People of Richmond: What type of business does the city need more of?
on October 20, 2023
“People of Richmond” is a regular series in which reporters pose a question to people in the community. Answers are presented verbatim, though sometimes edited for brevity.
Q: What type of business would you like to see more of in Richmond?
“Get us a small town pharmacist here. … A bakery, little floral shop would be nice. Give businesses an incentive to open here.” (Sam Charles, barbershop owner, pictured above)
“I would like to see more entertainment-type businesses. That’d be cool. We should have wrestling matches in Richmond, like a boxing ring or something like that. Or concerts. Have like a stadium for concerts. That would be cool.”
(Jefferey Jimenez, youth ambassador)
“I’d love to see more neighborhood markets. You know, fruits, produce. Now it’s all liquor stores. … You could throw a rock and hit a liquor store.” (Robert Joaquin)
“I will like to see more clothing stores in Richmond. I grew up in Richmond. I am 57 years old. Back in the day, we had clothing stores, grocery stores and many other stores in Downtown Richmond. Then, all the businesses were moved to Hilltop. Now Hilltop is closed, so Richmond residents don’t really have anywhere to shop like they did before.” (Larnel Wolfe)
“I wish they brought back that mall on Hilltop.”
(Carlos Campos)
“More coffee shops because of the convenience. We have people coming to work and play. When I’m talking about convenience, I’m talking about more coffee shops that are open later.” (Cordell Hindler, Park Plaza Neighborhood Council)
“Certainly, in this part of the town [near Civic Center Plaza], there needs to be more grocery stores. “I’ve noticed from here, all the way even into Point Richmond, there’s just not enough.” (Eva Resnick, occupational therapist)
“Food and grocery stores: Safeway, Lucky, that sort of thing. We have various places you can get food but we don’t really have a full-service grocery store.”
(Christopher Larsen, administrative librarian)
“We need more Black owned bookstores in Richmond. In the ’70s and ’80s, there were more bookstores for Blacks in Richmond. We need more bookstores where Black people can learn about their history and culture.” ” (Darrin Gabriel, bookseller)
“I would like to see more retail stores, like the tourist- type of retail stores, stuff that draws people on the weekends and draws people to spend money, like clothing, antiques, collectibles, fun stuff.” (Suzie Carracci, bar/restaurant owner)
“Maybe some better restaurants. …. I’m a chicken guy. So anything that has chicken in it. Fried chicken, or something like that. … And casinos.”
(Keith Lawson, construction inspector)
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6 Comments
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The cost of living more food places and something to do
We do need more stores and grocery stores and a in door farmer’s market would be nice
There’s no way they can open the mall now they put a middle school directly across the street the types of kids at that middle school. So far of been pretty bad news. The amount of graffiti and trash has increased exponentially if you open up that mall those kids are just gonna tag it. And steal everything that’s not strapped down.
It’s up most important for the initial developer to hire a community based construction contractors, sub and local skill trades workers to participate in this project and maintain ground security on site during and after construction. Above all, the development plan shall include kids activities area in the retail space.
I want Richmond and Mall to be like City of Emeryville and put cameras to monitor every where at Richmond city and all the places of shopping, school and offices etc. Security is very important for the city. By. Joseph T Oloketuyi.
Need the mall open here we need a mall out here in Richmond ca