“There’s no parking downtown! You have to walk so far from your parking spot to get to the store you’re looking for!” How many times have your heard (or said) this? South Dakotans love (and NEED) to be able to park directly in front of the store they’re shopping at. When there isn’t a nice open space on Phillips Avenue it’s “Bah There’s no parking down here!” (God forbid hey use the completely empty and free after 5pm parking ramps).
I never hear the same complaint about shopping at the Empire Mall. It’s the same concept! Park in one location, then walk a short distance to go to multiple stores conveniently located next to each other. Director ofDowntown Sioux Falls Inc. and urban design advocate, Joe Batcheller, made this very handy map showing how the two locations (downtown and the mall) compare. The red outline is the mall’s parking lot and the yellow shape is the mall’s footprint. I thought seeing the two overlaid like this was interesting and a great way to illustrate the discrepancy for people who ‘hate parking downtown’ but love shopping at the mall. Check it:
