When we talk about retail, we always comment on the need to generate traffic to our points of sale, but the truth is that, if we do not present attractive ideas and original activities, we will hardly be able to attract people to the city and, therefore, to businesses.
With the return to normality after the COVID-19 crisis, in Barcelona there is a lot of debate, again, about the quotas of tourists the city receives each year. On this issue, my point of view is firm: if we do not receive visitors, we cannot create wealth, nor be cosmopolitan and international as we want to be.A city is attractive when it is a trendsetter, friendly, kind, and open to the world. If we analyze the great global cities, such as London, Shanghai, New York, or Paris, all of them have a common denominator: they embrace visitors, they create attractions and activities that certainly keep the city alive and in motion.
If we talk about New York, shopping, the culture of Broadway shows, or small neighborhoods like Little Italy or Chinatown, are the attractions that have drawn people from all over the world.
Far from staying here, with a city vision, at the end of 2020 the skyscraper opened to the public One Vanderbilt, 427 meters high, which has become the latest silhouette to join the changingskylineof the city. It is always crowded with curious people contemplating the beauty of New York.In 2021, the city inaugurated Little Island, a floating park on the Hudson River for the enjoyment of the population after the pandemic. More than 350 trees have been planted and an amphitheater that accommodates 700 people has been installed, in addition to a lawn area to enjoy the outdoors with a picnic or sunbathing.Recently, New York has also renovated some areas, such as Industry Cityin Brooklyn, which preserves some of the old industrial buildings facing the river. Today, this enclave is a creative ecosystem of experiences that combines different spaces: food, fashion, culture, and reading in environments with a lot of soul and local personality.One of the most popular areas of Industry City is a mini Japan, where we find a supermarket with products from this country, about 300 m², and an entire Japanese restaurant area. Everything is perfectly set and you are always served by Japanese people. Anything Japanese you look for and don't find in this place, probably doesn't exist anywhere else in New York.
If we analyze the great global cities, they all have a common denominator: they embrace visitors, they create attractions and activities that certainly keep the city alive and in motion.The district of Meatpacking, it has also been transformed and Google currently occupies several buildings in this area. A remodeling began a few years ago and has gained momentum, thanks, among other things, to the organization of festivals and fairs that helped attract pedestrians to this industrial area.
The fusion of fashion and gastronomy is a reality in New York shop windows for brands like Ralph Lauren. Its Ralph's Coffee experience, a space with a terrace inside the store, invites, once the coffee is finished, to do some shopping.
Sport fashion co-branding is another trend that works. The capsule collection from fashion brand Michael Kors and Ellesse is a retro athleisure line that has been seen in the city's shop windows in recent weeks.
New York continues to create trends that we will see in the future in other cities around the world, and Barcelona could emulate it in this sense by creating cultural, commercial, and leisure attractions, either by promoting attractive openings or activities. Our city has it all: it offers a wide range of shopping, culture, theater, sea, mountains, and above all, gastronomy to carry it out. These are standard values that we can promote with investment, giving life to the city and its neighborhoods, working with shopping centers and their 40 markets.. If we don't generate claims, visitors won't come and Barcelona residents won't have reasons to enjoy their city.Thus, there is no way to grow and evolve.Add The New Barcelona Post as your preferred Google source for free
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