Ravekid
Veteran Member
Wife and I went to S. Central Indiana yesterday for a road trip. Our first stop was a rural county with a very large state park: Brown Co. and Brown Co. State Park. Nashville is a small town which is a tourist town. People flock to this area because it has very nice rolling hills, and if your a leaf watcher, this is the place to watch leaves change color.
Anyways, on our way down there (heading down I-65) we pass a well know outlet mall. The parking lot is packed around 1PMish. Business appears to be good. We go to Nashville and it is doing well. There are some shops that are out-of-business, which is how things are at these place anyways. Some stores make it, others don't. Anyways, we shopped around, plenty of people spending money, especially on costly ice cream and other 100% discretionary spending items. I thought the area would be suffering badly, but wife heard that it is doing well. I think a lot of folks in the Indy area are going to this area and skipping thousand dollar vacations out-of-state. Two weeks ago we went to another tourist trap called Metamora, old canal village town. It was packed (one of their many special weekends). Mostly people from Cincinnati area. However, heard another tourist trap in W. Central Indiana, Parke Co. Covered Bridge Festival, didn't have a good showing...who knows.
Anyways, we got done shopping and drove through the state park. There were people there, not sure if it was busy or not, because I don't know how many people visit. Their inn was busy, parking lot was filled, though they also had a wedding in the park as well, so many visitors might have been from that function.
We then went to a smaller town north of this area called Edinburgh (this is about four miles or so from the outlet mall). We went to a specialty popcorn shop and they were busy, which shocked me. They closed at 6PM and it was 5:35ish and they had customers spending money on flavored popcorn.
Went back to Columbus Indiana, as we like to travel to try various mom/pop local pizza joints. Had a heard a review of one place and decided to give it a try. Columbus is a neat city about 45 mins. from Indy. The pizza place was busy, and they have a newer, very nice building. On the way back home, passed by the outlet mall and it was still packed with shoppers.
For months now I have concluded the following: People are cutting back. They are cutting back things they used to do M-F. People are still spending money on the weekends though, just like they used too in the past. Food places seem to be dead M-Thurs, but busy Friday, Sat. and Sun (sports bars/restaurants for sure). I was shocked that so many people were out and about in the tourist trap town, but they were there, and they were spending some money.
Anyways, on our way down there (heading down I-65) we pass a well know outlet mall. The parking lot is packed around 1PMish. Business appears to be good. We go to Nashville and it is doing well. There are some shops that are out-of-business, which is how things are at these place anyways. Some stores make it, others don't. Anyways, we shopped around, plenty of people spending money, especially on costly ice cream and other 100% discretionary spending items. I thought the area would be suffering badly, but wife heard that it is doing well. I think a lot of folks in the Indy area are going to this area and skipping thousand dollar vacations out-of-state. Two weeks ago we went to another tourist trap called Metamora, old canal village town. It was packed (one of their many special weekends). Mostly people from Cincinnati area. However, heard another tourist trap in W. Central Indiana, Parke Co. Covered Bridge Festival, didn't have a good showing...who knows.
Anyways, we got done shopping and drove through the state park. There were people there, not sure if it was busy or not, because I don't know how many people visit. Their inn was busy, parking lot was filled, though they also had a wedding in the park as well, so many visitors might have been from that function.
We then went to a smaller town north of this area called Edinburgh (this is about four miles or so from the outlet mall). We went to a specialty popcorn shop and they were busy, which shocked me. They closed at 6PM and it was 5:35ish and they had customers spending money on flavored popcorn.
Went back to Columbus Indiana, as we like to travel to try various mom/pop local pizza joints. Had a heard a review of one place and decided to give it a try. Columbus is a neat city about 45 mins. from Indy. The pizza place was busy, and they have a newer, very nice building. On the way back home, passed by the outlet mall and it was still packed with shoppers.
For months now I have concluded the following: People are cutting back. They are cutting back things they used to do M-F. People are still spending money on the weekends though, just like they used too in the past. Food places seem to be dead M-Thurs, but busy Friday, Sat. and Sun (sports bars/restaurants for sure). I was shocked that so many people were out and about in the tourist trap town, but they were there, and they were spending some money.
