The Emergence of Bricktown Retail
I’ve seen a lot of fits and starts when it comes to Bricktown retail. Let’s review a bit….
Way, way back when, there was a small flower shop started up as part of a failed attempt by Neal Horton to turn a decaying district of old brick warehouses into something special. It didn’t last long, but in the early 1990s we saw the opening of the Bricktown Mercantile. And it lasted for several years – but as Jim Brewer would say, it was too much, too soon, and too ahead of its time.
The Bricktown Mercantile sold gifts and antiques from the early through mid-1990s. Photo courtesy of Oklahoma Historical Society
The opening of the Bricktown Canal in 1999 ushered in another wave of retail – names like the Laughing Fish, an art gallery, a Mexican gift store … all of them failed to take root. I’m not sure if they were entirely bad concepts, but they were all spread out – there was no cluster of retail to draw the increasing crowds being drawn by the canal.
City leaders thought they could kick off retail by priming the pump – chipping in $19 million to help build a Bass Pro Shops and jump start the Lower Bricktown project.
Some retail did follow – clothing stores like LIT and Firefly. Both were trendy clothing shops. But was this the retail concept to match what people visiting Bricktown were looking for? Bass Pro is doing fine. But LIT and Firefly both closed this past year. Maybe they would have fared better if they had been situated next to each other. Instead, developer Randy Hogan had them on opposite ends of the canal as it meanders south of Reno. The LIT space is being replaced by a restaurant. Don’t be surprised if a restaurant takes the Firefly space as well.
Angela Thomas, center, owner of Lit Clothing, stands in the store with employees Ashley Cable and David Guthrie, July 2008. The store closed about one year later.
So now we move onto the current wave, which I’d argue is kicked off by Chad Huntington and Bob Bekoff with the opening of the Oklahoma’s Red Dirt Emporium in 2007. Not too much earlier we see The Painted Door opening around the block facing Sheridan.
Oklahoma's Red Dirt Emporium, shortly after opening in 2007.
Oddly, just as the Emporium opened, the only retail tenant on the canal level, a Native American gift shop, relocated to Stockyards City. That is now the only space empty on the canal level of the Miller Jackson Building, with the remaining space attracting an art shop, a winery, a convenience store and now the Bricktown Red Dirt Marketplace – all together, all offering a mix that might just be the right draw for visitors.
Below I’ll show the free standing stores, followed by a glimpse of the retail now open in the marketplace – are we about to finally see a critical mass on retail along the canal?
George Rooks artist studio in the Miller Jackson building.
Suan Grant and her Peppers and Pots booth at the marketplace - dare you to try the pepper jam and not buy it.
Miller Jackson building owner Jeff Brown with store owners Chad Huntington and Bob Bekoff on opening day of the marketplace.
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Comments
Chad Huntington is the driving force to make this retail successful on the Canal. He has a passion for Bricktown and it shows in the businesses that he operates.
OK Mike, if you’re going to say that, I’m expecting you back it up.
Have you visited Bricktown Red Dirt Marketplace? If not, how are you informed enough to make such a statement? If so, how do you see this marketplace comparing to places like the Old Paris Flea Market or now demised AMC flea market?
Mike,
I am proud to be the pottery half of “Peppers & Pots”, a Bricktown Marketplace vendor, along with my mother, Suan Grant, creator and owner of Suan’s Scotch Bonnet Pepper Jelly.
As a Marketplace vendor, we have been given the opportunity to bring our “Made in Oklahoma” products to a retail location that offers a coveted front row seat to the Canal; intelligent, well trained professional staffing; business hours that allow our products to be seen by scores of shoppers that would be hard pressed to come into contact with Robin Wolf Pottery or Suan’s Scotch Bonnett Pepper Jelly in another venue; and most important of all, Chad Huntington at the helm steering the way for the Brick Town Marketplace vendors that have absolute faith in his ability to continue growing this store.
We are delighted to be a part of Brick Town Marketplace, it is an upscale retail business that does OKC proud, and provides small businesses and artists a rare opportunity to be a part of the succes that Bricktown has become.
Density and mix are key. There is no magic bullet, except for persistance and effort. Good luck to those making the leap!