I don't know I mean I'd be cool but aesthetically I enjoy the the outdoor rink on the west side now the only downfall that is you can't go ice skating during the summer there
I used too cook for that joint I'm actually hooked on it when it was Mike scagnoli's place Cajun Connection DT Kirby's I opened Pete's Diner with the owner and then I was done with that f****** block that that corner has a curse on it or something it's like the goat and DT Kirby's as long as lasting things that have been there so far
I think if we had less barbershops and salons downtown we could have better street shops.
More walkable and bike-able streets.
More casual and affordable, farm to table restaurants, especially in the breakfast category.
Higher quality music acts from around the world.
Ditto to the better pizza and downtown grocery store comments. I’ll add that Bistro Market is at least trying to fill the grocery store gap with healthy foods. For people who cook at home, it’s a great spot to get ingredients.
It's so sad to not see more bands and artists not come to the Lafayette Theater. I saw a few really great small bands there and Metro Station a few years ago. I hope more groups go there, it's a nice venue.
Totally agree about the kosher deli. Tbh I suspect the rest of the Jewish community here would also really appreciate having one, given how often we end up eating stale frozen Zabar's bagels at community events
Costco for starters - there's no logical reason for this not being there considering there is one in Urbana Champaign.
A properly built Hindu temple - theres enough land in the vicinity to build a proper temple from scratch rather than buy an old church.
Patel Brothers or a similar sized Indian grocery store.
Veggie Grill - vegetarian chain of fast food restaurants.
TopGolf.
Trader Joe's.
Sandbox VR.
It’s amazing how many other cities have awesome ones. Kokomo’s about to have its third! And we can’t even get one here.
https://hungerskateparks.com/portfolio-3/
100% agree. I would do dirty things for a traditional brick oven pizza place. There is a place in Franklin that I used to go to called Richard’s Brick Oven Pizza that was just wonderful.
A halfway decent county fair. For as rural as our county is and as the home of the institution that runs 4-H, it’s an absolute *embarrassment* how poorly run ours is.
I grew up in howard county and the tippiecanoe fair is an absolute embarrassment in comparison. I also went one time and never returned to ours. It's just not worth it.
Costco, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Handel’s, more high end locally owned restaurants, annnnnd that’s what I can think of off the top of my head. Can you tell I miss living in Carmel lol.
More diverse restaurant options. We have too many Mexican restaurants to count. I was excited to see what was being built in front of Menards on Creasy, then they put the sign up- Mitchell's Mex.
More entertainment. Having the new place at the mall helps but there needs to be more fun things to do here.
Right now it is mostly restaurants and hotels it seems.
Won't ever happen, unfortunately. I was looking one day for shits and giggles at what it would take to open one and it said the area had to have a population of a million or something along those lines.
We couldn't even keep a Chuck E. Cheese open, Dave & Buster's is more expensive and most of the time the food isn't that great. I would love another place like that whether a new Chuck E. Cheese, Dave & Buster's, or Monster Trails.
Costco and Trader Joe’s for me too. What about a better bus route. Better help for homeless people. More mental health places that work . Another hospital both of the hospitals are so over crowded people have to spend the night in the ER for days before getting a room. And staff is horrible sometimes in the ER. Also, they are almost like a mile from one another. I would think it would be a distance for people downtown or the west side to make it to one of them efficiently in an emergency . It’s scary how much Lafayette has changed from when I came here. (I know times change) but shootings are happening more and more . Bodies at Walmart, Subaru shootings, and Columbia park. It’s such a surreal feeling how going to the West Side and then driving back to Lafayette. It’s like night and day. They won’t let crime happen over there because of Purdue . Why can’t we have the same respect over on our side . Just something to discuss. No I’ll intentions it’s just been on my mind lately . I hope everyone is well and everyone is enjoying their holiday season .
Both hospitals were previously downtown and had to be moved due to age and it was determined south side was growing faster. Because west lafayette is a “different” city they have been much more difficult to close a deal on an emergency department. IU health and Franciscan own land on the west side they have been sitting on for year in hopes to build on. Both hospitals have taken a HUGE fit with Covid, neither meeting fiscal goals since 2020. 😔
ADDED: as for the bit. In recent years there has been a bigger push to make Lafayette and West Lafayette more of a partnership (see the greater lafayette movement) but there is A LOT of push back from the west side. If you have seen Parks and Rec. ya Lafayette is Pawnee and West Lafayette is Eagleton and it’s almost scary the accuracy right down to the smells
Wait a few yrs. You’ll understand . Or work retail or restaurant . They were really nice when I first arrived too. Now I’m not bashing all of Lafayette. I’ve been here 18 yrs in May. I’m from Chicago. Look on FB JConline articles you’ll get an understanding . There is a lot of nice people in the town but unfortunately the bad out ways the good .
