The State of Downtown Retail

[Cityplanner]

If downtown will have any issues post-Covid-19, I'd think that any large traffic generator such as a convention center would help.

Wouldn't downtown being outdoors (instead of being all inside like Haywood Mall) help, too?

[transplant08]

new mexican restaurant replacing Compadres. 

[gman430]

For old Chocolate Moose space: 

https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/life/2020/10/06/camilla-kitchen-fills-chocolate-moose-space-m-judson-booksellers-downtown-greenville-sc/3625528001/

Edited October 6, 2020 by gman430

[gman430]

Yee-Haw reopening: 

https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/entertainment/2020/10/07/yee-haw-brewing-greenville-reopens-new-space-and-princes-hot-chicken/5916291002/

Edited October 9, 2020 by gman430

[SVL]

Reid’s Fine Food opening this week downtown

[vicupstate]

^^ I really like that they will be open 7 days from 7:00am til 10:00 pm. 

[gman430]

On 10/22/2020 at 12:17 PM, SVL said:

Reid’s Fine Food opening this week downtown

I saw pics of the new Greenville location on Facebook and it looks AMAZING.  

Edited October 28, 2020 by gman430

[gman430]

Former Bevello and J Britt spaces leased. Tenant upfits now underway for both. 

If you build it they will come. They will all come. 

Edited October 29, 2020 by gman430

[gman430]

For former Bevello space: 

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201029005229/en/Savannah-Bee-Company-Opens-New-Retail-Storefront-in-South-Carolina-Continuing-Mission-to-Save-Honeybees

Edited October 30, 2020 by gman430

[Cityplanner]

10 hours ago, gman430 said:

For former Bevello space: 

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201029005229/en/Savannah-Bee-Company-Opens-New-Retail-Storefront-in-South-Carolina-Continuing-Mission-to-Save-Honeybees

Certainly looks interesting.  I wonder what's going in the J. Britt space?  Thanks for finding this.

Still hoping for a large anchor somewhere downtown that will draw large crowds.

[gman430]

2 hours ago, Cityplanner said:

Certainly looks interesting.  I wonder what's going in the J. Britt space?  Thanks for finding this.

Still hoping for a large anchor somewhere downtown that will draw large crowds.

There’s a coming soon sign on the door but I couldn’t make out what it said driving by due to it being so small. :/ 

[gman430]

Southernside Brewing for old El Thrifty space. 

[Cityplanner]

Perhaps no news is good news, and the less I know, the better, but Brooks Brothers apparently submitted a list of leases that it was rejecting, and this list was included in a bankruptcy court filing last Friday or Saturday.  Has anyone seen the list? It might be available on PACER (the Federal court electronic filing system).

The Brooks Brothers flagship on Madison Avenue clearly looks like it's closed for good.  Even the signs on the exterior are being taken down.  As we've seen with Lord & Taylor, when your flagship store closes, it doesn't look good for the future, sadly.

[gman430]

-Looks like several buildings in the West End on Augusta including the former 601 South Main, Cocobella, and Eric Brown Design spaces have all been leased. 

-The former Subway across from NOMA Square is now ReMax. 

-Blaze Pizza opens November 19th. 

Edited November 9, 2020 by gman430

[Gville2012]

45 minutes ago, gman430 said:

-Looks like several buildings in the West End on Augusta including the former 601 South Main, Cocobella, and Eric Brown Design spaces have all been leased. 

-The former Subway across from NOMA Square is now ReMax. 

-Blaze Pizza opens November 19th. 

I heard Mikes Cheesesteak and CocoBowlz were taking two of the spaces in the West End (not sure which) and moving out of Gather.

[vistatiger]

6 hours ago, Cityplanner said:

Perhaps no news is good news, and the less I know, the better, but Brooks Brothers apparently submitted a list of leases that it was rejecting, and this list was included in a bankruptcy court filing last Friday or Saturday.  Has anyone seen the list? It might be available on PACER (the Federal court electronic filing system).

The Brooks Brothers flagship on Madison Avenue clearly looks like it's closed for good.  Even the signs on the exterior are being taken down.  As we've seen with Lord & Taylor, when your flagship store closes, it doesn't look good for the future, sadly.

 Would not surprise me. If Simon is buying them makes zero sense to pay rent to someone else when you have a mall in the same town with vacancies you need to fill.

Edited November 9, 2020 by vistatiger

[Cityplanner]

Thanks.  The Greenville store is remaining open!

