I think of any retail place as “town”. I guess it goes back to when I was young girl and my mom would take me shopping, it was always called “going to town”. And “town” was only downtown Wilkes-Barre. She’d take me to the Kiddie Shoppe and Percy Browns and I just loved going to town with my mom. It was a big deal!

Just three short years ago, nobody went to “town” in Wilkes-Barre. The life support was the nine-to-five office workers who used their lunch hours to eat or shop. Many feared it wouldn’t be enough. Even the mall became overshadowed by the Arena Hub. I’ll be darned, though. In spite of itself, Wilkes-Barre is breathing again! It is!

Friday night was the perfect time to venture out to do some Christmas shopping. Thursday’s snow created just the right mood. My to-do list called for the following: a retail store, a book store and music store.

Downtown Wilkes-Barre has all these!! So, away we went to the Boscov’s parkade where we could shop and walk. The sign indicated parking was available on all levels… not!! Cars were everywhere and we were all driving up the one-way maze of the parkade to the roof level only to track back down the ramps toward the exit without having snatched a spot of our own. Yet, nobody even seemed upset. When you looked into the eyes of the drivers and passengers there was a shared marvel of amazement (with the glimpse of a smile) found on most faces!

We finally parked behind Lowe’s Restaurant and walked. Boscov’s was downright crowded. It was legitimately full of customers. The customer service stations were all open and the lines were five and six deep! The people in line were smiling, too. We bought everything we needed there and went to Barnes & Noble for some coffee and bought our books. We walked across the street to The Gallery of Sound! What an unaccustomed feeling to wait for traffic to cross the street!

I’m not just happy for Wilkes-Barre, I am happy for everyone around town. The small successes cause a ripple effect. It takes a lot longer to build something up after it’s been left go, but the reward is greater when you get the end result. Just polish some old silver and you’ll know exactly what I mean. Rather than Target, I’m thinking now about what I can buy at Top of the Slope and Bartikowsky’s and Marquis Art & Frame. Instead of Olive Garden (again), I’ll go to Hottles’ Restaurant for dinner.

An entire generation missed Wilkes-Barre’s Public Square. My nieces are in their mid-twenties and they don’t understand how town could have ever been thriving. It wasn’t thriving in their lifetime. Nothing was there when they were kids or pre-teens. They had no reason to go downtown.

My son knows. He loves going to Movies 14. Then he and his buddies go to Januzzi’s Pizza afterward. He’s part of the rock-climbing league at Wilkes-Barre Rock Climbing Gym every Thursday. His friend works at the Wilkes/Kings Barnes and Noble store. We west-siders come to town at least twice each week.

Hey, I’m not a total Pollyanna. I can’t help but read about the occasional questionable judgments of the mayor and the attorneys and council with whom he surrounds himself, but I simply “must believe” the city has potential. He’s merely the first step of a beautifully winding grand staircase that Wilkes-Barre is about to ascend. Even the nonsense with our county officials won’t stop the progress. In a way, I’m glad the debit card issue happened. They finally got caught! It’s opened the eyes of us all. When citizens are called to action like this, leaders are born. It’s bigger than the fiefdoms of yesterday. There are a lot of smart, young and energetic people working towards a pretty bright tomorrow. Do I believe? Yes, I do and I put a good chunk of my money on it Friday!

p.s. I went back on Saturday and put a little more down. It felt great!