Bricktown Retail
Dallas' West End isn't what it used to be, but it still offers some gimmicky stuff for tourists.
I’ve been thinking more about the question posed in one this weekend’s comment threads – what is there to do beyond restaurants for younger visitors in Bricktown?
There’s a playground, granted, but I rarely see it used. Likely it’s not in the greatest spot. I wonder if it can’t eventually be moved to a better location in Bricktown. And yeah, there’s a movie theater and bowling – but not every visitor is going to want to spend their time bowling or seeing movies. We could also add to the list places like the Bricktown Candy Co. But what unique retail would be a plus for Bricktown – especially for younger visitors?
Would a magic shop work in this day and age? And with the Academy of Contemporary Music thriving along the canal, is there some opportunity for a music shop? How about comic book sales or collectibles? I’ve also wondered how a “nostalgia toys” shop might fare. It would appeal, I think, to youngsters, but probably even more so to the Baby Boom generation shopping for their grandkids.
Could any of these concepts make it on their own? Maybe not. But here’s my freebie idea of the day – combine it all into one store. Or maybe there can be a fun-themed marketplace for all of this where you add in nostalgia t-shirts, a photo booth and some other throw-back amusements (skeeball? air hockey?).
Going beyond the kid set, it seems as if there are a few other additions that would work well. A Native American jewelry and art shop did well in the Miller-Jackson Building, but it lured away to Stockyards City. Oklahoma’s Red Dirt Emporium is a big asset – the sort of gift shop I’m sure other downtown’s dream of having in their midst, carrying an array of quality gifts that showcase items that are either locally made or have Oklahoma ties (and yeah, you can even find my books there!).
It’s no surprise Firefly and LIT clothing shut down – I’m not sure they were offering anything that couldn’t be found elsewhere. And quite frankly, it’s going to take unique concepts to make it in Bricktown. Unique concepts, however, can’t always thrive in the early months without some sort of support to help them get established. Once again my thoughts go to a marketplace … wouldn’t it be great if such a place existed in Bricktown, where for just a few hundred dollars or less one could get their start at entrepreneural success without risking losing everything? Wouldn’t be great if such a marketplace existed to help Bricktown move on to the next step – and become the retail destination sought out by visitors and locals alike?
Yeah, I’m hinting at something here….
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on a serious note, we need something that will draw more families down there like the Lego store, Sega Gameworks arcade, Build-A-Bear workshop, miniature golf (perhaps indoor in a warehouse or on a rooftop, the infamously rumored carosel, M&M’s World, Coca-Cola World, these are just a few suggestions. We need a big time attraction to get things moving, not a mom & pop novelty shop. You know I’m all for the locals, but we’re not reaching enough critical mass with the locals we have, it’s time to bring in some heavy hitters into our mix, so we can support more locals.
I’m not sure if I’m thinking of what you’re talking about but over in Madrid, every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. there was an open “market” called El Rastro (http://bit.ly/Rastro) and it was perfect. Every week on a few certain streets it was like the biggest flea-market sale you’ve ever seen.
Thousands of people walked it every week, no big-box retailers, just random Madrilenos selling merchandise/food out on the sidewalks.
I saw a very similar thing in Venice too.
http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=madrid+el+rastro&m=text
I understand why the Thunder shop is in Leadership Square, but part of me thinks it would look really good where LIT used to be – much more visible to tourists and locals alike, with better parking!
Casey, there’s one of those in just about every state…Austin, Kansas City, New Orleans are a few close by…so i support this idea in connection to Steven’s idea…there’s more than enough room and vacant space for both and more
Fun thought exercise, Steve! A few ideas come to mind.
1). A retail concept that would be symbiotic with already established and successful Bricktown businesses.
2). One that thrived off of foot traffic, but was not solely dependent on it.
3). A concept that reinvents the familiar in new and interesting ways.
