I live in East Orlando which is typically called "The University" to people who live further then 10 minutes away (In Florida distance is by time not miles). Makes sense being University of Central Florida pretty much is what East Orlando is all about. To people that live on this side of town I live in Waterford which is an area with a huge outdoor center that includes a Target, Gap, 22 Screen Movie Theater, LA Fitness, Best Buy some 30 restaurants and lord knows how many shops. The major stores that draw people are called anchors. An anchors job is to basically take people out of their car. This allows smaller shops that are based on foot traffic (like a smoothie shop) to be able to flourish. Someone will drive to Target but while there they will walk around to some of the other shops.
Downtown Orlando is setup to be based on foot traffic. It has been that way ever since I moved here. I always found it strange because before about five years ago you really couldn't live in the heart of downtown (now there are about 20 buildings you can live in) so there was no foot traffic. The only sudo anchors at that point were clubs. Bars don't count because you don't get all dolled up and pay for parking to go sit in a bar.
It amazes me that every other developer in Central and South Florida knows the concept of Anchors and how to get people out of their cars (which is required with people not using public transportation) yet no one in Downtown ever did it.
Hopefully this will change soon. Publix and an AMC movie theater should be opening up late this year but I don't think this will be enough. Downtown needs shops and restaurants that not only are big enough to draw people to them but also unique in Orlando. I hope that as more of these new skyscrapers finish they will start to flush out shops that draw people in. Small mom and pop shops are what give culture to a downtown and that is something Orlando could use a boost of.
