(06-04-2019 09:25 AM)Dog Fan Wrote:  When I was a student at NIU, the downtown was much more vibrant. There were restaurants, pharmacies, variety stores, bars, and clothing stores (women's and men's). It's an easy walk from the dorms on a nice day. Several of us used to walk to downtown on a Saturday and shop, eat, or drink (or all three).

There were no cell phones or computers with internet to keep us glued to our dorm rooms. Cell phones and the internet have turned us into the "inside generation", where, as a whole, we no longer go out shopping or even to sporting events. Look at all the brick-and-mortar business closures (especially department stores). Stay inside, and the world comes to you.

Hmmm....

DF, wasn't there a fourth thing you did downtown? Maybe at one of the "variety" stores you mention?