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Comment by viburnum | Hacker News Reader

Pike Place Market is so great and popular, cities should really build more markets like it (including Seattle).

I have a bit of an issue with places which get coöpted and eventually dependent on tourism. Some tourism is good, but places which depend and target tourists don’t serve the local community as well. I hate when things become spectacles.

What about spectacles that generate a lot of tax revenue for the rest of the city?

I’m of two minds. I rarely go there as there are “too many tourists”. Even when I worked within walking distance, I wouldn’t eat lunch there for the same reason. OTOH, were it not for those icky tourists, would Pike Place stay open? I know of similar venues across the country that were on the verge of being torn down until they were turned into tourist-attracting spectacles.

There is that dilemma. Traditional role (serving locals) vs modern role of serving tourists who're looking for something that defines a place (among other reasons). I understand that things change, the economy changes and things modernize. It's not all that different from gentrification. I guess, in a best of both worlds, it would be measured and not so kitsch.

I think things jump the shark when in the manner of "the measurement becomes the goal" So, like if something incidentally attracts some tourists that's great --but once the location targets and begins to specialize with tourists in mind, then it's changed, for the worse, with respect to the local community.

Markets are not places where locals and tourists go for the same reasons. There's little overlap in what a tourist would buy compared to a local: most tourists aren't interested in deals on toilet paper and dish soap, and locals aren't interested in City Name Tchotchkes. Most locals find supermarkets and malls to be far superior places to shop.

That’s mostly a function of only malls and supermarkets really being legal to build though. You couldn’t build something like Pike Place Market today in most communities.

And as far as malls go, those are also dying in large numbers in the States now that their traditional department store anchor tenants are shriveling up.

My rule for pike place is to get there as early as possible to avoid the crowds and I never go there after 11 AM because it gets too crowded.

Agreed: if you arrive at 9 and leave by 11, you practically have the place to yourself.

Seattle has a thriving network of neighborhood farmer's markets, so in principle I think it could work. On the other hand, those markets are one-day-a-week, not permanent installations. Also, far fewer people actually live downtown than used to be the case, so the "local grocery shopping" crowd might be lacking.

So on reflection, no, I doubt it could stay open!

I don't understand... tourism generates loads of local jobs. For example, most people who view a show on Broadway are not native New Yorkers, the reach that Broadway has on NYCs economy and the jobs it generates for locals is huge.

I use to live a few blocks away. While I don't miss the US, I do like Pike Place and downtown Seattle.

SF - Ferry Building

LA - Grand Central Market

NY - Chelsea Market

PHL - Reading Terminal

BOS - Boston Public Market

The problem is, unlike Grand Central and Reading Terminal, a lot of these markets are overpriced and end up being shopping areas only for the rich or tourists.

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