Waiting For Godot...er, Downtown Retail

[Jernigan]

On 4/27/2020 at 10:38 AM, jack said:

Is that a package store? 

 

[spenser1058]

5 minutes ago, Jernigan said:

 

Maybe just a wine store? For years we had ArtLando on Magnolia that was an art gallery and sold wine but no beer or liquor.

[popsiclebrandon]

Looks like a liquor store and just the worst sign placement I've ever seen.

[spenser1058]

3 minutes ago, popsiclebrandon said:

Looks like a liquor store and just the worst sign placement I've ever seen.

Yep, I just saw “The Liquor Library” in the black lettering. So far, all the liquor stores downtown have had obnoxious markups. I assume this one won’t be much different.

Of course, if the folks in Tallahassee would get out of the Dark Ages and allow liquor sales in larger retailers that problem would be solved. 

Edited May 13, 2020 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

We know downtown retail can work but we need someone with the authority to work through the multitude of challenges that make it very different than a suburban lifestyle center built on an empty lot by the expressway.

When it works, as in Charleston, SC, it can be an amazing thing:

https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2019/09/10/new-day-downtown-retail
 

From the Congress of New Urbanism 

[jack]

3 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

We know downtown retail can work but we need someone with the authority to work through the multitude of challenges that make it very different than a suburban lifestyle center built on an empty lot by the expressway.

When it works, as in Charleston, SC, it can be an amazing thing:

https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2019/09/10/new-day-downtown-retail
 

From the Congress of New Urbanism 

As this article points out, many of the issues are with landlords and tenants themselves. Also, retailers have a herd mentality. When someone goes in first and they do well, the rest tend to follow.