Picture the amount of very, very bored kids that live in that town (pop. just shy of 4500), as the nearest anything-to-do (besides hang at the local eatery--which has good pie but little else--or the antique shop) is at least a half-hour's drive away, and most of 'em can't drive and/or don't have cars.
Then picture the local 4-H coming up with a pretty cool idea: a youth-run coffee house that has been around for years.
It hosts live shows, has a small library of magazines and audio books, and I can personally vouch that the coffee and food are good.
They also have a MySpace page, but I'll forgive them for that...
In short? It seems like it could work other places, too. Does your local high school have any "future entrepreneurs"-type clubs? (I did not do clubs in high school, so I have no idea what clubs even exist anymore...) Maybe you could start a movement. And hey, a lot of times those closed storefronts will be (relatively) cheap to unload/rent them.
Just so's you know. It's been done, and I bet it can be done again. Lots of work, but it might be worth it.
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Date: 2007-12-29 02:21 am (UTC)Picture a very small town, a blip on the road, in extremely rural upper Michigan. A picture of the "downtown" of Rapid River.
Picture the amount of very, very bored kids that live in that town (pop. just shy of 4500), as the nearest anything-to-do (besides hang at the local eatery--which has good pie but little else--or the antique shop) is at least a half-hour's drive away, and most of 'em can't drive and/or don't have cars.
Then picture the local 4-H coming up with a pretty cool idea: a youth-run coffee house that has been around for years.
It hosts live shows, has a small library of magazines and audio books, and I can personally vouch that the coffee and food are good.
They also have a MySpace page, but I'll forgive them for that...
In short? It seems like it could work other places, too. Does your local high school have any "future entrepreneurs"-type clubs? (I did not do clubs in high school, so I have no idea what clubs even exist anymore...) Maybe you could start a movement. And hey, a lot of times those closed storefronts will be (relatively) cheap to unload/rent them.
Just so's you know. It's been done, and I bet it can be done again. Lots of work, but it might be worth it.