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Release Date: Tuesday, April 1st 2008
Post-Gazette: Nitty-gritty shopping: You can still buy practical items Downtown -- you just have to look
But what about the days when you need something practical Downtown?
Toilet troubles?
Cass Plumbing Supply on Fourth Avenue greets you at the door with a display of $7.79 plungers.
Need a car mat?
Head to nearby Market Rug Co., which sells discontinued floor samples for $1, perfect for plopping under muddy feet.
How about groceries?
Grab some broccoli and pork chops at the new Rosebud Fine Food Market on Seventh Avenue.
Conventional wisdom holds that there''s not much for consumers in the Golden Triangle outside the familiar suspects, but if you are willing to walk -- and crane your neck -- you can find more than you think.
What you can buy and can''t buy Downtown has become an issue amid a mini boom of housing and the arrival of Rosebud, the first food market in 14 years. Some 246 condominiums are being built Downtown, with another 1,300 units under way there.
The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership estimates there are 3,500 residents Downtown and expects 5,500 by 2010. The group''s boundaries for Downtown includes not just the Golden Triangle, but also Station Square, the North Shore and the edge of the Strip District.
Despite the population loss in Pittsburgh, the number of office workers has grown Downtown to 136,928 in 2006 -- a 23 percent jump in the past decade. Mike Edwards, partnership president, said some businesses have shuttered their regional offices and moved workers Downtown.
Of course, no one would describe Pittsburgh as having the bustling retail of Manhattan''s Fifth Avenue or Chicago''s Miracle Mile. And it''s no longer the place where families dress up, as they did in past decades, for the special occasion of shopping Downtown at the big department stores.
John Poznick, a 40-year-old father of three who lives in Gateway Towers, said Downtown shopping is OK, but he looks forward to it improving once luxury condos are built. He said he and his wife shop at Burlington Coat Factory and CVS. But they go through a tunnel to grocery shop at Giant Eagle at Parkway Center Mall.
"We still get in the car. If we had large-scale shopping, we would do all of it Downtown."
Mr. Edwards said Downtown has many quality stores such as Joseph Orlando, Larrimor''s and Chick Downtown. They''re just scattered about instead of lining one street. "You don''t feel like you are in a shopping area," he said.
In fact, you might walk by some little shops without even knowing they exist.
Inside a small burgundy and white room in the Investment Building at 239 Fourth Ave., Pauline Nehme, a reweaver and reknitter, practices an all-but-lost art. Peering out of illuminated glasses, she reknits moth-ravaged sweaters, starting at $15, and reweaves holey garments starting at $38. In fact, she is so in demand that she gets moth-gobbled garments mailed to her from as far away as Florida and Texas. "It''s word of mouth," she said.
The narrow interior of Cass Plumbing, a Downtown fixture on Fourth Avenue since 1909, has toilet flappers, hammers and other handy items crawling up the walls. The store keeps the plumbing and heating going in many offices Downtown, but it also sells individuals toilet seats from $15 to $200, and duplicate keys for $1.59 and up.
"We are not really a hardware store, but we carry a smattering of hardware," said Bob Cass, a third-generation owner of the store.
Market Carpet, which supplies mostly carpets and rugs for small commercial businesses, sells some area rugs to residents and office workers, and hopes the business will grow as more people move Downtown. Buying an Oriental rug and carrying it two blocks to your condo sounds like urban convenience shopping.
People living in luxury condos need mayonnaise and mustard, too. So do office workers rushing home to cook dinner.
Smithfield News, which sells news junkies the daily Washington Post and the New York Daily News, wants to serve the growing number of residents by expanding into a Downtown grocery mart.
Hungry students at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and Point Park University already snap up the Banquet Beef Pie for $1.09 or $1.19 yogurt, while office workers sip Kiva Han coffee or puff Macanudo cigars. The inventory will grow.
"You name it, we will have it," says owner Brian Weiss, who plans to finish the renovation in about a month.
If you are an urban pioneer with a baby in your loft, you can cut the odor with a Diaper Genie, which costs $19.99 at Burlington Coat Factory last week. Or you can check out the baby gear at Macy''s.
Stressed out by urban living? You can get chair massage at Backrubs and Bodyworks in the Park Building at $1 a minute. Fifteen minutes is $15.
Downtown is definitely a good place to get a cup of coffee. Market Square has many cafes, as well as Nicholas Coffee and Tea Co., which sells Scottish shortbread, fresh roasted peanuts and enough loose tea and coffee lined up in metal canisters to make you drool with the caffeinated -- and some decaf -- possibilities. You can buy everything from Hawaiian Kauai coffee ($10.99 a pound) to Lady Hannah tea, (a blueberry, strawberry and rose hips infusion for $23.99 a pound) to Kambaa (a strong African tea for $13.49 a pound)
For basic clothing such as $25 Army fatigues, there is Broadway Army Navy on Liberty Avenue. But such work basics are only a fraction of the sales. Urban clothing, including a bold $24.99 Free or Die sweatshirt, now dominate the store''s sales. "You gotta change with the times," said David Abrams, owner of the store.
Walk along the Downtown streets, and you will see many contrasts.
Apparel Warehouse on Smithfield Street advertises three men''s suits for $499, while the custom suits at Montaj Hong Kong Custom Tailors cost anywhere from $475 to $1,200 or $1,400 and are measured and designed on premises and sent out to Hong Kong. "We do a lot of Steelers," said owner Monesh Romani, pointing to a brown suit for Max Starks.
Jewelry runs the range from bright clip earrings, 2 for $5, at Eastern Wigs on Fifth Avenue to the lovely black onyx and sterling silver lariat ($188) designed by Amy Epstein at her jewelry and accessory store on Graeme Street off Market Square. And the Clark Building''s collection of jewelry stores on Liberty Avenue still is a destination point for many.
If you want eyeglasses, you can get two pairs and an eye exam for $69.99 at America''s Best Contacts and Eyeglasses. Or you can splurge on designer glasses -- including $400 "geek chic" I.C. Berlin tortoise shell frames with sheet metal sides -- at Heidioptics on Fourth Avenue.
For handbags, you can buy a street vendor knockoff purse. Or pretend to be Sarah Jessica Parker -- if you have a spare $2,675 for a bag shaped like an Eiffel Tower and blinged out with 6,300 Swarovski Crystals. The Timmy Woods handbag is found in the upcoming "Sex and the City" movie and available at Serendipity, an Oxford Centre accessories store.
Downtown shopping is also a study of vice and virtue.
You can still find pockets of porn (we won''t say where and how much) -- or $11.95 rosary beads at Kirner''s Catholic Store. The store on Fourth Avenue also sells many $7.75 St. Joseph statues, which helps believers sell their home by burying it in the yard of the home you want to sell.
So just in case you don''t like Downtown living and shopping, you can always pick up a St. Joseph statue, bury it -- if you can find any dirt , that is -- and move back to a subdivision next to a strip mall.