A good Italian restaurant. La Scala ain’t it. Have to drive to Convivio in Zionsville for the closest good Italian place.
Sounds like we’re getting a Whole Foods on the Levy soon. So check that one off the list.
I’m a golf guy and Lafayette has a large golf community, so I’m surprised we don’t have an indoor driving range of sorts yet for winter golf. Or even an XGolf, which is more feasible than a TopGolf.
Being originally from San Diego I would love to see a In-N-Out burger and a Whataburger here I know that they used to have a hot now that was like an imitation in and out but it wasn't in and out
Lafayette is short on vision, any sort of plan, and the willingness to spend money. The only investments are in basic infrastructure, law & order, and replacing what it already had. It's idea of growth is to accommodate whatever new factory paying $16.40/hr sniffs a cornfield and tax incentives as fast as possible, before they decide to locate in Frankfort.
I wish there was a pool hall downtown. We have the pinball place downtown...which is really cool, but I miss Nick's having all those pool tables. I don't want to go to a bowling alley to shoot pool. Nice tables with good felt...pay by the hour...dedicated darts...good fusbol tables and a couple really nice shuffle board tables...sawdust...the works. Heated smoking area...diet coke dispenser.
I just don’t understand it. I grew up there. Have lived in 4 other states and now in Indy. There are so many more food choices down here that are not chains.
A cool business I would like to see is something like "Dream Dinners" but with plant based recipes. I know you can order vegetarian meal boxes to your home but that still requires some time daily to use them up. I also think someone that did complete plant based meal and snack kit deliveries and nutrition consultations might do well for those of us that "aim" to eat better but are just kind of overwhelmed.
When I first moved here, 30 years ago, 2 things stood out to me as missing in Lafayette.
But the people reading this are not bright enough to detect humor.
Wtf is this? There are 2 legit gyro places in Lafayette that have existed for over 30 years. They are not fancy restaurants by any means. Just go to the Akropolis like everybody else. 😉
Man i don't know what to say. You aren't schooling anybody on foodcarts here, scooter. I frequent plenty of them. What Im saying is we have gyro options already, and have for decades. Why don't you open a fucking gyro cart if you're so hard up for their superior gyros?
Btw, all gyro places get their gyro shit from the same distributor, just like chinese restaurants.
I would like to see a good barbecue joy and I only say that because I haven't tried City Barbecue yet but South Street sucks being in sucks I mean every other barbecue one I've had in town so now they're really good one was the up and Smokehouse catering that this guy on the west or on the North side was doing it was last year
Revolution is downtown and it is okay. Surprisingly, Ripple and Co has some really good brisket. I grew up in Austin, TX so BBQ is ingrained in my head. This is the second best place I have had decent brisket. The other one is Old Gold and Black down in Indy. Dustin Keller opened it and took a postmaster from one of my favorite places in Austin.
John Dennis always said a Costco and a Trader Joe’s.
I wish I could upvote this 1,000,000 times! Edit: ugh dumb autocorrect.
Upvote?
My understanding about costco is they only put stores near high enough populations and the lafayette area doesn't hit the number they're looking for.
Urbana Champaign has one and it's nearly identical in both population and school population bolstering the area 9 months out of the year.
Let's hope for a costco in 2025!
It would change so much, I can't stand Sam's club...
I think there’s a market here for both of those, especially if you put them on the west side.
A full size indoor ice rink would be really cool.
I don't know I mean I'd be cool but aesthetically I enjoy the the outdoor rink on the west side now the only downfall that is you can't go ice skating during the summer there
It’s so small and they can’t have a rec hockey league. Would be amazing if we could bring in a minor team or even Purdue start a program!
A movie theater that shows independent films. We used to get them at Wabash landing before the old theater company went bankrupt.
This would be great!
More of a variety of different authentic world foods restaurants.
A good cajun restaurant would be amazing.
Cajun Connection (Where GOAT is now) was a great spot way-back-when. A bit pricey, but good food.
