Monday, October 23, 2006

Arena's impact

In today's print edition of the Charlotte Observer, I wrote a story about the arena's impact on uptown nightlife. For the most part, bar and restaurant owners I interviewed said the arena hasn't been like fruit of the Gods for them, but it's been good for business.

Several people mentioned that the arena doesn't draw many customers to their establishments after events, and I'm wondering what's up with that? I remember after the Rolling Stones concert last year, everybody bounced and uptown felt like a ghost town.

I have a couple of questions. If you party uptown regularly, do you stay away from uptown when there are events at the arena? If so, why?

If you go to events at the arena do you typically hang out uptown? Why or why not? Post your replies below.