To flesh this out, (and this is just one possibility) think about a bookstore in Bricktown. Not doable right? The footprint required is too big for so little return, and all that unsold inventory becomes dead weight that has to be maintained, or eventually sent back to the publisher to be pulped.
However, what about a bookstore that carried no inventory but rather printed any title you wanted on demand, library quality, in minutes? http://www.ondemandbooks.com/home.htm
A comfortable space, with a showroom of potential book titles, perhaps a coffee cart, to lure those who pass by and the usual bookstore crowd. Additionally, any text book or bound sheet music could be made on demand for ACM students. Or, how about any title ever published on Banjos for the new museum? A day on weekends where select titles are sold at a discount for parents who bring by their kids? Those in town for conventions could have services marketed directly to them. Not to mention that the services could be made available to anyone online, anywhere.
Such a thing would be so new, it could become a draw in and of itself. Of course, the upfront investment is big – I think one of those machines currently sells for $100K, and a new/unproven concept would need backing and a little time to get off the ground. A development fund of sorts would be terribly useful.
One idea, at least…
What happened to the Gameworks? I thought one was signed & going in Lower Bricktown. Is that dead now?
I agree that the Thunder shop should move over to Bricktown. That would be a great location.
However, there still needs to be some sort of draw for the people, especially tourists. Bass Pro isn’t enough, and neither are trendy clothing stores. Obviously.
I think that an arcade is long overdue, which could even come in the form of Dave & Busters, Incredible Pizza, or the like.
I know in ages past people have mentioned Restoration Hardware, which would be cool IF Bricktown was an established shopping destination.
The LEGO store would be good, but redundant with the location at Penn Square. An FAO Schwartz, if those still existed, would be fun.
The one thing I want to avoid, and maybe it’s just my personal distaste for the clothing, is an Eskimo Joe’s store. I just don’t like ‘em.
Being a balloon artist and fancier, I would love to have a balloon-themed prescence in BT; a combination studio, retail store, and perhaps a museum and/or Hall Of Fame. I have even thought about a balloon-decorated party and event center as part of it. But I lack the serious capital needed to get it together. And I would need everyday cash flow to survive.
It would be nice to have some affordable, family-friendly attractions to be enjoyed during the day. But so far, we have a theatre, playground, bowling alley, and canal boats. Yet, we don’t even have a Dave and Busters for adults, let alone a family-friendly concept like it.
Perhaps someday…
Capcha ‘also jasmine’
I like Casey’s idea of a street market- I saw a lot of these all over Europe, too. That concept could be used as a way to get around two problems that have been cited for Bricktown retail. (1- high rent and 2- the fact that retail does better in a geographic concentration of retailers). By making it easy (cheap or free) to set up a booth each Saturday, say along Mickey Mantle at the plaza by the ballpark, maybe we can start to nurture the idea of Bricktown as a shopping destination. This market could have everything from garage sale stuff to souvenirs to new merchandise. Maybe we could even convince OKC specialty stores from other areas (Blue 7, Collected Thread, etc etc) to have Saturday booths at this Bricktown market. It would be a good promotional opportunity for those stores.
I love the \local merchandise/merchants\ open market concept. We went to one of those last summer in Anchorage, downtown, near the water, and it was just really cool. All kinds of art (reasonably priced), clothing, food, jewelry, vendors of pretty much anything you could imagine. I’ve been to one in Oahu, also, that’s like an outdoor flea market (they laughed at that term…it’s a \swap meet\, they informed me!!) every Sat. where locals come from all the Hawaiian Islands and that’s how many of them made their living. It was a huge event and it was open 52 weeks a year. Much cheaper prices, too, than anything you could buy in the stores!! I think OKC visitors and natives alike would greatly benefit from something like this in Bricktown!! Also, I moved here in ’81 and there wasn’t a lot of places in town to take out of town visitors. Bricktown is awsome for that reason (and our own pleasure!).
I talked to someone with the Thunder shop and they will be most likely moving full time to the Ford Center after renovations. Just a little info for the peeps.
