A new blog series where, in a crudely drawn map format, I write down memories and random thoughts about a Fresno intersection.
I am trying to keep a record for myself and maybe jog a memory or two for you.
Good luck trying to read my sloppy and quickly drawn map of the intersection of Shaw & Blackstone (Or do you say Blackstone & Shaw?).
Anyway, with the exception of the current Heroes Comics, Rocket Dog, Electronic Billboard and Vineyard Farmers Market, the map is all old references.
The old convenience store at the Vineyard was a great place to get baseball cards that weren’t Topps.
Nothing compares to the old conversation pit in the Peppermill bar.
I can’t remember the name of the sporting goods store my old step-grandad worked at.
I miss both locations of Plaza Ventana.
I miss all the Wavelengths too.
When that Electronic Billboard went in it was like “Oh we’re big-time now?”
Bring back Circuit City please.
That video store is gone now, right? It’s the only store in town I ever noticed having a “red door” for the adult section.
How and why is there still an empty lot right next to a freeway and on a major street!? One of those kind of property owners that just sits on it forever, hoping to make some huge payday, I assume.
There you have it. My first Memory Map post. I would like to think I’ll get better at the map part, just wanted to get this up before I talked myself out of it.
Feel free to share your memories or home made maps in the comments or on Twitter.
Costco wants to move its West Shaw location to a currently vacant field at Herndon & Riverside. And they want to manipulate Herndon to do it. It seems the West Shaw location is too small for them.
Oh and in case you are still a little foggy on where Riverside Drive and Herndon is at:
It will have great views of the Olive Garden
If it’s THAT big of a problem for them on West Shaw. If it needs so much space. If we need to move and change things. Then, well, maybe it shouldn’t exist at all?
Or at least take the vacant old Super Walmart space just to the East of the current Costco Shaw location, if you ACTUALLY simply need more space.
I respect that Costco (has the reputation amongst the industry at least) of treating their employees better than most of the grocery and retail industry does. Many consider Costco a more ethical company than the Wal-Marts & Targets.
If that’s true, cool. But this is where my like of Costco ends.
Things That Suck About Costco [Old Man Rant Alert!]
It’s too damn big. All of it. The store and items.
They sell a whole buncha of junk. Junk that I shouldn’t nobody should buy.
The fucking parking. Both the NE Fresno location and West Shaw suuuuuck to get in & out of – they should be on this list. And yes, part of the reason they want to leave West Shaw is the bad parking but you know damn well the new place will end up being a shitty lot too.
They charge you annually for the privilege of shopping there (sucker).
Too many different things happening; poultry, books, TVs, optometrist, a giant bag of iceberg lettuce, all under one roof. It’s unsettling.
Lines. Long lines to wait in to give them your money.
And another thing, shouldn’t we be focusing on vacant locations in Fresno becoming residential or a park anyway? There are very few largish open spaces left in the city and the immediate thought is “Hey, let’s get a Costco in there!”
Oh and hey, like, aren’t big box stores on their way out? Amazon killing all the retail and stuff? And if not, won’t Costco come along one day and find that the new Herndon spot is also too small for them?
Let’s not forget what that area, including the small community of Herndon, has had to endure
The traffic is already a mess. I know, I go through there at least twice a day on my commute. Add a Costco with its gas station and then probably a little strip mall with a check cashing place next to a liquor store and a Subway, and it will be a disaster.
That doesn’t even include the many-times-a-day a Union Pacific freight train comes through. And when it does it backs up traffic for three light cycles and that’s with NOTHING currently in the lot that Costco wants to use.
Plus, it would be a waste for a city run golf course, Riverside, to have their third hole looking at the back of a Costco warehouse (with dumpsters and idling 18-wheelers), instead of housing or a green space.
I imagine the city will push it through because taxes or whatever. Not sure how to stop it. Just let the record show I said the new Costco on Herndon will be trash.
Part of the RETAIL APOCALYPSE, just shitty landlords or both. This place is dead. And no, Halloween Superstore does not count!
There is not one tenant at the back of West & Shaw, now that Nina’s Bakery has moved (Remember when it was a Pioneer Chicken? No? Ok. I guess I am old then).
I know nothing of the landowner other than they are not into their property.
They seem content with their tenants closer to Shaw Avenue (Starbucks, Taco Bell, Broilers and Colorado Grill). Not giving two shits about how the property looks or what a blight it is to the neighborhood.
I have not seen one improvement to that building since the long-closed Chinese buffet place was put in. And just look at the lovely landscape:
It feels like we should be ripping the whole thing out and putting up a condo building, instead of another retailer that will move out in a year. This feels like the trend we should head for in Fresno. If the lot can not maintain a business, make it a residence. Infill it.
A park would be nice too but we know that ain’t happening.
Developers whine about Fresno’s Master Plan and how they want seemingly endless amounts of land to keep building track suburban houses. Yet, roaming around Fresno as I do for my Day Job, I see SO MUCH land being underused, misused, or not used at all, it makes me want to FREAKING FRESNO THE FUCK OUT!
So I started Dead Lot, a first in a hopeful series of post, in the faintest of hopes that it will spark something somewhere to improve Fresno’s lame negative space. Fresno has a lot of negative space.
Hell, I hear that Save Mart fixed their PA after my post, let’s see what other weird things we can get accomplished here.
