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Retail in Richmond


vdogg

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First, we have to make Circuit City profitable. Then, we have to make Douglas Jemal partner with them and help make a flagship circuit city part of his downtown plans. I bet a downtown circuit city with easy parking within close proximity would be a hit considering the vast underserved markets surrounding downtown.

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I've wanted to see a Circuit City flagship store downtown as well.. something along the lines of the Toys 'R Us or Virgin store in Times Square... but smaller in scale of course ;) How could we go about suggesting this?

Sounds like a good idea to me. How about approaching Douglas jemal?

And jbj, how about a Trader Joe's (or whatever is the name of the small upscale market found in some cities)?

Edited by burt
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I would like to just see the local Richmond-based retailers take a couple of blocks on Broad street and make a go of it. I can just see a flagship Circuit City store (which includes a consumer electronics museum to attract traffic from the convention-goers) beside a more upscale and trendy Saxon shoes beside a new Schwartzschild downtown. Heck, CarMax could even take a couple of storefronts downtown like some of the luxury car dealerships do in mid-town Manhattan. Beside all of that could be a new, smaller Ukrops that would cater to the folks in the Jackson Ward area.

I can dream can't I?

When reality won't allow, dreams are comfort.

How to make it happen... an agressive downtown marketing campaign with a lot of white faces... kinda like that laughable Fairfield Commons commercial last Christmas. I hope they rerun that this year... that was hilarious! People are going to complain about the bus stops and homeless... got to be some way to sweep them under the rug.

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Trader Joes is exactly the sort of "destination store" that would pull people into the city. Not only that, but Trader Joes prefers cheaper real estate in gutted older buildings.

I've got some contacts at CC, but given their current financial situation I wouldn't even suggest this to them.

So long as we're talking pie-in-the-sky, wouldn't it be nice for WTVR ("The First TV Station in the South") to move closer in on broad street and have some sort of museum/visitor center space with their studios. I won't go so far as to suggest a Today Show-type window onto Broad, since I'm a little afraid what we would see out the window during those 11:00 p.m. broadcasts.

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I do think it would be pretty cool for at least one of the stations to have a morning broadcast from downtown with views of the streetscape... Somewhere in the financial district would probably be best for it though.

And I totally agree about the Trader Joe's. That would be an instant hit in this town.

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I wish we had a couple billionaires living here in Richmond to stuff. I wish we had a Donald Trump here in Richmond or a Rick Hilton that owned something significant. Only Billionare I know is Harwood Chochrane that owned Overnight Trucking but then sold it. My grandmother teaches harwood chochranes wife for art classes. My grandma had some paintings in New York a couple years ago at an art gallery in New Yorks District called Chelsea.

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First, we have to make Circuit City profitable. Then, we have to make Douglas Jemal partner with them and help make a flagship circuit city part of his downtown plans. I bet a downtown circuit city with easy parking within close proximity would be a hit considering the vast underserved markets surrounding downtown.

Hopefully Jemal will get his act together before the Boulevard development gets organized and starts signing tenants. The market is definitely under-served, but I wonder what Circuit City (or any retailer) would do if it were given the option to locate at a brand new Boulevard development or downtown. I would much rather see these retailers in renovated downtown buildings, than in what I fear will be a suburbanesque development at the Boulevard (is anyone else disappointed by the tone that is being set by the huge parking lot in the plans for the Movieland?)

Heck, CarMax could even take a couple of storefronts downtown like some of the luxury car dealerships do in mid-town Manhattan.

I have often thought about an urban used car concept for CarMax, but right now, there are so many untapped suburban markets that CarMax is years from thinking about how to make money in urban areas (just look how many dealerships they have in the northeast corridor). Maybe one day . . .

Edited by gntrphoo
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OK, how's this for a downtown Circuit City: the entire ground floor of a new smartly designed parking deck on the south side of Broad between 4th and 5th which is now a vacant lot? Free parking above the store for shoppers who have made a purchase in the store.

