Promote what you're good at

Dome Inside Boston’s Quincy Market on a pre-pandemic day, serving as as the seating area for the food court at the complex. The sign boards of old businesses decorate the walls.

— Photo by Jyothis 

Adapted from Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com

It’s happy news that Marsella Development Corp.  wants to establish a (Boston’s) Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall complex-style food hall on the ground floor of One Union Station in Providence, in the space that, pre-pandemic, housed the high-end Capital Grille and Bar Louie. With COVID-19 having probably permanently reduced the number of people, often armed with expense accounts, who work in downtowns, or in offices in general, the outlook for establishments like the Capital Grille doesn’t look all that good.

But the plan to put in that space a dozen restaurants of varying cuisines and price ranges makes a lot of sense for a state with such a rich food culture. It could  become a destination for many people, including tourists, especially in synergy with Waterplace Park and WaterFire. The food hall would presumably feature a lot of local food, such as produce from local farms and fish. It could become quite a destination.

'An example to the world'

Quincy Market

— Photo by Back Boucher

"Citizens of Boston! ..... Consider your blessings; consider your duties. ..... Let New England continue to be an example to the world of the blessings of free government, and of the means and capacity of man to maintain it. ..... In all times to come as in all times past, may Boston be among the foremost and the boldest to exemplify and uphold whatever constitutes the prosperity, the happiness, and the glory of New England.''

— Speech in 1830 by Josiah Quincy III (1772- 1864), member of the U.S. House (1805–1813), mayor of Boston (1823–1828), and president of Harvard University (1829–1845). The historic Quincy Market in downtown Boston is named in his honor.