Money, most only have so much left over after the bills etc, and where they spend that bit of extra is what it's all about. All merchants want a piece of that little extra spending cash in your pocket. I do some of my shopping downtown but ONLY at the stores of the Cotton Exchange. They have the best jewelry store in town - T.S. Brown, the best & only British Isles shop - The Celtic Shoppe, I buy gifts from the man who has that incredible glass shop, pottery from the co-op and I LOVE The German Cafe for lunch/dinner! And the Cotton Exchange has FREE parking too!! I do shop for bargins and sales when warranted from where ever I can find them. To totally bash downtown shopping is not fair. Everyone has the right to shop where they want. Downtown Wilmington used to be the only place to shop (pre mall days), not so anymore. Most nice stores have left downtown many moons ago for the mall or shopping centers. They were replaced by a rotating menagerie of eateries, bars and novelty stores. There are a few nice stores (not the ones with the roach clips - touche) but they have priced themselves out of most peoples wallets. If I had $600.00 to spend on a dress I'd probably purchase it from somewhere other than downtown. Oh, and the parking meters, lots of people don't go downtown just because of the meters. There's the parking decks but I don't know anyone who has ever used one of them. Oh well, I guess this thread has about run it's course. The city of Wilmington and it's charming city council have their work cut out for them. Good luck all!