CBS or one of the network affiliates on the vacant ground floor of Berry Burk at 6th and Grace, OR studios with windows in another new parking deck on Grace between 6th and 7th across from Richmond Center Stage. The Fed Court House, RCS and Verizon's relocation to 7th and Grace will increase pedestrian traffic in this area.

A Trader Joe's on the ground level of The Cokesberry Building at s/w corner of 5th and Grace.

Interesting retail/restaurants/bars in Broad, 6th Grace and 5th Street ground level spaces of M&R Hilton Garden Inn.

Encourage new owners of The Marriott to build a 200 room annex tower.

Convince the Greater Richmond Convention Center to establish small retail stores along its barren Broad Street frontage.

New and unique shops, ala Carytown, but including a few destination chains, in the storefronts along Grace between 6th and 1st Streets.

Encourage the Wilton plan for a tall hotel on 4th Street that would include the facades of existing buildings west of 4th on Broad. And a LEGAL SEAFOOD restaurant among other unique retail stores behind those facades.

After the Legislature approves legalized horse-racing machines in Off Track Betting Parlors in order to balance the budget, gut the former Standard Drug on Broad at 1st Street and establish therein a third betting facility in Richmond.

Convert Blues Armory ground level and adjacent food court into a Reading Station (Philadelphia) type market.

Attract a new out-of-town tenant to fill the old CNB tower on Broad between 2nd and 3rd.

Convert the ugly black and tan corner building at n/w corner of Broad and 7th into a verticle multi-cineplex.

Find a downtown location for a transportation hub.

That's my dream. :)

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Not so much afraid... (I know it was just Halloween but it's really not that spoooky down here, I promise) they just aren't confident in the demographics of the market yet... Plus, as you've said many times over Steven, retailers are followers. We need some "leaders" to enter and have success. It's apparent that downtown will never be the retail mecca it once was, but I see no harm in eventually catering to the spending dollars of the thousands of people who live in downtown or nearby to the north, south, east, and even west. Alleviating the parking inconveniences (free or very cheap decks for shoppers with validation) would also help. I imagine that people living in the Fan/West of the Boulevard/near West End, northside neighborhoods, Church Hill/Union Hill/other east end neighborhoods, Shockoe Bottom, and those in Manchester/south of the river neighborhoods would MUCH rather spend their dollars in downtown than driving miiiiiiles to the suburbs. The downtown and surrounding areas have VASTLY improved since the days of Miller and Rhoads and Thalhimer's shuttering.

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Not so much afraid... (I know it was just Halloween but it's really not that spoooky down here, I promise) they just aren't confident in the demographics of the market yet... Plus, as you've said many times over Steven, retailers are followers. We need some "leaders" to enter and have success. It's apparent that downtown will never be the retail mecca it once was, but I see no harm in eventually catering to the spending dollars of the thousands of people who live in downtown or nearby to the north, south, east, and even west. Alleviating the parking inconveniences (free or very cheap decks for shoppers with validation) would also help. I imagine that people living in the Fan/West of the Boulevard/near West End, northside neighborhoods, Church Hill/Union Hill/other east end neighborhoods, Shockoe Bottom, and those in Manchester/south of the river neighborhoods would MUCH rather spend their dollars in downtown than driving miiiiiiles to the suburbs. The downtown and surrounding areas have VASTLY improved since the days of Miller and Rhoads and Thalhimer's shuttering.
Thanks for reminding me, coupe :). I still believe that it's possible to make Downtown a retail destination, but those 'leaders' need to step forward before the best spots are taken by institutional uses like VCU and the state government.
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Chesterfield Town Center is jumping on the Life-Style Center bandwagon: :) From Greg Gilligan in today's TD.

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news/busines...11-15-0149.html

Good move for Chesterfield TC Mall... sort of. It will still look like a surban mall.

It would be better if the monster parking lots could be utilized for other uses, rather than just for parking.

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