DETROIT (AP) — The Hard Rock Cafe has finally made it to
Motown.
The arrival of the restaurant chain, which opened a location
yesterday in the city that gave the world such stars as Stevie
Wonder, Ted Nugent and Kid Rock, marks a key step in the push to
revive the city’s depressed downtown ahead of the 2006 Super
Bowl. Borders Books & Music, based in Ann Arbor, also opened a
store around the corner.
Downtown Detroit, once a bustling shopping neighborhood, has
suffered in recent decades, as many people moved out of the city
and malls sprouted in the suburbs. Though major companies and
municipal offices continue to bring workers to downtown Detroit,
there are few places to even buy a newspaper, and the once-elegant
avenues largely empty out after 5 p.m. Greektown, a small strip of
restaurants, and several casinos, are exceptions.
Much of the city’s hopes for downtown development center
on Compuware Corp., which recently moved downtown from suburban
Farmington Hills and employs about 4,000 people at its
headquarters. Both the Hard Rock Cafe and Borders made their home
at the new $350 million Compuware building.
To many, the Hard Rock Cafe, which pays homage to rock and pop
stars with memorabilia on its walls and often features live music,
was sorely lacking in the birthplace of Motown Records.
“It’s about time,” said Seamus Maher, 54, who
was among hundreds of people who lined up ahead of the
restaurant’s 11 a.m. opening and one of the first in the
door. Maher, a collector of Hard Rock pins from around the world,
drove four hours from Toronto to buy special-edition pins from the
opening and trade with other enthusiasts.
Kyle Nurse, a pit manager at Greektown Casino, said before the
Hard Rock, he and his co-workers had nowhere to go to relax when
their shift ended at 10:30 a.m.
Hard Rock Cafes exist in more than 100 locations, including
Belfast, the Choctow Indian Reservation in Mississippi and
Fukouoka, Japan.
“It’s a little bit passe,” said Theresa
Williams, director of the Center for Retailing at the Kelley School
of Business at Indiana University. “People don’t stand
in line in New York to get in anymore.”
Inside Borders Books, meanwhile, Consquela Marbury, 45, said she
was relieved to finally have a bookstore within walking distance of
her job as a legal secretary.
“Now maybe we’ll get some store-stores,” said
Marbury, who was picking up a copy of a Nora Roberts novel. She
added that she used to frequent Hudson’s department store
before it closed 20 years ago. The downtown Borders — a
relatively compact store compared to other locations — is the
largest store in the area since Hudson’s closed, the Detroit
Free Press reported.
Susan Sherer, executive director of the Super Bowl XL Host
Committee, said city planners are trying to create “a rich
entertainment backdrop by 2006,” when the Super Bowl will
come to Detroit.
“Folks are using it as a benchmark to complete development
that is sustaining,” she said.
Williams said being part of a downtown revitalization effort is
risky for retailers.
“The reward is that it’s a market that’s kind
of neglected,” she said. “You look at most retail
markets and they’re saturated to the point of no
return.”
But Sherer resisted the idea that Detroit requires a total
makeover to become an attractive city.
“I get kind of frustrated with the idea that we’re
nowhere and going somewhere. The NFL picked us just the way we were
in 2000,” she said.