DOWNTOWN RETAIL WISHLIST

[ariesjow]

With Amazon coming, I would love to see retailers like Uniqlo, Zara,  Penguin, or Topshop enter the Nashville market downtown. These stores would do well near a large H&M like the one going in at 5th & Broadway. A DSW would also be useful.

[chris holman]

The retail is coming.  As a recently. This city has experience residential growth and now corporate relocations as of the past 2 or 3 years.  Bridgestone relocating their headquarters to downtown alliance and Bernstein. And now Amazon.

The hotel boom and Nashville Yards will fuel the demand for Shops for residents workers and tourists alike.  For the most part of downtown for a long time has only catered to the tourist sector with gift shops this is why church street center failed,  it was before its time. 

urban Target below

1989 church street center.

[chris holman]

Also,  new retail has to be smart in 2018 since online shopping as I all-time high. It's the new way to shop for a lot of people now this is why malls suffer, more today than ever,  online shopping is actually put a lot of big box retail out of business.

So if it is retail, we need to be something unique the only downtown has so it could be a experience/ destination as well convenience as well.

[titanhog]

With all of the hotels surrounding the MCC, now is the time for the MCC to think of a full-scale re-do of their exterior to include retail all the way around the building.  That area would be perfect for retail.  Help pull some of the people away from Broadway.

[e-dub]

^^ That would be fantastic.

[chris holman]

https://www-trendhunter-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.trendhunter.com/amp/slideshow/interactive-retail-examples?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQECAFYAQ%3D%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From %1%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.trendhunter.com%2Fslideshow%2Finteractive-retail-examples

 

Interactive retail is a great way to engage with clients and get them to think about retail stores as more than just places to buy particular products. From the retailer point of view, you want people to enjoy the experience of shopping in your store so that they return even when they don't necessarily have a specific need or purchase in mind. 

The applications of interactive retail are limited only by the imagination and audacity of retailers and their branding agencies. With the kind of technology available today, there are numerous ways of using multimedia to create an interactive retail experience for shoppers.

Ultimately, the goal of interactive retail is to remind shoppers that the particular retail store isn't just a place to buy things, it's a place to experience things. Once shoppers begin to associate a retailer with positive experiences, they're inevitably more likely to buy something from there as well.

 

 

[Mr_Bond]

58 minutes ago, titanhog said:

With all of the hotels surrounding the MCC, now is the time for the MCC to think of a full-scale re-do of their exterior to include retail all the way around the building.  That area would be perfect for retail.  Help pull some of the people away from Broadway.

If we could get a retail center around KVB, the tourists and convention attendees would help sustain those businesses and the locals could get to them without joining the tourist crowd on Broadway.  The homeless population would have to be taken into consideration, but that is true of any downtown location.

[whatwhat]

I still think it would be awesome to designate a two or three block stretch of SoBro as a shopping district that's closed to street traffic like the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica or even Market Square in Knoxville. 

It seems like that would be a great area for a shopping district. 

[Lexy]

Neiman Marcus.  I can dream, can't I?

[VSRJ]

A Uniqlo would be very nice. I don't think Nashville is quite there yet, though.

[BnaBreaker]

3 hours ago, whatwhat said:

I still think it would be awesome to designate a two or three block stretch of SoBro as a shopping district that's closed to street traffic like the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica or even Market Square in Knoxville. 

It seems like that would be a great area for a shopping district. 

I've always thought that a good place for something like that would be the Sobro side of the Gulch pedestrian bridge.  Make it pedestrian only from the bridge to the roundabout. 

[titanhog]

I still would like them to turn 1st Ave along the river into a Paris-style cafe district.

 

[nashvillwill]

I’ll start by say that this thread is meaningless until we hear from ParkavetoTN. 

But, I agree with what others have said. More bodegas/Walgreens type. Funny how we had a Walgreens on tap for Broadway that was shot down by public uproar. 

Also, cheap eats. A few urban grocers (coming soon). A City Target. 

Specialty shops. 

