'm not a "super organic food nut" nor am I a "raise the minimum wage to infinity" nut, but let's just consider that these issues are interrelated.

Bottom-end wages are static, but so too are bottom-end prices. In a healthy economy they move upward slowly in lockstep. It is a chicken/egg problem - pressure has to come from one side or the other to get both moving. Demanding a $7 lunch is, more or less, demanding a $7/hour minimum wage. You can't have it both ways.
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This is actually something that economists monitor, and the data doesn't quite match your assertions. The Economist came up with a "Big Mac Index" in the 1980s to compare purchasing power across countries, but the same data can be used to track inflation within one country over time. If you compare CPI growth to Big Mac price changes you'll find that fast food prices are actually increasing faster than the overall price level across the economy.

A "healthy economy" doesn't require wages and prices to "move upward slowly in lockstep". Wages should grow faster than prices thanks to technology and innovation. In short, the problem is low wages, not low prices.
 
JumboBuc said:
Wages should grow faster than prices thanks to technology and innovation.
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Since we're already off topic I'm going to respond and take us further off track and hope someone breaks this into a new thread.

Innovation in most cases leads to less people being needed to do a job. More people are then forced to compete for fewer jobs. Lots of supply, not as much demand. This obviously keeps wages down. Sure, this saves money for companies and they may even pass some of those savings on to consumers in the form of lower prices. Or they may choose to voluntarily raise the wages of the employees they keep around. Or the people at the top may decide instead to hold onto that extra money. This would lead to unprecedented financial inequality, right?
 
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