Retail in Richmond

[eandslee]

The article didn't mention the Walgreens that VCU ran off either. I heard that H&M looked at the CNB property (the large space fronting Grace). I've also heard rumors of a new drug store on Broad in that area.

 

H&M would be huge deal for that area!  Wow!  It's good that there are at least rumors floating around, whereas before there was no chance in hell!

[varunner]

I understand that, but only the first 1/2 of the article focused on the downtown area. the second half talked about grocery stores, etc in other parts of the town.  was just surprised no mention of the whole foods development. 

 

The area of the future Whole Foods is about 2-miles west of Downtown.  Whole Foods will even be west of Belvidere.

[Brent]

The source is the director of a not for profit located in the immediate area. Retailers have looked at his office space too and he's working on a moving plan because they are getting priced out (which even he agrees is a good thing). Things should change quickly once the CNB is finished.

[Richmonopoly]

For its size, Richmond has a ton of shopping malls.  

However, several seem to be faltering.  Cloverleaf and Fairfield Commons have closed.  Regency, Virginia Center Commons, and even Stony Point seem to be sluggish.  

With both the population and the landscape of retail in the Richmond area shifting, how soon do you think retail will take off downtown?  

Many storefronts along Grace Street are renovated with apartments above... shops seem to be the only thing needed.  With the rise in residents and increased hotels (tourists), I seem to think the demand is there.  

[Blackbird Fly]

It is tough for Richmond to develop its own retail presence when Henrico has the most retail per capita in the US. They also, almost as a rule, have placed their large retail centers and big box stores right at the border of the city at every major thoroughfare to loot tax dollars out of the city. I can't wait until the tides change and the premier retail is in the city instead of the suburbs, but it will probably take years to gain steam. 

[RiverYuppy]

1 hour ago, Blackbird Fly said:

 I can't wait until the tides change and the premier retail is in the city instead of the suburbs, but it will probably take years to gain steam. 

It won't happen until Richmond starts having a population boom.

The reason Richmond doesn't have big box retail stores is because it doesn't have the population to support them.

[jbjust]

It would cannibalize another part of the city, but it seems crazy that Ledbury doesn't have it's local retail presence right there on Grace Street. 

On 2/13/2016 at 8:13 AM, Richmonopoly said:

For its size, Richmond has a ton of shopping malls.  

However, several seem to be faltering.  Cloverleaf and Fairfield Commons have closed.  Regency, Virginia Center Commons, and even Stony Point seem to be sluggish.  

With both the population and the landscape of retail in the Richmond area shifting, how soon do you think retail will take off downtown?  

Many storefronts along Grace Street are renovated with apartments above... shops seem to be the only thing needed.  With the rise in residents and increased hotels (tourists), I seem to think the demand is there.  

 

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

For lack of better place to put it, I'll put this article here.

Two MORE (NEW!) grocery chains are looking to enter the Richmond market. (this is not referring to Aldi, Lidl, Wegmans, or Publix)

As per the article, ''Two more grocers are scouting the market and considering whether to open stores here, said Brett McNamee, a senior vice president of the Richmond office for Divaris Real Estate Inc.''

http://www.richmond.com/business/local/article_039d61ef-1e01-532d-be26-1ab08a886b06.html

The article also goes on to mention the planned renovations of three area malls (the three struggling ones, you know which). The most interesting thing IMO is the revelation that Regency Square is planning ''an entertainment component with plans for a movie theater complex''. Interesting.

Edited February 17, 2016 by RVA-Is-The-Best

[cltbwimob]

On February 13, 2016 at 3:27 PM, RiverYuppy said:

It won't happen until Richmond starts having a population boom.

The reason Richmond doesn't have big box retail stores is because it doesn't have the population to support them.

I don't think big box retail is necessary for a thriving retail scene.  With all the empty and underutilized storefronts on Broad and Grace between the convention center and Belvidere, I can imagine that area becoming a hub of small box retailers especially given that the road is book-ended by Downtown on one side (which is growing with all the apartments coming on line) and VCU which has a large student population.

Of course given the college/younger demographics of the area, I would suspect it would look significantly different than Carytown (i.e. more national and discount retailers and less boutiques).  However I can imagine that stores like H&M, Urban Outfitters, Nordstrom Rack, Saks Fifth Off Fifth, VS Pink, Forever 21, Vans, etc would be able to capitalize on the location and the younger area population.  Throw in some more bars, restaurants, comic book shops, video game shops, art galleries, and the few retailers that are already there, and the area would be hopping around the clock IMHO with no big box needed whatsoever.