At least for now.  I checked PACER (US Bankruptcy Court for Delaware), Case No. 20-11785, and there are a lot of closures: Fashion Island in Orange County; Princeton, NJ; various malls; but Greenville is not listed.

But they're rejecting leases one or several at a time, so maybe it'll come later, but nothing so far.

[gman430]

https://upstatebusinessjournal.com/eat-drink/lebron-james-blaze-pizza-opening-in-greenville-sc-on-thursday/?fbclid=IwAR1kmEncINw94OALuLV8ZVwflVPXIiaSm9mmDS_eaO_CrjSSY3FSUSwb0Is

[victory]

47 minutes ago, gman430 said:

https://upstatebusinessjournal.com/eat-drink/lebron-james-blaze-pizza-opening-in-greenville-sc-on-thursday/?fbclid=IwAR1kmEncINw94OALuLV8ZVwflVPXIiaSm9mmDS_eaO_CrjSSY3FSUSwb0Is

We have two of these in Cola. Never been, but have heard it is pretty tasty. I suppose the real novelty is being able to mix and match your toppings, and then get it served by the time you reach the register. 

[GvilleSC]

2 hours ago, victory said:

We have two of these in Cola. Never been, but have heard it is pretty tasty. I suppose the real novelty is being able to mix and match your toppings, and then get it served by the time you reach the register. 

Sounds similar to &Pizza here in DC and several metro's to the northeast. Should be successful downtown with the daytime crowd, and the ever-growing residential population. I wish them the best! 

[gman430]

Lynn Strong is moving to 1322 E. Washington Street after Christmas. 
 

The Post and Courier surveyed all the storefronts along Main Street on Thursday between Broad and College and counted 40 restaurants and 32 shops. Another 17 buildings house street-level offices. 

In all, there are about 100 storefronts. 

Twelve were empty. One had an eviction notice dated Oct. 21 taped to the front door.

That tally is roughly in line with a quarterly retail report released in August by Colliers International that said downtown Greenville’s vacancies are at 13.2 percent, up from 10.5 percent the quarter before. 

A year ago, vacancies in downtown stood at 5.8 percent.

With new companies coming in, Greenville Mayor Knox White said he is not worried. In addition to Savannah Bee Co., Blaze Pizza will soon open. The Post and Courier also spoke with two other businesses this week that plan to expand into neighboring spaces on Main Street.

Rent is stable: The going rate for retail leases downtown is about $24 a square foot, according to Colliers, up a dollar from last year. An empty building at 125 N. Main offered street-level space for $26 a square foot, according to a notice taped to its window. 

Edited November 25, 2020 by gman430

[Cityplanner]

4 hours ago, gman430 said:

Lynn Strong is moving to 1322 E. Washington Street after Christmas. 
 

The Post and Courier surveyed all the storefronts along Main Street on Thursday between Broad and College and counted 40 restaurants and 32 shops. Another 17 buildings house street-level offices. 

In all, there are about 100 storefronts. 

Twelve were empty. One had an eviction notice dated Oct. 21 taped to the front door.

That tally is roughly in line with a quarterly retail report released in August by Colliers International that said downtown Greenville’s vacancies are at 13.2 percent, up from 10.5 percent the quarter before. 

A year ago, vacancies in downtown stood at 5.8 percent.

With new companies coming in, Greenville Mayor Knox White said he is not worried. In addition to Savannah Bee Co., Blaze Pizza will soon open. The Post and Courier also spoke with two other businesses this week that plan to expand into neighboring spaces on Main Street.

Rent is stable: The going rate for retail leases downtown is about $24 a square foot, according to Colliers, up a dollar from last year. An empty building at 125 N. Main offered street-level space for $26 a square foot, according to a notice taped to its window. 

I would assume that the vacancies are largely locally-owned stores and restaurants that didn't have deep enough pockets to make it through Covid-19, plus regular turnover.

As long as the national/regional chains stay downtown, this shouldn't be anything to worry about, but (1) downtown still needs another large anchor store and (2) the office vacancy rate plus the slew of hotels which now must reflect significant overbuilding ought to be cause for concern.

[vistatiger]

The chance of downtown Greenville getting a department store is pretty much at zero. I mean if Charlotte and Atlanta no longer have one.

Edited November 26, 2020 by vistatiger

[Cityplanner]

2 hours ago, vistatiger said:

The chance of downtown Greenville getting a department store is pretty much at zero. I mean if Charlotte and Atlanta no longer have one.

Anchor store.  That could be anything from a Target to an Apple Store.  Anything to draw crowds. 

[gman430]

https://alchemywest.com for building at Broad and Falls Streets.