Downtown

Good:
— Parking is free
— Lots of festivals
— Attractive and walkable with the River walk, Quarry Lake, Centennial Beach and Carrillon right in reach
— Many major chain stores and restaurants
Bad:
— Parking fills up quickly (& if you want to go to the library, beware: it is a city lot and people can and will park there and then go shopping, so the hunt for a space if you just want to pick up a hold can be frustrating…)
— Stores err heavily on the side of chains, so not as much personality as, say, Geneva
— Yuppie Central, and people don’t bother to control their kids
Depending on what you are looking for, Downtown Naperville has goods and bads. It’s up to you.

I love Naperville in the summer. Always something going on, things to do and see for families, teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, etc. whether you want to eat, drink, walk, run, or just lay on a blanket checking out the clouds, Naperville is a clean, safe place for you to be. I personally love walking the river walk path with my two dogs. Great exercise for all of us plus the kids love to pet the dogs and my dogs really love the kids too! Strangers stop to talk and people are just enjoying each others company.
Many options for wheelchair bound folks as well.

Downtown Naperville is by far one of the cutest and most fun little downtowns I’ve ever been to. There are tons of restaurants, shops, the river walk, parks, a beach and paddleboats. What’s not to love? It’s truly a destination with a resort type of feel I love it here!

New Naperville sucks!!! I grew up in Naperville and miss that era. Now its too expensive, too crowded, too many people drunk urinating in public, and I hate the McMansions… they do not fit in!

One of the best smalltown downtowns I have ever been to. I’m glad I live nearby. There are several shops and boutiques to buy from, coffee shops to hang out in, and Zagat-​rated restaurants to dine in. I love strolling the sidewalks and along the river with my family.
This is the perfect place to also take portraits with the beautiful backgrounds

I give downtown Naperville 4 stars, but that is probably due to the fact that I did not go to high school here. And, unlike the previous reviewers, I am still not harboring the hurt/​disillusionment of being an outcast for 9 – 12 grades. I have moved on. I go downtown to go to Naperville Running Company.
I also like the previous comment about only Republicans going to downtown to Naperville. I had wondered why I was developing a strong desire to smoke cigars and slap overweight, middle-​ages white men on the back. Must be my exposure to the peculiar downtown air.

The seemingly gentrified condition of Naperville is not cause by race, but rather the cost of living and an extremely classist average napervillian. They kicked out the homeless guy!
I don’t mind Downtown at all. It’s actually pretty nice, but I do have the problem of running into people from highschool who act exactly the same and perpetuate the highschool hierarchy.
The shopping selection is varied but overall dominated by boutique stores with boutique prices. The spice store on Washington has some great spices that I love to cook with, but the prices are absurd.
The bars? They’re ok. A bit pricey. But ok, overall. $ 1 beers at Lantern isn’t as good a deal as you think, they’re like ¹⁄₃ of a pint. And I met Drew Peterson at Bar Louie once. And met a group of kids that made fun of me in highschool at Jimmy’s. And ran into an ex at the Lanern.
So, yeah, I personally hate Downtown Naperville. But, I can easily see how some people would love it. Mostly classist people who are afraid of ungentrified neighborhoods. The type of Napervillians who won’t go to Little Italian or the ⁷⁄₁₁ on Bailey.
edit: forgot to include this advice: don’t walk your bully breed dogs down here. Lots of hate for them. It’s like dog racism.

If you’d like to see the kids who were on the football team in high school seven years ago still acting like they own the place, I suggest Downtown Naperville after dark.
If you have 2.5 white kids enrolled in private schools even though the public schools in district 203 are quite good and a Jeep brand stroller the size of an actual car, take it to Downtown Naperville on Saturdays.
And if you have a raging sense of entitlement mixed with alarmingly racist Republican worldviews, well, Downtown Naperville is open for you ²⁴⁄₇!

It’s lost all it’s character!