[grilled_cheese]

8 hours ago, titanhog said:

With all of the hotels surrounding the MCC, now is the time for the MCC to think of a full-scale re-do of their exterior to include retail all the way around the building.  That area would be perfect for retail.  Help pull some of the people away from Broadway.

You mean the retail that was promised to us in the first place?  Yes.  Say no to dead walls/sidewalks!

[titanhog]

20 minutes ago, grilled_cheese said:

You mean the retail that was promised to us in the first place?  Yes.  Say no to dead walls/sidewalks!

Yep.  The current convention center isn't much better than the old one as far as giving pedestrians anything other than a wall (albeit much more glass on those walls).  Could have easily ringed it with retail and restaurants. 

[chris holman]

Nashville Yards will have 600,000sq of retail space and with Amazon moving in you can expect some high in retail and interactive entertainment. to move in 

This is LA Live the same developers that are building Nashville yards we will have different retail, of course. But the concept and similar layout is the same.

[BnaBreaker]

I have to say that I am slightly concerned about Nashville being able to support this sudden massive influx of new downtown retail between Nashville Yards, the old convention center development, and others.  I know we're boomtown USA and the "it city" and all that good stuff, but we aren't Los Angeles.  Our metro area is a tenth the size.  Will we be able to support not one, but two 'Los Angeles caliber' urban retail developments, especially when we had next to no urban retail to speak of prior to it?  I sincerely hope we aren't looking at a Church Street Center situation here where it's a big flop that sours other developers on retail here for a generation.  It's a different time and a different city than when Church Street Center was built, I realize, but the worry still exists for me.  

[Pdt2f]

22 minutes ago, BnaBreaker said:

I have to say that I am slightly concerned about Nashville being able to support this sudden massive influx of new downtown retail between Nashville Yards, the old convention center development, and others.  I know we're boomtown USA and the "it city" and all that good stuff, but we aren't Los Angeles.  Our metro area is a tenth the size.  Will we be able to support not one, but two 'Los Angeles caliber' urban retail developments, especially when we had next to no urban retail to speak of prior to it?  I sincerely hope we aren't looking at a Church Street Center situation here where it's a big flop that sours other developers on retail here for a generation.  It's a different time and a different city than when Church Street Center was built, I realize, but the worry still exists for me.  

I get the concern but I think it’s a completely different situation than the Church Street Center in the ‘80s. Downtown has a lot more workers, like a 5,000% increase or something in hotel rooms, a growing amount of residents, consistent and growing tourism and conventioneer numbers. I think these developments are happening partly *because* there’s been such a lack of retail downtown. 

[Dale]

600K retail for Nashville Yards ?!

[chris holman]

42 minutes ago, Dale said:

600K retail for Nashville Yards ?!

 

[BnaBreaker]

2 hours ago, Pdt2f said:

I get the concern but I think it’s a completely different situation than the Church Street Center in the ‘80s. Downtown has a lot more workers, like a 5,000% increase or something in hotel rooms, a growing amount of residents, consistent and growing tourism and conventioneer numbers. I think these developments are happening partly *because* there’s been such a lack of retail downtown. 

All fair points, and perhaps I'm just being overly skeptical, but I question whether or not downtown Nashville, despite all of it's recent gains, can absorb the equivalent of a large suburban shopping mall's worth of retail.  We shall see I guess... I hope I'm wrong!

[memphian]

Urban Target would be most welcomed. Whatever it is will need to be a destination if you want “Nashville” to shop it.

[Dale]

Looks like downtown is going to add a million sq ft of retail this cycle. I thinks that’s more than the existing stock.

 

[Neigeville2]

Yeah, when I saw 600K for Nashville Yards I was pretty amazed.  5th and Broad was said to double the DT retail space by itself alone.  I think it'll be absorbed easily, though.  Downtown is exploding.  IIRC, in the 2000 census there were 440 people living downtown and now it's 11,000 and growing fast.  The increase in tourism is massive and so is the increase in office space.  Try to recall what Sobro looked like 10 years ago.  

[donNdonelson2]

Please note that Nashville Yards says they will have 600K sq feet of retail and ENTERTAINMENT. I have a feeling a lot of that space is the entertainment part of the equation.