Dancing On a Retail Grave?
American Eagle Outfitters, AT&T Wireless, Candyopolis, Claire’s Botique, Classic Jewelry, Eastern Treasures, Pacific Sunwear, Footlocker, Zales, Kay Jewelers, Bags N More, Things Remembered, Bonnie’s Popcorn and Waldenbooks.
Some of the above stores are part of national chains, others are locally owned. And they are all reportedly on month-to-month leases at Crossroads Mall.
It’s time to be blunt. It’s time to suggest something that might be seen as somewhat cruel. But the opinion of most real estate folks in this town is that Crossroads Mall is over as a retail operation now that it has lost all of its anchors and has gone into foreclosure.
And yet while Crossroads is looking cooked, downtown’s potential for retail is looking better than it has since the 1950s. How many of the above listed retailers might be considered a good addition to Bricktown?
Yes, I’m thinking like a vulture. And I’m feeling a bit guilty over it since I met the mall’s general manager, Jim Swenson, in December and I think he’s a good guy who tried to give it his all.
But let’s not forget it was Crossroads Mall that put the nail in the coffin for downtown retail more than 30 years ago. The mall poached away downtown’s grand old department store, John A. Brown’s and nobody really wailed over it then. It was to be expected at the time – who cared about downtown retail?
Times change. And I’m wondering why downtown developers don’t see this as an opportunity to do a reverse on history. Take a list of the retailers at Crossroads, highlight the ones that might consider relocating to Bricktown if they could move together and form a nucleus of urban retail. And then begin the cold calls.
As evidenced by the strong turn-out for a recent discussion at the Skirvin Hilton about downtown retail, interest in taking this next step is high. But if the experts are to believed, one can’t simply wait for the retailers to begin rediscovering downtown. Someone is going to need to get aggressive about making deals and thinking outside the box.
Hey, I’m just saying…
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Comments
Two main reasons why I don’t think retail has hit downtown just yet: 1)not enough people live downtown yet. 2) insufficient parking (in Oklahoman’s opinion).
Are these real reasons Steve?
Look at that, Steve, someone blames parking again! I thought you had long since dispelled that awful rumor about the parking “problem”.
Two thoughts come to me immediately. First, businesses like Things Remembered, Zales and Kay Jewelers, and Waldenbooks have traditionally been mall-based retailers, at least in this region. They may not have a business model for a location based in a downtown office building or a Bricktown/Automobile Alley facade.
Second, there are the questions surrounding Core To Shore. Once developers get to see what the landscape will look like, it may be possible for them to consider building a medium-sized mall, like Northpark or 50-Penn. Or, they may decide to build a shopping plaza like Mayfair or Belle Isle. This could be located at Downtown Airpark, or near the current I-40/Western/Farmer’s Market area, or nearby.
Of course, these ideas are probably at least 5 years away, and longer if the recession lingers. These Crossroads retailers need to consider their immediate future.
Bonnie’s Popcorn could be a good fit for First National Center, The Underground, or canalside at Bricktown. Perhaps Waldenbooks adjacent to a coffee house in Midtown?
Any other thoughts?
I made this EXACT suggestion on OKCTalk a few weeks ago and everyone there pooped on it.
I’m all for local retail, but we have to have some chains as catalysts to retail concentration.
Excellent- The malls stole downtown, why can’t downtown now steal the malls?
There isn’t much difference between the mall environment and the urban environment- the whole point of malls was to bring the store-to-store shopping experience indoors. So business plans for the mall-based stores would mostly stay the same.
The only real difference is that parking in Bricktown is not the most visible element as it is with the mall.
Look. Give me the Pac Sun and American Eagle from Crossroads and send it downtown and I’m happy. They should do well along with FireFly, Lit, and Envy Clothing Stores. Ugh, maybe that’d attract an Urban Outfitters. :/
The Underground needs more retail. Seriously, it is such a cool space just to be wasted on old photographs, empty hallways, and one or two mediocre restaurants. The Underground would be a great place for coffee shops, funky shops, and other querky local establishments. Are there any movements to improve this area of downtown?
Steve, I wasn’t trying to accuse you of “stealing” this concept. Sorry if it sounded that way. I was more frustrated that the rabid “shop local” types there refuse to see the value/need for some presence of name-brands to anchor downtown retail. I’m all about the local establishments, but what local shopping could feasibly be downtown? Full Circle, Blue 7, Crescent Market… What else?
Jason, I know – I wasn’t even thinking that would be the implication of what I was writing in the comment! All this online stuff is really complicated!
amen halleluja. crossroads is what put the inner southside on a downward trajectory. once crossroads is lone grove not only will we see downtown retail come back, but the inner southside might start seeing a LOT more life in it, too. i’m all about both of those.