The Downtown Memphis Commission posted a great video this week entitled Downtown Works. It features a number of Downtown employeers discussing the reasons that they are glad their offices are here. To quickly summarize some of the points that were made:
- Plenty of hotels nearby, so out-of-town clients and co-workers can stay within walking distance to the office
- Able to walk to dry cleaner, doctor, dentist
- See people you know every time you walk down Main
- Discuss projects with clients at the corner of Main and Monroe, instead of in an office
- Walk to the river when you need to get away from it all
- Redbirds lunchtime special games
- Employees at a business that is not 8-5 feel safe; have had no security issues
- Two-thirds of all law offices in Memphis are Downtown, as is the law school
- Abundance of restaurants, museums, entertainment, Grizzlies games to take clients to
As someone who used to work Downtown in the Falls Building, I’ll add a few points of my own:
- Ability to walk home for lunch, if you also live Downtown
- If you need a snack, you’re not limited to the vending machine – Walgreens, City Market, Jack’s Food Store are walkable on a 15-minute break
- The Court Square lunchtime entertainment series the DMC runs in the spring. Great exposure to Memphis arts and culture
- Ride the trolley to South Main for lunch (or if you work in South Main, ride the trolley to the core)
- We’re on a double circuit so it’s nearly impossible for the power to go out due to storms
Anyway, to get back to the video, if you’re at all interested in moving a business of any size down here, or starting a business down here, I highly recommend you watch the video. For more information visit downtownmemphiscommission.com. You can also call 901-575-0540 and ask for Paul Morris who runs DMC. He was my neighbor in my building for five years, and he is super accessible and easy to talk to. Sometimes you’ll see him cruising down the Main Street Mall on a Segway, on his way to appointments or meetings.
OK moving on to other stuff… I feel like I owe the Blind Bear an apology. Yesterday I was the password, and it turned out to be one of those very rare days when I didn’t get there at all. What do I mean when I say I was the password? Well, normally on Friday and Saturday nights there’s a $5 cover after 8 PM. However, in speakeasy style, if you tell the doorman the correct password, you get in for free. Last night you had to say “Paul sent me” to beat the cover. “Like” Blind Bear Memphis on Facebook to learn what the password of the night is. You can also come to trivia on Thursday and in between rounds, Charles will tell you the passwords for the weekend.
Bardog Tavern provided more information in its quest to be named Most Arrogant Bar in its latest edition of its Bark and Herald e-newsletter. Every time you drink an oak-aged Stone Arrogant Bastard through November 24, you’re voting for Bardog to be named the Most Arrogant Bar. If Bardog wins, Stone will give the bar a Beer Bash, and you will be invited. There will be Stone swag given away throughout the voting period. In a little while I’m going to walk over to Bardog and help them win the contest. If there are any PBR or Fireball contests going on I’ll probably help Bardog win those too. My usual drinking buddy and “DAWG” John D got his new PS4 yesterday so I have a feeling I may be drinking alone today.
Memphis Made’s new beer Fireside Ninja is now on tap at the Flying Saucer (I incorrectly called it Flying Ninja last night on Twitter).
This is pretty cool: A Bluetooth device that calls your phone if somebody touches your bike. As bike commuting increases in Memphis devices like that one will be useful.
That’s it for now. Congrats to the Grizzlies on handing Marc’s brother and the Lakers a loss on their home court last night.