Yes a closer H Mart!

A piano bar - would fit perfectly where world of beer used to be

There's a wine + painting place down next to Fortina - Pinot's Palette!

Bath house with food and bev

There's a comedy club opening in the old Plan B space next to the mall!

Not big but Maruichi has an okay selection! Lots of yummy prepared foods too

• HMart

• Axe throwing

• A board game place like the Board Room or a local game store like Battlegrounds, as someone mentioned

• One of those wine+painting places seems like it would do very well here

• More places like the Third Place as well

(Pardon mobile formatting)

Smart suggestion. Like you said, there's people willing to spend money on knick knacks, so a record store that sold players and a mix of old and new vinyls would be popular enough — at least for a few years.

The old Plan B Burger spot is supposed to be a comedy club. Haven't heard when it's opening but I'm hopeful.

TJ Max

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I've always maintained that a record store could do really well in downtown. You don't need a big physical footprint, there's a good amount of discretionary money flying around town, and you'd have a sizeable market with all the UConn kids, young adults in downtown and harbor point, and teens. Of course you could also make one geared more towards older adults too.

Nearest one I know of is in Darien, but the nearest places I could vouch for would either be in Danbury, Bethel, or NYC.

Would love one of those big Asian supermarkets.

Excellent suggestions. A nice grocery store downtown is what I want most! Something like an Amazon Fresh would do so well here with the young professionals (like me).

RIP Fairway, never forget

• Krispy Kreme

I rest my case

-downtown stamford needs a grocery store within walking distance. If I don’t want to go to target I have to get in my car.

-cheap food

-indoor live music venue or comedy club

Ah everyone else is treated like shit so Starbucks workers have nothing to worry about - got it.

Everyone deserves dignity and fair treatment in the workplace.

• A bar that plays music 50% quieter than all the other ones.
• A bar that plays music released after 2010.
• A board game store/gathering spot. I'd take a Battlegrounds Gaming like in Norwalk or if someone could manage what Board Room does in DC that'd be fantastic. Board Room is especially great because they just sell alcohol. You can order food to the venue and they don't care. Probably cheaper for the venue not to worry about overheard on spoiled food and works for guests too. They can also do cheaper drinks because they can safely assume people will be there for 2-3 hours.
• More places like Third Place that orient their business around small-scale event space. It provides an opportunity for lesser-established arts/organizations to do something cool locally and it has the added benefit of providing a lot of seating if you want to meet friends somewhere.
• An Alamo Drafthouse. The Majestic was sold to AMC during the pandemic, which is a shame because that would've been an excellent spot for an Alamo (not that they're expanding or anything). Every time I go to that theater there's some high school kids talking through the entire movie. That's why I drive to Yonkers to see movies.
• A grocery store downtown (but north of I-95). Hopefully in that retail space at the Smyth?
• A diner that's open 24 hours. I think we lost all of them after Bulls Head closed?

That's off the top of my head. I don't think I'm representative of the typical Stamford person but that'd be my requests.

I agree - I always like to try a new spot when I can!

Starbucks in Target isn't too far and I usually need to go to Target for stuff anyway. Bonus points if you climb the stairs to burn some extra calories before your coffee!

That makes a lot of sense. Too bad, because variety is the spice of life. How boring to never try anything new!

Just an FYI, there used to be a Starbucks where Winfield is now and there is a reason Starbucks didn't end up lasting.

(Starbucks employees are treated better than 90% of locally owned Shops)

I Still think its better to support local over big boys whenever you can though, Lorca and Turning points ftw

I think consistency over quality is what average people like about it. Your latte is the same here, on a work trip in Chicago, on vacation Florida, /etc

I personally try to go to different coffee shops every day when I'm traveling but it can be a real crap shoot or a lot of preemptive googling and hoping for the best