Last spring Garden Botanika also went out of business and left behind a vacant storefront. And music chain Sam Goody is gone as well, leaving another empty space. Employees who work in the Market say business is slower now than it was last year. And they don't seem to buy much. Some carry shopping bags from Fred Meyer or the Gap, but not from smaller retailers like Yazdi, and few stop to look at jewelry or CDs at the carts.
Bored shopkeepers chitchat, take smoke breaks, or just stand there.
Obviously business is not at its best. Woodards says it could take up to another eight months to fill the Market's empty spaces. They've also hung up paint color samples to signal their plans to repaint the inside. Madison Marquette won't release the names of new tenants until they've signed a lease. However, if their track record is any indication, they might not be such a hit with big-shot tenants.