Often, the local shopping center can serve as a substitute downtown. The existing strip center at Rye Ridge was the product of a constant addition of individual spaces as they were needed around the perimeter of a parking lot adjacent to a busy Westchester thoroughfare. A deep canopy was added as an afterthought as a way to stitch the haphazard facades together, effectively hiding up the retail within its shadows. By stripping away the dark canopy, separating storefronts and fostering much-needed store identity with varying treatments, a downtown sidewalk was born.