Edited February 17, 2016 by cltbwimob

[evanf]

On February 17, 2016 at 1:19 PM, cltbwimob said:

I don't think big box retail is necessary for a thriving retail scene.  With all the empty and underutilized storefronts on Broad and Grace between the convention center and Belvidere, I can imagine that area becoming a hub of small box retailers especially given that the road is book-ended by Downtown on one side (which is growing with all the apartments coming on line) and VCU which has a large student population.

Of course given the college/younger demographics of the area, I would suspect it would look significantly different than Carytown (i.e. more national and discount retailers and less boutiques).  However I can imagine that stores like H&M, Urban Outfitters, Nordstrom Rack, Saks Fifth Off Fifth, VS Pink, Forever 21, Vans, etc would be able to capitalize on the location and the younger area population.  Throw in some more bars, restaurants, comic book shops, video game shops, art galleries, and the few retailers that are already there, and the area would be hopping around the clock IMHO with no big box needed whatsoever.

Yea, I'm with you.

Grace and Broad are perfect opportunities for some of the retailers you suggested. Even Savannah GA and Norfolk have a downtown Urban Outfitters. No reason Richmond can't. I think Quirk has sort of set the precedent for the area and eventually we'll see some nicer retail options.

[Downtowner]

In other news sounds like Martins is leaving RVA. Hopefully someone like Publix will buy the stores and take control of them. I think it would be a tremendous opportunity for Publix to enter the Richmond region. 

http://wtvr.com/2016/03/21/martins-for-sale/

[Downtowner]

I am really excited about the redevelopment of Regency Square Mall as its just a mile away from where I live and one of my friends who I went to high school with and played baseball with his father is involved in this project. But sounds like  Regency may be getting a movie theater. I would love to see more movie theater competition maybe see like  an AMC movie theater come in. I took some photos of the Macy's in Regency after it was emptied out. It looks really really sad inside.

Regency Mall Redevelopment and the future of department stores.

Photos I took from the inside of Macy's at regency.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[blopp1234]

1 hour ago, Downtowner said:

In other news sounds like Martins is leaving RVA. Hopefully someone like Publix will buy the stores and take control of them. I think it would be a tremendous opportunity for Publix to enter the Richmond region. 

http://wtvr.com/2016/03/21/martins-for-sale/

i have no doubt that publix will buy some of the stores. However, the fate of the others are very uncertain. They could be bought out by other grocery stores or other retailers. However, who knows. I would have thought that they would have closed some of their food lion locations just because of how much smaller they were.

[jbjust]

How great would it be if the Ukrop's family bought them back for about 50% of what they sold them for?

[HopHead]

When I was a kid, nothing excited me more than when my mom came home with Ukrop's fried chicken (or the chicken tenders) for dinner. You couldn't top the stuff they had in their bakery or deli. It's a crying shame what Martin's has done (to be honest, I've only been to a Martin's once and wasn't overly impressed). I'm sure the Ukrop's family wouldn't buy back what they had though. They cashed out for a reason. As someone else stated, I would bet that Publix buys them if they are looking to enter the market. They've done that when they were increasing their local presence down here in Charlotte. Publix has a fantastic bakery and deli ... they make fantastic subs too. 

[Richmonopoly]

Could my dreams be coming true?

 

Never in a million years did it seem that downtown Richmond - or any parts of her inner city - would bloom.

 

Corporate giants are moving back (i.e. Altria, Carnac, and now Capital One) apartments are sprouting in abundance, and abandoned retail spaces are bein renovated.  

Is retail returning? 

 

Spaces es all along Broad, 2nd and 6th - even East Main in Shockoe, seem to be in renovation stages with no clear tenants revealed.  

News of new properties along Broad area keep occurring.  Do developers sense something that we haven't yet?  Is retail finally returning?  (hopeful from my shockoe apartment)

 

 

[eandslee]

3 hours ago, Richmonopoly said:

Could my dreams be coming true?

 

Never in a million years did it seem that downtown Richmond - or any parts of her inner city - would bloom.

 

Corporate giants are moving back (i.e. Altria, Carnac, and now Capital One) apartments are sprouting in abundance, and abandoned retail spaces are bein renovated.  

