Ari Shapiro. Photo: David Olsen
Downtown Tucson has been on Ari Shapiro's radar for several years now.
The owner of three local Xoom Juice smoothie stores, Shapiro moved to Tucson in 2000 from San Francisco, where he had owned a mountain bike clothing store with an "urban aesthetic."
He loves big cities, but believes that smaller markets like Tucson may be where it's at for maintaining a high quality of life in the new millennium.
His new Downtown store, slated to open in early October at the new commercial space at One North Fifth, will replace a shop on Campbell Avenue that he is choosing to close. Shapiro says that three locations are all he feels comfortable managing himself. The other two are on Speedway, one of which draws a significant number of customers from Downtown.
Shapiro had kept an eye on Downtown since he moved to Tucson, and when a customer alerted him to the renovation of One North Fifth and the construction of new commercial space there, he got in touch with Ron Schwabe at Peach Properties.
Of course, he didn't want to be the only business there, so he talked to his friend Darren Rhodes about the possibility of them both opening businesses at One North. Each challenged the other to make the first move, and vowed that if the other made the commitment, he would too.
Finally, Ari, who describes his impatience and desire to make decisions and keep moving forward as a bit of ADD, decided to make the leap, with a good deal of insistent prodding from Patricia Schwabe. He says he has signed "a very long-term lease."
A regular at the Rialto, Hotel Congress and Plush, Shapiro wants his business to help tip the balance and keep Downtown's momentum moving forward. He is excited about its prospects over the next five years, although he laments the loss of historic buildings such as the Santa Rita Hotel.
One North Fifth represents what Downtown should be, says Shapiro, and encapsulates his urban vision: the renovated MLK Apartments tower, Rob Paulus' design for the new space, and the location. He sees the Schwabes, Ron and Patricia, as very positive forces in Downtown.
He thinks of his Downtown venture as a pebble in the pond that will create ripples, expanding to meet other ripples. Other pebbles, producing real change for Downtown, are most likely to come from the private sector, he believes.
Worrying about public sector projects coming to fruition would lead to his own paralysis, he says. "The grand plan (of Rio Nuevo) is irrelevant to what I am trying to do. I can't control it. If things do come to pass, it's a bonus, but I am not counting on it."
Rather than wait for the public sector to perform, he wants to tap into the wellspring of things that are happening, or are likely to happen in the futurespecial events, for example.
"I'm not used to dealing with those types of activities with my locations on Speedway and Campbell, being where they are, but I will be a sponge, soaking up opportunities that come."
When asked about who he sees as his Downtown customers, Shapiro extends the pebble metaphor to concentric layers building on a central core: "The first layer is the neighborhoods – Armory Park, West University, etcetera – and of course the people living upstairs (at One North Fifth).
"The second layer is the 10,000 daytime employees in Downtown, and people who do business every day there. The third layer is the generally younger crowd that populates the Rialto Theatre and Hotel Congress at night."
He envisions a thousand hot and sweaty kids coming out of the Rialto after a show and needing a cool treat. Subsequent layers will be determined by Downtown's evolution in the next three to five years.
Shapiro's friend Darren Rhodes has also made the leap with a lease at One North Fifth and plans to open Yoga Oasis there this fall and Ari hopes to recruit other compatible businesses to Downtown once he gets Xoom Juice established there.