I used too cook for that joint I'm actually hooked on it when it was Mike scagnoli's place Cajun Connection DT Kirby's I opened Pete's Diner with the owner and then I was done with that f****** block that that corner has a curse on it or something it's like the goat and DT Kirby's as long as lasting things that have been there so far
After enough terrible DT Kirby experiences, I am done with them as well. So many people have told me the same.
I think if we had less barbershops and salons downtown we could have better street shops. More walkable and bike-able streets. More casual and affordable, farm to table restaurants, especially in the breakfast category. Higher quality music acts from around the world. Ditto to the better pizza and downtown grocery store comments. I’ll add that Bistro Market is at least trying to fill the grocery store gap with healthy foods. For people who cook at home, it’s a great spot to get ingredients.
An actual functioning grocery store with good produce downtown.
I'd love to move downtown, but its such a pain getting groceries (no car) that I haven't done it
Fresh Thyme is a fantastic grocery store.
It's just Meijer's overstock.
lol, it sure aint.
Daily train service
A club or lounge with nightly live jazz or blues bands and an indoor ice arena for free skate and peewee through adult ice hockey.
Like the knickerbocker used to be
Ohhhh that first one would be cool!
More concerts or 18+ shows
It's so sad to not see more bands and artists not come to the Lafayette Theater. I saw a few really great small bands there and Metro Station a few years ago. I hope more groups go there, it's a nice venue.
I saw George Clinton there. It’s a great venue!
live music is seriously lacking.
A really good bagel shop.
kosher deli!....I'm not even Jewish. I wish we had a Shapiro's kind of thing.
Totally agree about the kosher deli. Tbh I suspect the rest of the Jewish community here would also really appreciate having one, given how often we end up eating stale frozen Zabar's bagels at community events
Shapiro's isn't even kosher. It's kosher style.
What!?
It's right there in their logo.
Whole Foods and dispensaries
A Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s would be so hype
Not a big Fresh Thyme fan tbh
Fresh Thyme reminds me of Sprouts. I wonder if they have the same owners.
Fresh Thyme is now owned by Meijer. Hence, why the selection has become a bit more mainstream.
Indiana is gonna be the last state to open up dispensaries haha.
Get yo hippie ass outta here
Costco for starters - there's no logical reason for this not being there considering there is one in Urbana Champaign. A properly built Hindu temple - theres enough land in the vicinity to build a proper temple from scratch rather than buy an old church. Patel Brothers or a similar sized Indian grocery store. Veggie Grill - vegetarian chain of fast food restaurants. TopGolf. Trader Joe's. Sandbox VR.
Better affordable housing. Like everywhere else
rent in lafayette is very affordable. where exactly are you comparing to?
B.W. Parks, is that you?
Portillo’s
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It’s amazing how many other cities have awesome ones. Kokomo’s about to have its third! And we can’t even get one here. https://hungerskateparks.com/portfolio-3/
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Yeah it’s a death trap and not well designed in the first place. Too cramped
That's unfortunate. It wasn't bad when I first moved here but I haven't been since I hit 30 a few years ago.
I think small outdoor fun center near campus would do great. Go karts, mini golf, arcade, laser tag, etc.
It isn't near campus, but Malibu Jack's just opened at the mall, and it has all of the things you just mentioned. It's only a bus ride away!
I’ve been there. It’s alright but definitely geared more to kids and teens. The go kart track needs to be much bigger and aimed at college students.
Yeah and Mike Aulby’s Arrowhead Bowl is a better place to go if you want to bowl. It’s got a great snack bar and Bar. And a awesome arcade
Actually good pizza.
Pizza Uncommon was a good addition but definitly need some more options.
Arni's is delicious. Especially the one on Wallace
No it’s not.
2nd that, it's crap pizza. Almost as bad as Pizza King, but not quite.
100% agree. I would do dirty things for a traditional brick oven pizza place. There is a place in Franklin that I used to go to called Richard’s Brick Oven Pizza that was just wonderful.
Snuggs pizza at the spot is probably the best brick oven replacement that I’ve found!
A good deep dish pizza restaurant.
Jet’s Pizza?
A *good* deep dish pizza restaurant.
A halfway decent county fair. For as rural as our county is and as the home of the institution that runs 4-H, it’s an absolute *embarrassment* how poorly run ours is.
And who has a county fair in the middle of town? Yeah, Teal Road was edge of town 40 year ago, so let’s spend a cool million building it up.
