Too Much Open Space

 I was talking with another retailer and we both agreed that downtown Carbondale, among other problems, has too much open space. Not green space, which would be fine, but parking space, which is rather suprising given the compaints I have seen about the lack of parking in downtown. I think more the complaint is the lack of "free" parking in downtown. 

The north end of the Strip is separated from the south end but a large stretch of parking. Walk past Old Town Liquors and you have Big Chill nee Dairy Queen sitting alone in the middle of a comparatively large parking area before getting to the Varsity Center. On the other side of the street, one you pass Pag's Pizza, there is parking, then the Amtrak Station, then more parking before reaching Walnut.

Once Booby's reopens, that will help matters some as it will help pull customers from the south end towards the north, but that is still a whole lot of empty space for potential customers to walk past.

Booby's

 Appears that the reopening Booby's plans to make live music a focus of the restaurant with the new stage the owners are installing. By my calculations, once Booby's reopens, every storefront save two along the strety of S. Illinois between Walnut and W. College will have a business in it.  Chango's still sits empty since they decamped for Marion and there is still an empty spot between Bombay Olive and Artistic Minds Tattoo. 

Booby's

 The planned relaunch of long closed sandwich shop Booby's appears closer to reality as the windows of the store front are now covered over with newspaper, indicating something going on inside the building. For years, due to its location directly across from the train depot, it was a tradition for students returning from Chicago or other parts north to arrive in town and head across the street for a sandwich at Booby's . Hopefully, the new owner plans to reopen the beer garden as well as Booby's beer garden was always a popular summer time hangout.

Business Moving (kinda)

Really putting a fork to Booby's (as in it's done), the Bike Surgeon is moving next door into the old Booby's location. Moving into the Bike Surgeon's old digs is an as yet unnamed tattoo parlour. That makes three tattoo shops in downtown that come to mind.

Booby's to Bike Surgeon

Looks like there's not much chance of Booby's reopening, at least not at its location across from the train depot. Signs in the window announced liquidation sales of restaurant equiptment and furniture last Thursday and Friday and the Bike Surgeon sign has moved over to replace the Booby's sign. No indication as to whether Bike Surgeon is moving or expanding, though.

Booby's

Still for rent. Price is $!800 per month from what I understand. For that you get the space, name and all the recipes that made the place popular back in the day.