Is retail returning? 

 

Spaces es all along Broad, 2nd and 6th - even East Main in Shockoe, seem to be in renovation stages with no clear tenants revealed.  

News of new properties along Broad area keep occurring.  Do developers sense something that we haven't yet?  Is retail finally returning?  (hopeful from my shockoe apartment)

 

 

I don't know exactly, but I do sense that Jamal Douglas is up to something potentially big on Broad Street where he's been buying virtually the entire block.  If he is going to build a huge mixed-use building there, that might be driving the retail shuffling so that retail outlets can be closest to the action.  Seems a little bit premature, but also I might give credit to the BRT that is about to come online.

Edited July 12, 2017 by eandslee

[Icetera]

1 hour ago, eandslee said:

I don't know exactly, but I do sense that Jamal Douglas is up to something potentially big on Broad Street where he's been buying virtually the entire block.  If he is going to build a huge mixed-use building there, that might be driving the retail shuffling so that retail outlets can be closest to the action.  Seems a little bit premature, but also I might give credit to the BRT that is about to come online.

Poking through the GIS, I see Jemal now has most of both the 100 and 200 blocks north of E. Broad St.  Granted, half of the 200 block is now utilized by VCU Rent-a-Cops.

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

There's exciting news lately so here's some bad (but really not all that unexpected):

The Outlet mall planned near Ashland has been officially cancelled.

https://richmondbizsense.com/2017/09/29/plug-pulled-ashland-outlet-mall/

Craig Realty blames the shifting retail market trends.

 

Edit: I've also removed the project from the development map. Sad, but there's no point having it there

Edited September 29, 2017 by RVA-Is-The-Best

[rjp212]

Found the marketing brochure for Regency Mall.   Including some fancy pictures and a possible Residential component.

https://www.thalhimer.com/sites/default/files/listings_files/Regency-11x17-Flyer.pdf

[flaneur]

Dick's announced it will close at Stony Point: https://richmondbizsense.com/2018/08/15/sporting-goods-giant-leaving-stony-point-fashion-park/

Interesting development given Starwood's current upgrade investments and what appeared to be some positive momentum with the addition of H&M, Latitude, and some other recent tenants.  I think they will struggle to find a traditional anchor tenant. Bloomingdale's would provide a strong boost and cement it as the definitive upscale center in the region, but I don't think our market can support them along with Saks and Nordstrom, plus those stores may have non-compete clauses. Traditional anchors are few and far between, and dwindling.  I hope they can hang on though. I'm not a fan of malls and suburban sprawl in general, but Stony Point is so much more pleasant than the growing engine of hell that is Short Pump, and it has some real infill potential. I'd love to see Stony Point take a bold move and add residential and office in a real way to make it more of a mixed-use center. I think the townhomes and offices in the immediate area represent a missed opportunity with no real pleasant way to walk to the mall.

Edited August 15, 2018 by flaneur

[DowntownCoruscant]

My dad and SM live in the townhomes and walk to the mall quite often. It’s not an unpleasant walk, but I get what you’re saying.

The problem with that mall, one of them at least, is the lack of sprawl. By contrast,  part of Short Pump’s success is consolidated trips. Go to Target, go to the mall, etc. 

[RiverYuppy]

I think a big reason Dick's left was because it was the end of a 15 year lease that Dick's didn't sign.  The original tenant along with the lease was acquired by Dick's.

Perhaps what Stony Point needs is a rebranding and more diverse shops. That area isn't going to be able support a mall dedicated to fashion labels.  It needs to be a walkable mall with tenants closer to a mix of what you see in Short Pump and the Pedestrian Mall in Charlottesville. 

 

Edited August 17, 2018 by RiverYuppy

[drayrichmond]

Yeah it needs more staples. Just like in the city, high-end retail, like Stony Point, and niche independent shops, like the Broad Street or Carytown, are great and all, but at the end of the day I'm more likely to make a run to Target. These retail areas need these staples to get more people there.

[rjp212]

Stony Point is now under the ownership of Midland Loan Services.  I think it’s a great mall, it’s just a victim of the changing retail landscape.   Midland will ultimately sell their holdings, and I hope the next buyer is able to get creative .  

https://www.richmond.com/business/stony-point-fashion-park-has-new-owner-after-malls-previous-owner-defaulted-on-its-loan/article_a5815866-8b87-5bba-bcd2-c5339bdf6ed3.html