More times than not people will shop and eat where they work and live. If there's no viable jobs in the local area chances are stores will feel the impact. Any stores that open in the local area must compete for every customer's interest and dollar. The so-called "Big Box Supercenters" will not kill towns like Sewickley. Sewickley must learn to compete to survive. Town Council must decide on hiring a company to wake-up the businesses and people of Sewickley to bring in the monies of the surrounding areas.

My husband and I have recently moved back to the area from Los Angeles. Though we both chose the area because of its walkability and proximity to the city, we are finding that patronizing many local businesses just isn't feasible. It all looked idyllic at the start, but now the reality is setting in.

We are both young, working professionals and new homeowners with a disposable income that is, well, limited due to these circumstances. When we do go out we want to get our money's worth and Sewickley's restaraunts just don't hold up.

One would think that L.A would have much higher food prices, but Sewickley far exceeds our experience on the west coast while offering none of the variety or quality.

The Chinese restaraunt: bland, lame menu, with poor service. "The Cafe": Way overpriced; same menu items, with the same quality in C.A cost half of what they do at this Beaver Street establishment! Montecello's: Annoyed servers,my compliments to Chef Boyardee! Brugger's: Always out of the coffee you want on the weekends and how many times do I need to repeat myself to the hungover teen taking my order?

I know this is harsh, but this town needs to wake up. Where is the Thai? Where is the breakfast joint? Where is the quality dinner entree under 15 bucks and please don't suggest the 12 dollar burgers at the new brewery restaraunt, that place is just silly. Though I believe the latter is a Pgh thing, it's as if no one here believes it's possible to have an imaginative dinner menu that doesn't start at $12 or $15. And I'm really not going to eat one more nasty thing at the Eat n' Park monopoly.

This town has so much potential, but it seems that it's resting on it's laurels and a little too dependent on the incomes of much more established folk.

We lived in Sewickley before moving to our farm in Kilbuck Township. My wife and I often frequent businesses and restaurants in Sewickley and cut back because of the following problems:

1. TRAVEL WARES - - I bought many $80.00+ shirts at Travel Wares on Broad Street until I received two shirts that were seconds. One had two left sleeves and the other had their tags sewn in upside down. The lady that owns the store didn't question that they were seconds and promptly gave me my money back. How many customers paid top dollar, like I did, for seconds?

2. The Cafe has great food but who ever heard of serving a $25.00 fish dinner on an ice cold plate. Hot food on hot plates is standard operating procedure for good expensive restaurants. I've complained several times and once got a plate that was so hot it felt like I was sitting next to a furnace radiator. If you're going to charge high prices please consider quality restaurant practices.

3. The one that tops the charts is the Sewickley Police Department and their parking tickets. I've received several parking tickets while having lunch or shopping in Sewickley. I always put money in the meters; however, if I do some shopping after having lunch and don't keep an eye on my watch it's ticket time. Instead of having that $7.00 lunch it now carries a surcharge for the parking ticket.

4. Several years ago my construction company remodeled the old Isley's into a sandwich / deli shop. When the owner told me how much he had to pay in rent I asked him if he knew how many $5.00 ham sandwiches he had to sell just to meet the rent. Needless to say he didn't last long.

Our family loves Sewickley and even with all the problems we still shop and eat there several times a week. Eating at the Sewickley Hotel is always a pleasant experience, even with the rediculously high prices. It seems like a warm friendly place except when the Air Conditioning is set at 65 degrees???

Hi Philip,

Town Center Associates appears to be a local group, I just had look over their website. Do you have any information about work that they've done elsewhere locally (and results, or feedback), or case studies of some kind?

Which areas of the Sewickley downtown planning would you expect or hope that they would focus upon? Or, is the chamber of commerce's interest in getting a big picture view of the business district, to pick out the key trouble areas?

Thanks
Patrick

As a life-long resident, I have been ever proud of our unique little town. I have always had confidence in the quality of the merchandise and the ability of the establishments to provide stellar service. Unfortunately, my confidence has been shaken of late.

Planning a wedding was a real eye opener for me. I found it impossible to support the businesses of Sewickley and remaining on a resonable budget for a small (75 guests) wedding.

The floral shop of choice was Cuttings, however, after trimming the "extras" from my must-have list of flowers, the proposal was still more than twice the price that I was able to find at another floral shop in an adjacent town for the EXACT same flowers and arrangements... and no trimming! Thnk you Kim at Presents & Posies in Moon!

The Sewickley Country Inn was the venue of choice, however, the pricing was way out of line! A beautiful garden ceremony followed by hors d'oeuvres and champagne punch and a sit-down dinner of filet mignon, chicken marsala and pasta primavera, and a coordinator, Jeff, that was one step ahead of me every step of the way was less than 1/3 of the price of JUST the reception and food just across the river at The Hyeholde.

I did, however, pay for rooms for my out of town guests at the Sewickley Country Inn and was MORTIFIED!!!! at the condition of the room. Mold on the ceiling, air conditioning that didn't work and 2 towels and 1/2 a roll of bathroom tissue for 4 people! Appauling! NOT the quality you expect from the only hotel in Sewickley!

Merchants need to be mindful that there are regular folks living in this community, spending their hard earned dollars in this community but can, and will, take their business elsewhere if the quality and affordability factors don't meet somewhere close to the middle.

I moved from Sewickley in May(and I've mentioned enough times that I hate that we did!). We've moved to a town in Kentucky. And let me just say, even though parking is free, the town has seen so much growth it's become a disguisting place to live.

Sewickley is beautiful! The hosptial-wonderful, the YMCA-wonderful, all the homes-wonderful, the people-wonderful! Try to look at the positives of Sewickley! I'd rather pay a tad bit more for services than live where I do now (and the costs here aren't much lower & the people are rude).

The candy store was my son's (he's FIVE)absolute FAVORITE place to go! My husband bought a bottle of some kind of pop in there, they didn't have the carb count on the side, and he asked the owner. He CALLED the maker of the product and got the information! Now that's service!

THE OPEN MIND--my favorite store in Sewickley (WITH VERY REASONABLE PRICES!!)!! And very friendly folks there as well. We don't have anything like it here!

Remember Sewickley is a small town, yet still has a lot of convienences of a larger one! A great library (the one here has 3 or 4 computers-and a shoebox kid's section)! The hospital, where I spent the last 2 weeks of my time in Sewickley, have a great staff, cafeteria & the cleanliness is remarkable! My husband rec'd very attentive care!

You're also in a top notch school district ( I don't even want to start on the topic of schools here!)

I could go on and on! I'll be moving back there in 5-10 years & hoping it will be better than when we left it!

Support Sewickley!