LydiaR -- Do you live in Edgerton? Why be so bitter? If you don't like it, move.

I know those things are there. I worked at Hollenberger's when I was in high school. He owned the gift shop building, but not the pharmacy building. I know a few things have been in the old pharmacy building since he left, and I know they have all either moved or gone kaput. Rent is ridiculous and that is the inherent problem.

Yep, there are so many Quam/Gilbertsons in town

No one said anything about inbreeding, I just meant that there a lot of close families relating to the same why of thinking. If you took it as that, perhaps you have some short branches...hmmmmmm

Of course there's a pharmacy & hardware store. They opted to start fresh in a different building because it was cheaper to build, than to repair what they had.
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Right around bar time, vandalism seems to increase. I personally have seen smashed storefront windows & park benches thrown into the streets. In one city block there are 4 bars - all within 100 yards from each other!!

Lydia is right. As someone from outside the city who has ties there, this is the perception of Tavern Town. Local families who fight to the death for their right to drink in as many bars as they can. Wake up, there is a problem here!!

Quam-there is a pharmacy AND a harware store...they are just around the corner.

Someone who makes references to inbreeding is someone who's opinion will be taken seriously

Edgerton will NEVER move on or up....they need new blood which will never happen. Well, until all the old die I suppose. Even then the old families have so many relatives so "closely" related that even then change will never happen. Well, Paa did it like this as did his Paa before him so I guess it is good enough for me. Edgerton always has been and always will be nothing but a "drunk" town. Look at the rate that businesses come and go there. The only thing that does make it are bars....come on "city" wake the @#$#% up. The city administration blames it on "life changes", doesn't she think that if businesses were making money that "life changes" wouldn't have to happen. COME ON! Goes back to nobody want's to take the blame. It's always someone elses fault, "not mine".

Downtown Edgerton has problems similar to downtown Janesville. High traffic roads running through it, inadequate parking, and very old buildings. The buildings need too much maintenance and frequently require expensive renovation to be useful or meet code. I don't know about Edgerton, but in Janesville, the local banks got control of many downtown properties and bled them dry, slurping up the rents collected with "management" fees and not keeping the properties in good repair for decades.
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It doesn't matter how glowing the reports are or what grand schemes a downtown "association", "committee" or "businessperson" group comes up with, it's still cheaper for a lot of businesses to build from scratch elsewhere, to have modern facilities and adequate parking. There is a reason those brick multistory buildings in downtown Edgerton replaced the rickety log cabins and rough-planed lumber stores that preceded them, and there is a reason the single story steel and glass shopping centers in seas of parking stalls replaced the brick buildings downtown.
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Time to move on.

I say unlimited licenses. Isn't America supposed to be a free market capitalist society? The last time I checked, the meaning and essence of a capitalist society is that demand is the one and only factor that decides whether the market can sustain a business. If the people or "the market" do not create demand for a service or product than that service or product will not stay around. If people didn't patronize bars and create the demand they wouldn't be around. It's not any different than the vallanized businesses such as strip clubs, wal-mart, etc. Obviously those businesses have no problems getting customers or they would not be in business.

well, the problem is, rent on those old stores is ridiculous, it has nothing to do with the bars. Some of those bars have been there literally forever. There is no hardware store, there is no pharmacy anymore. Nobody who wants to open a business owns the store their business is in, and with the rent they have to pay, it makes turning a profit almost impossible.

One positive that may come from the high gas prices is that the local economy might see some increased business, as it is more economical to buy something from the local hardware store than drive to Home Depot.

For old Tavern Town it is a miracle..a nice bar, not a dump.
What is incredibly short sighted is to think that other business's want to open up in an area that is 25% taverns.
Time to try something different....
No, that would be change and change is not good..change bad.

And nothing should change, it's incredibly short sighted to think that the amount of bars in a certain area cultivates a habit of drinking. All you are doing is limiting the options of someone who might have a good business model. What the previous owner did to remodel the old Oats Bin Tavern before he sold it is nothing short of a miracle.

Another win for the good 'ole boys in Tavern Town.
Maybe they should change the ordinance to REQUIRE a bar every 20 feet....oh.. sorry.. that's what they have now.
Nothing will ever change there.