GrassIsGreener

Thought of this after I posted and didn't want to edit: I think the smaller footprint and paring back to being sewing-related might fix/solve a lot of their problems, because even though home garment sewing isn't as big as it used to be, it's still big and may be experiencing something of a resurgence (italics because I may be biased because I do some home garment making and so I want to allow for confirmation bias). That being said, both for being a store I use and one that's HQ-ed in Ohio, I hope for the best here.

I've read, in addition, that their attempts to compete with Michael's as a general craft store rather than being (in many areas) the only place to buy sewing supplies/bulk fabric hurt them more than it helped. True, home sewing isn't as big as it used to be but there are still a lot of people that do it, and often Joann is the only place to buy these supplies. A lot of smaller "sewing" stores are really quilting stores that may carry some supplies but generally don't carry the kinds of fabric and tools used for making garments. I hope someone figures something out because if they were to simply disappear it would basically kill home sewing for many/most. Ordering fabric online is less than ideal and will likely keep a lot of people, especially in smaller towns, from ever trying it in the first place.

I also don't that people working in an defense tech manufacturing facility are going to be dissuaded from moving to Ohio because of a sense that it's too conservative.

Great short. Beautiful image. Thanks for sharing! The comments on that IG post are funny. Either super celebratory or nasty/catty meanness. Some people are just determined to hate anything they haven't been cleared to like already. Also loved how some commenters were telling the people in the video (who are doing the thing and enjoying themselves immensely while doing so) that it sucks. 😆

All NY state parks are free to enter but you generally have to pay for parking, so I'm not sure I would call that "free" given that most are nearly impossible to get to without a car. From NYS website: https://parks.ny.gov/admission/ There are no entry fees for PA state parks, including parking.

I said "regional" parks, i.e. metro/county parks, not state parks. And even then I've lived in all 3 states and wouldn't say that PA/NY state parks are "far" better. In fact, in terms of facilities I don't notice a ton of difference. But, again, that isn't even what I was talking about in the first place so it's irrelevant.

The way Ohio does regional parks is, as a whole, noticeably better than surrounding states. Didn't know what I had until it was gone. NY had decent county parks and the ones in Pittsburgh are alright at best.

Logged in before I even click on the thread title because I planned to comment on Bill's even if it wasn't here already. Love Bill's. I spent a lot of my evenings in high school hanging with friends there (CHS '03). My son now asks whenever we're in Dayton to go down there. My super "scene" Brooklyn transplant cousin raves about them. It's a special place. Ohio gold!

And yes, I mean it when I say that TC is in a bad location. Because it is for most of the 1.2M people in Cuyahoga County, not to mention the surrounding counties, many of whom are not "big truck/gun lovin'" good old boys that haunt this forum's thoughts all day.

Americans outside of your caricature also don't seem to be going to malls as much anymore, either. Also, no one is "afraid" of anything. They just don't feel any obligation to deal with any level of inconvenience at all, ever, when they don't have to. That probably has more to do with TC being a mess than caricatures of rural whites being "afraid" of black teens. There are black teens in other shopping centers, including ones that are successful. Not Cleveland, I know, but Easton has a pretty solid mix of customers, including rural/suburban whites and urban blacks, and seems to be doing just fine without outbreaks of violence in any direction. TC is not a "In the Heat of the Night" race-war flashpoint, it's just a dated shopping center in the wrong location with a bad mix of stores. I would imagine many of the failing malls nationwide are. Not sure what is so surprising that people don't want to go shopping in a place far away from their house with the same mix of stores as every other that looks like it's from 30 years ago (or more) when they can just, you know, not.

And also it's a shame no one in Cleveland ever travels or has seen other cities before, in particular planners. If only they knew as much about development/economies as someone bold and out-there enough to move from Ohio to Florida. What a unique lifepath offering tons of insight into how those things really work.

This is absolutely delusional and motivated, racialized thinking. Big fat lol that wealthy Indians don't shop online and have some special insight into brick-and-mortar that (boo, hiss) white Americans don't. Just an ugly, silly thing to say.

I've been outdone with pedanticism.

Moment of pedantry: There are two Aldi companies: North and South. The above is an Aldi South. TJ is owned by Aldi North. They share a name but are entirely separate corporations. Just FYI in that it wasn't like Aldi just chose to use their Aldi branding instead of TJ to stick it to people in UA; Aldi South doesn't own the TJ brand.

^Agree. And sometimes people also just want to un-ironically enjoy a 1300 calorie piece of cheesecake with a group of their friends and not worry how "on message" their life is, regardless of whether it's in OH or not.