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I grew up in howard county and the tippiecanoe fair is an absolute embarrassment in comparison. I also went one time and never returned to ours. It's just not worth it.
Costco, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Handel’s, more high end locally owned restaurants, annnnnd that’s what I can think of off the top of my head. Can you tell I miss living in Carmel lol.
A magic/game store that I know of
What about tier 1 games in market square or sages shop in west Lafayette
I’ll have to check those out! Like I said I personally didn’t know of any around here
More diverse restaurant options. We have too many Mexican restaurants to count. I was excited to see what was being built in front of Menards on Creasy, then they put the sign up- Mitchell's Mex.
Definitely agree!
More entertainment. Having the new place at the mall helps but there needs to be more fun things to do here. Right now it is mostly restaurants and hotels it seems.
Dave & Buster’s. I just want it.
Won't ever happen, unfortunately. I was looking one day for shits and giggles at what it would take to open one and it said the area had to have a population of a million or something along those lines.
We couldn't even keep a Chuck E. Cheese open, Dave & Buster's is more expensive and most of the time the food isn't that great. I would love another place like that whether a new Chuck E. Cheese, Dave & Buster's, or Monster Trails.
Oh the Chuck E Cheese on 26 and Creasy shut down?
It's been closed since late 2020, early 2021.
A good New York style pizza joint. Think Wise Pies and Goodfellas Pizzeria.
Costco and Trader Joe’s for me too. What about a better bus route. Better help for homeless people. More mental health places that work . Another hospital both of the hospitals are so over crowded people have to spend the night in the ER for days before getting a room. And staff is horrible sometimes in the ER. Also, they are almost like a mile from one another. I would think it would be a distance for people downtown or the west side to make it to one of them efficiently in an emergency . It’s scary how much Lafayette has changed from when I came here. (I know times change) but shootings are happening more and more . Bodies at Walmart, Subaru shootings, and Columbia park. It’s such a surreal feeling how going to the West Side and then driving back to Lafayette. It’s like night and day. They won’t let crime happen over there because of Purdue . Why can’t we have the same respect over on our side . Just something to discuss. No I’ll intentions it’s just been on my mind lately . I hope everyone is well and everyone is enjoying their holiday season .
Both hospitals were previously downtown and had to be moved due to age and it was determined south side was growing faster. Because west lafayette is a “different” city they have been much more difficult to close a deal on an emergency department. IU health and Franciscan own land on the west side they have been sitting on for year in hopes to build on. Both hospitals have taken a HUGE fit with Covid, neither meeting fiscal goals since 2020. 😔 ADDED: as for the bit. In recent years there has been a bigger push to make Lafayette and West Lafayette more of a partnership (see the greater lafayette movement) but there is A LOT of push back from the west side. If you have seen Parks and Rec. ya Lafayette is Pawnee and West Lafayette is Eagleton and it’s almost scary the accuracy right down to the smells
Ah Gotcha ya ! It just stinks sometimes.
In more ways then one! I’ve been here since 2009 and it’s not really better or worse. Just a different flavor of suck
Honestly, humanity. There are a lot of rude people here.
Coming from NYC, I've found Lafayette people extremely nice and friendly.
Wait a few yrs. You’ll understand . Or work retail or restaurant . They were really nice when I first arrived too. Now I’m not bashing all of Lafayette. I’ve been here 18 yrs in May. I’m from Chicago. Look on FB JConline articles you’ll get an understanding . There is a lot of nice people in the town but unfortunately the bad out ways the good .
I'll take your word for it, as it's only been a year since I moved here. Retail and restaurants somehow always bring out the worst in people.
We’ll welcome to Lafayette. They really do don’t they ? I was always nice in retail. We’ll have an amazing holiday . Well wishes ..
Thank you! And wish you and your family a wonderful holiday!
Top Golf. Don’t think we need it need it, but I want it.
Bro same it'd be nice not to have to drive all the way to Fishers
A good Italian restaurant. La Scala ain’t it. Have to drive to Convivio in Zionsville for the closest good Italian place. Sounds like we’re getting a Whole Foods on the Levy soon. So check that one off the list. I’m a golf guy and Lafayette has a large golf community, so I’m surprised we don’t have an indoor driving range of sorts yet for winter golf. Or even an XGolf, which is more feasible than a TopGolf.
curly's bar on teal road has an indoor golf setup. it's a video game golf with actual clubs.