Mike, good reminder.
Folks, we need something besides a glorified antique store or a swap meet(although a good idea) to attract masses, especially the young professionals that live downtown. Not many of us go “antiquing” in our spare time. We need things like Dave & Busters, retail cluster of clothing, Sega Gameworks, etc. Unfortunately I don’t think we’re going to support retail until we get some large chains that are a destination point in and of themselves. I’m anti-chain as much as the next guy, but we have a good core of local businesses, I honestly think we can support a retail cluster if we can get a draw like D&B, Gameworks or something that people besides antique/swap meet crowd will drive from all over the metro to frequently Bricktown on a regular basis.
For younger visitors?
A Toy and Action Figure Museum with thrill rides associated with the toys. A giant Hot Wheels thrill ride would be one. Build rides associated with the toys like Disney Land and Universal Studios does with their movies.
Ed, I don’t think “thrill rides” are realistic. They are expensive, don’t really fit into Bricktown, and you’d have to have a decent amount of them to make any money. Good idea in theory, but not sure if it makes practical and economic sense. The Toy & Action figure museum would be a good attraction though, and it already sounds like plans are in the works.
It will be hard to lure a Dave and Busters to Bricktown because of the cost of leases. D/B will be a draw anywhere they locate in OKC, so why locate in the most expensive lease area when they could locate in a strip mall on the south side of Kilpatrick for less and still draw the same numbers. That’s the challenge of Bricktown. If Bricktown seriuosly wants a D/B then someone will have to offer a sweet deal to get them. Free parking will be a must as well so count on it being in Lower Bricktown, perhaps next to Toby Keith’s, if anywhere.
If there’s a restaurant I’d like to see in Bricktown now, it would be Legal Seafood.
BTW, I saw yesterday that all the windows at the old LIT are papered up. Is something going on there Steve?
Jeffrey, wouldn’t it be better if Red Pin simply fleshed itself out more as an entertainment venue instead of having a cookie-cutter Dave & Busters? I’ve never quite understood why Red Pin went as far as it did with the cool bowling alley, only to have a restaurant that doesn’t seem to have a clear image or theme to present to customers. It’s as if they tried to say, hey, here’s our cool bowling alley and bar. And here’s a restaurant set up as fine dining, and you can still hear the Ozzy Osbourne music videos playing from the bowling alley (not kidding you, I’ve actually been there and witnessed this).
The LIT clothing space will be home to another restaurant. Lower Bricktown’s retail element – never quite what city leaders hoped for when they did the Bass Pro deal – is dwindling down.
Does it really cost more to lease in Bricktown, or is that a perception holdover from more than a decade ago that everyone just mindlessly accepts and repeats?
Does it cost more to lease there than in less successful (to date) parts of downtown? Sure. But how does it compare to a commercial center at Memorial and Penn, or to someplace like Penn Square Mall? I’d be interested in seeing that comparison these days.
Captcha: of annoyed
Yeah Steve, if Redpin went that way I think that would really be smart. I’ve always thought the restaurant was a bit awkward also. Every time I’ve been there I think “Oh they have a restaurant” when I walk in but when I go to eat in Bricktown RedPin never crosses my mind. That side always seems empty. Go with some cool appetizers and set up the rest like a D/B arcade. Wow Steve – thats a really great idea!
Not ready to give up on Lower Bricktown retail yet. That area’s still quite young relatively.
Sure wish you could build a Toy and Action Figure Museum with thrill rides associated with the toys. In or near Brick Town in a large (empty) multistory building. All the toys would give you hundreds or thousands of themes to work with. The rides could be built through out the building. You bring in the whole family to spend money when you have a popular destination for children. Imagine a child being able to operate a large replica of one of their favorite toys. College engineering students could help design and build the rides. I think children and adults would love it.
Something unique that no one else has.
ahh, so that’s how Brett Michaels is really making his money, hocking his favorite attire in the West End.