Community Leaders Aim To Make Chatham A Shopping Destination
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chatham, a South Side community often in the headlines for the wrong reasons, is looking to change that perception.
Leaders want to put Chatham on the map for shopping. So, business owners and community leaders are launching a "Buy Chatham" initiative to get more people to spend money there.
"So the people who are our target markets, those millennials that love to look for things on their phones, they can now find us and therefore visit our community," said Nedra Fears, Greater Chatham Initiative executive director.
The one-stop upscale shopping center will feature services, boutiques, stores and eateries -- all of which will be available on the map as well as online.
"This map is so critical -- every day, somebody comes to my website or comes by and says I didn't even know you were here," said Stephanie Hart owner of Brown Sugar Bakery.
The new Chatham Center Chicago is bordered by 71st and 87th Streets to the South and North, and Greenwood and Holland to the East and West.
"Chatham was an easy fix," said Ald. Eugene Sawyer, who has lived in the community all his life. "During times of upsurge and tiff money, a lot of neighborhoods leapfrogged over Chatham."
He added that now is the time for Chatham to upgrade, improve and catch up to the 21st Century.