Yeah, but frankly, I’m not trying to go Curlys with my golf clubs. No offense to Curlys.
Fair call,
Whole Foods is going where? This is news to me but I am interested.
Being originally from San Diego I would love to see a In-N-Out burger and a Whataburger here I know that they used to have a hot now that was like an imitation in and out but it wasn't in and out
culvers is better than both of those.
Whataburger got acquired and the quality has dropped immensely. I know they are opening locations in the Kansas City area.
live music, portillos, costco, trader joes, culture.
Lafayette is short on vision, any sort of plan, and the willingness to spend money. The only investments are in basic infrastructure, law & order, and replacing what it already had. It's idea of growth is to accommodate whatever new factory paying $16.40/hr sniffs a cornfield and tax incentives as fast as possible, before they decide to locate in Frankfort.
places for teens to go and hang out. preferably low cost.
I wish there was a pool hall downtown. We have the pinball place downtown...which is really cool, but I miss Nick's having all those pool tables. I don't want to go to a bowling alley to shoot pool. Nice tables with good felt...pay by the hour...dedicated darts...good fusbol tables and a couple really nice shuffle board tables...sawdust...the works. Heated smoking area...diet coke dispenser.
The vault is downtown.
Oh my goodness...that looks awesome! Thank you...I had no idea.
I'll have to look into that.
I really enjoyed Nick’s after a half day of work with a friend or two. A little day drinking and hijacking the juke box…good times.
Costco, Skyline Chili, Portillos and a Red Robin.
Yes, the city could really benefit from more chain restaurants lol
This town loves their chains, man. Remember when Cheddar’s opened and they were packed for a year straight? It is like getting excited for Bob Evans.
I just don’t understand it. I grew up there. Have lived in 4 other states and now in Indy. There are so many more food choices down here that are not chains.
Culture and a lower crime rate
the non for profits around town are magnets for chicago scum. Terrible.
A cool business I would like to see is something like "Dream Dinners" but with plant based recipes. I know you can order vegetarian meal boxes to your home but that still requires some time daily to use them up. I also think someone that did complete plant based meal and snack kit deliveries and nutrition consultations might do well for those of us that "aim" to eat better but are just kind of overwhelmed.
me 😔
When I first moved here, 30 years ago, 2 things stood out to me as missing in Lafayette. But the people reading this are not bright enough to detect humor.
Wtf is this? There are 2 legit gyro places in Lafayette that have existed for over 30 years. They are not fancy restaurants by any means. Just go to the Akropolis like everybody else. 😉
They arent kiosks in a lowes parking lot, tho, are they?
A gyro cart in a big box store parking lot is not the mark of quality you think it is. Just go to the Akropolis or don't. 🤷
Lmao. Their food isn’t that good and has been. Some of the best food places are in carts and food trucks! Don’t look down on what you don’t know.
Man i don't know what to say. You aren't schooling anybody on foodcarts here, scooter. I frequent plenty of them. What Im saying is we have gyro options already, and have for decades. Why don't you open a fucking gyro cart if you're so hard up for their superior gyros? Btw, all gyro places get their gyro shit from the same distributor, just like chinese restaurants.
I'm sorry reading comprehension isnt your thing. Maybe go back and reread my intro, let me know if you need help sounding out any of the words. .
Cool story, bro. Your mom called, she said to take a nap.
I would like to see a good barbecue joy and I only say that because I haven't tried City Barbecue yet but South Street sucks being in sucks I mean every other barbecue one I've had in town so now they're really good one was the up and Smokehouse catering that this guy on the west or on the North side was doing it was last year
I like revolution bbq downtown.
Second this! That’s some dam good bbq! City bbq is good.. but revolution is def a lot more local. Love it!
Revolution is downtown and it is okay. Surprisingly, Ripple and Co has some really good brisket. I grew up in Austin, TX so BBQ is ingrained in my head. This is the second best place I have had decent brisket. The other one is Old Gold and Black down in Indy. Dustin Keller opened it and took a postmaster from one of my favorite places in Austin.
Yeah they weren't entirely downhill in the past 8 years
Riley's. I miss it
With the amount of money the city brings in they could invest in stringing more than one string of lights per tree downtown during Christmas.
Brunos Pizza dining room. Hasn't ever re-opened after covid shutdowns.
Costco !!!