Hotel district is the place to be

[DushiHeidi]

The hotel district is theplace to be. When I was there on my last trip downtown was empty 99% of the time. It use to be Senior Frogs and that area was the place to be. Now Busters and Chino Latino are the fun places to go. I guess Senior Frogs is only good on Wednesday night for ladies nights and that starts late. Confessions is also in the hotel district and they host parties every now and then. Sometimes they will have special DJs fly in to play there. I'm not sure how downtown will be during Christmas but it was dead during summer. No wonder why stores are closing.

Also one more thing.... Senior Frogs no longer serves a selection of beer. They stopped serving Heineken and Amstel. I know those two for a fact. I'm not sure of what other beers but I know they have Polar, Balashi and something else.

Any ?s feel free to ask!

[Andrea J.]

i think it is tremendously sad, even go so far as to say tragic that the downtown Ostad is now very quiet and slow.

unsure of who is responsible, but greed has a lot to do with it.

the stores/shops in town are so highly priced that the "typical" tourist cannot afford to shop.
the little mom and pop stores have "for lease or sale" signs.

the bars and discos are hopping at the high rise area as dushi heidi reports.

i do not like to always reminisce about better days in years past.
but, the downtown area is so beautiful and to know it is hurting is quite sad.

andrea

Originally Posted by DushiHeidi

The hotel district is theplace to be. When I was there on my last trip downtown was empty 99% of the time. It use to be Senior Frogs and that area was the place to be. Now Busters and Chino Latino are the fun places to go. I guess Senior Frogs is only good on Wednesday night for ladies nights and that starts late. Confessions is also in the hotel district and they host parties every now and then. Sometimes they will have special DJs fly in to play there. I'm not sure how downtown will be during Christmas but it was dead during summer. No wonder why stores are closing.

Also one more thing.... Senior Frogs no longer serves a selection of beer. They stopped serving Heineken and Amstel. I know those two for a fact. I'm not sure of what other beers but I know they have Polar, Balashi and something else.

Any ?s feel free to ask!

[Chadd]

It's funny to me. So many people go on vacation and then want to go to the same types of places they can go at home. If they would put a hotel or two between the airport and Oranjestad, instead of building more and more towards the lighthouse (another freaking Marriott?), you might get more action downtown. The palm beach area has gained critical mass though and will continue to be the center of the action for the next couple decades.

[fattypatty]

well, it doesn't help that most mom and pop shops in downtown sell the same wares - tourist t-shirts, cups, towels, and lapels. there's really nothing that distinguishes one from the other. thus, its not surprising to see them close up one by one. i'm not sure what it was like during its heday, as i've only started going to aruba 4 years ago, but as everyone now says, downtown is sure not the place to be.

[DANNYO]

I remember hearing that a major renovation of Main Street was going to happen.I guess when there is no place else to build on Palm Beach they will do something downtown.

[Chadd]

I hope they don't march down Eagle beach and start building high rises one after another. As for the types of swag available in the shops downtown; it may all be very similar but it's generally not stuff you can buy at home. The same can't be said for a lot of the shops in the high rise area.

[lizzardo]

I get extremely sad thinking of the downtown area. Yes they did have their share of "tourist" shops but they did have a lot of other interesting places too. Then a lot of chains came in.
But it was very quaint and a lovely place to go to and out of the norm than in the US.

I have spent a lot of time in Holland and it had a little touch of that too.

The stretch in Palm Beach and the "new" Ren Plaza just don't have that
nice feel to it. To me it could be like being anywhere - mexico or another
island.

I hope that the downtown area gets "revived" sans big chain store but
in this world we live in - it's only a hope. Kinda like what happened
to many cute downtowns in the US.

And not sure what will happen to Eagle beach - I think a lot of the development
there might not make it. Kinda hope it doesn't because the thought of the
highrise condo complexes will take away from the charm it used to have.

[Arubalisa]

Originally Posted by lizzardo

Kinda like what happened
to many cute downtowns in the US.

There is always hope. There are a good number of successful "downtown" revitalization projects here in the states.

There was one in my old home town at the Jersey shore which focused on some antique stores. In turn, other like businesses, crafts, gifts and such moved in and then the support system...RESTAURANTS.

Besides the cruise ship passengers, the downtown shops could still very easily attract tourists from the Druif and Eagle beach resorts.

[danadog56]

well as usual I have to put in my 2 cents...after reading a couple other comments...
I do remember when the cute little mom and pop stores were down town and even though the items were simliar, not all were exactly the same and it was nice to just wander around to see what treasures you could find...
Now I do not bother going down town much because if I wanted a Tommy Hilfiger shirt I could go to my local Macy's and buy it...I guess the gov't thought this might be good for the cruise industry as folks get off and want to shop, but how many people can't get those name brands ??? Even European countries have that stuff...
So it is very sad to see how empty (of tourists) downtown had become....even worse is going up to the high rise area and not even be able to find a place to park unless you pay...!!!! Showing how long I've also been going to Aruba...I liked it better before progress got all out of control !!!!

[lizzardo]

Parking is always a problem here. They have the "art of parking on the sidewalk" down to a science here ! LOL!

There are tourists from the latin american countries that do buy the "high end" stuff here because they are cheaper here. I think they wouldn't have so
many of these shops unless they didn't have the market for it.

I'm really hoping that the new party holds to it's promise (and it has been
supposedly in effect for at least the last 4 years and longer i'm shore)
to enforce the "stop any new building" ban. It would be nice to see
that - and also to deal with some of the projects that have not made
any progress (like some condo projects) except to have a sales building
on the property but have not actually built anything for years.