There was a Facebook discussion I became privy to about the impending closure of Colonial IGA in downtown Niantic (the former location of Mitchell’s Market)… One of my FB friends offered a link to a story on the New London Day’s website about the store’s closing. I tried to comment, but i was not permitted… for whatever reason… it’s not relevant.
I was able to retrieve the comment I so lovingly wrote, and post it here for your benefit, if you are interested in the affairs of Downtown Niantic, CT.
As someone who grew up in Niantic, and has always, for good or bad, had a soft place in his heart for the town, I have to be honest. Niantic has nothing to offer young families, except costly schools and high property taxes.
The downtown is a dud, and has been since the casinos went in. Flanders, the next best thing (due to its proximity to I-95) has no character and nothing to offer.
There is no marketing vision for the town, to draw tourist trade. The beaches are lame, and as far as business goes, the only things that seem to settle in Niantic are beach-town-kitsch shops and pizza joints.
Grow a pair, Niantic! If you want to revitalize the downtown, then you need to make downtown vital! It’s not just about tourism, it’s about making Downtown Niantic a place what’s not only worth visiting, but worth returning to.
Make Niantic friendly to the people who hunger for what Niantic is uniquely positioned to offer. You could make Niantic the Kayak capital of Connecticut, for example, by offering excellent low- or no-cost launch facilities with adequate parking, and zoning breaks for businesses in the surrounding area.
I got my start kayaking in Niantic, and it’s a great place for it… you have the river, the bay and the sound, all accessible from Niantic waterfront… Exploit that reality, and draw the paddlers away from Old Lyme and Mystic, because Niantic has the better facilities and better access.
Kayakers are generally brand-conscious and have disposable income. Couldn’t you capitalize on that? Aren’t there some foreclosed properties the town could take over in, say, Pine Grove and/or Black Point, and sell them to marina developers to put in a “paddle-friendly park”, where there’s parking and needed facilities, but there’s also shopping for needed items, like nutrition bars, PFDs, bottled water, maps, paddles, maybe even boats… I dunno … put in a Subway… I’m just brainstorming here… and I don’t even have a vested interest in the town’s well-being anymore…. But I’ve been hearing about people whining about the impending demise of Niantic since the 70’s.
If Niantic REALLY wants to come back, it needs to make the downtown a place not only worth visiting, but worth returning to, again and again. Just for the record, Colonial IGA (formerly Mitchell’s) was not that.
As a post mortem, of sorts,, I currently live in Warwick, RI, because there is no decent-paying work in Niantic. You know what Warwick has? It has my job, my house and my kayak launch point. When, exactly, do I need to come to Niantic? I’ll tell you. To visit my father’s grave. I have 20 great years of memories in Niantic, but if that’s all Niantic has to offer me, I’m afraid my life has passed it by.
