urbanSTL

I only hope that the hours of the downtown Ace are conducive to residential shopping. Within 2 blocks of my house in Carondelet is a great hardware store, unfortunately it closes at 5:30 pm during the week and is not open Saturday or Sunday. The few times I have been able to make it in during those hours I am frequently told by the staff that it does not make business sense to stay open later. In addition a new Ace opened up in Lemay a few years ago and also quickly cut their evening hours which made it almost impossible to shop when I needed to, forcing me to drive all the way to Southside Hardware on Hampton (love that place). Thank God for the new Lowes in Loughborough Commons at least they are more customer service sensitive.

I doubt that the Lowes in Loughborough Commons is more customer service sensitive, necessarily. It's likely the case that this area attracts more customer traffic which provides a business case to have extended hours. Can it be frustrating? Yeah, but that's life sometimes.



I'd think that the ACE woun't just cater to the office environment. If so, hours are likely to be more flexible for downtown residents. If they can stay open until 7-8pm on weekdays, that gives most residents time to get what they need.

If your business is going to keep limited hours -- or even if you're going to have an 8-hour day -- but you're nervous about foot traffic or the economy, why not just switch up the start and end times?



Example: A business selling widgets is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. That business is only going to get stay-at-home parents, office workers during lunch, and workers who somehow are going home before the end of the typical business day.



But! If you change your hours to 11 a.m.-7 p.m., you can still pull the 8-hour day AND get the after-work people AND retain the previous customer groups. As a bonus, your employees aren't fighting traffic or messing with stuffed trains and buses during the typical rush hours, so they're likely to be happier.



I mean, why not? Is it that much more expensive to tack hours onto the end of the day instead of the beginning? Do the customers from 9 a.m.-11 a.m. reeeeally cause that huge of a profit? Am I crazy?

I never understood hardware stores that are closed Saturday and Sunday. Seems to me that that's when homeowners are busy doing their maintenance stuff.



But then, I don't own a hardware store, so what do I know?

Framer wrote:I never understood hardware stores that are closed Saturday and Sunday. Seems to me that that's when homeowners are busy doing their maintenance stuff.



But then, I don't own a hardware store, so what do I know?

I'm guessing some stores cater solely to the professional handyman/repairman/contractor demographic, so don't bother with us riff-raff consumers.



Personally, I think there's a pretty big market there. If I owned a store, I'd probably be there from 8 am - 9 pm every day M-Sat. After a couple months of that, I'd cut hours based on sales / hour. Yes, owning a small business is a lot of work...

JuiceInDogtown wrote:^ You must have went to college. I don't think there's a single college textbook that doesn't use a widgets example somewhere in it

Honey, the textbooks in Ohio used "widget" from third grade on. I grew up thinking there was an actual product called a widget, and I was desperate to know what the hell it was!!!

Well, that's what I was asking.



And if that's the case, then maybe extend your hours the other way and pick up the pre-work folks instead of the after-work folks. That way you're still serving the stay-at-homers and odd-timers but also serving the residents/regular workers.

email I received today...



FOR A LIMITED TIME TAKE ADVANTAGE OF FIRST MONTHS FREE ON ALL 2 Bed 2 Baths



A $1395 VALUE !!!



Come see why Ely Walker is 70% leased in just 3 months.



Hurry in while units are still available!!!

The Ely Walker Leasing Team

314.436.7451

www.elywalkerlofts.com



1520 Washington Ave.

OPen 7 days a week

M-F 9-6 Sat 10-4 Sun 12-4

Does anyone have an example of an urban Ace hardware store? I can't imagine the business case of an Ace-sized hardware store catering to a building of renters. What goes into the Lawn and Garden section?



Then again, this is a pretty cool store, albeit it in a much more dense urban area.



http://www.urbanhardware.com/index.php



I don't know if I'm ready to believe that Ace is the Place...for Wash Ave.

Half of the owners in this building own their unit. I actually needed to make a run to the hardware store today and would have went to Ace had it been opened.

There is an Ace Hardward here in Boston in the Beacon Hill Area.

There were quite a few urban Ace Hardware's in Chicago neighborhoods when I lived there.



You'd be surprised that even renters need a place like this to get things like light bulbs, grills, picture hangers, etc...

I am a long time reader of URBANSTL and enjoy the idealism and commitment to urban living in St. Louis among its members.  I moved to Ely Walker when it first opened, and continue to live there.  I am just a regular person, and am trying to live in St. Louis safely and with dignity.  I am posting today to highlight some facts about living in the building that prevent me from being safe or enjoying my home.

1.  A shooting death occurred in the lobby of the building, related to a party hosted at one of the residential units.  It appears to have been a targeted killing.  A bystander was injured.  

2.  The common areas of the building have been allowed to degrade.  The elevators, lobby, hallways, stairwells, trash chutes and gym are grimy.  There have been no major renovations or repainting for 15 years.  

3.  The majority of units at Ely Walker are owned by Lux Living (Victor Alston and Sid Chakraverty).  The Board of Directors are controlled by Lux Living, and other condominium owners have no say with regard to how the building should be run.

4.  Management of the building was recently taken over by Smith Management.  The disrepair at the building is not their fault since they have just started managing the building.  They have been much more responsive than Rafco or Sentry Management which were the previous management companies.

5.  There have been no updates from Lux Living or Smith Management regarding the shooting death or repairs to the lobby.  

I hope that this post leads to advice from the URBANSTL community regarding how to deal with Lux Living.  At the very least, I hope that it will serve as a guide for people looking to rent or purchase at Ely Walker.  It is a building with incredible potential that is being mismanaged.  

Thanks for posting. Let me shop this around and I’ll DM you at some point.

Thank you!  I appreciate any help you can give to me and other residents at Ely Walker.  The woes at the building stem from greed and ineptitude from its original developer, Orchard Development (now defunct), and its current majority owner, Lux Living.  Orchard got caught by the Great Recession in 2007 but acted ignobly by selling only up to 49% of units, and converting the remaining 51% to rental.  They then sold the rental units to another real estate company, which in turn sold it to Lux Living.  Lux Living controls the Board of Directors because of their majority owner status.  Other condominium owners have no say in the running and maintenance of the building.  Lux Living maximizes profits from their rental units by pricing them high but providing very substandard service.  They need to be held to account.

You all should, at the least, have a conversation with Peter Hoffman at LSEM.

Thank you both.  It appears that some residents have filed a lawsuit against Aconcagua LLC and Sid Chakraverty in September 29, 2021.  Aconcagua LLC is one of many fronts used by Lux Living.  

https://stlrecord.com/stories/608582624 ... ssociation

CaseNet link: https://www.courts.mo.gov/casenet/cases ... cket=false

It's interesting to hear that the condo owners have no say because when I recently toured the building, the rep from Lux told me that Ely Walker is one of their better cared-for properties because the condo owners manage a lot of the building's upkeep. I agree that the common areas look like they have been neglected—paint chipping everywhere, inconsistent floorboards, etc. 

I'd also recommend contacting LSEM. I have some contacts there if you have any questions.

Thank you both for your comments.  Individual condominium owners at Ely Walker have no say in the upkeep and management of the building.  The Board of Directors is controlled by Lux Living, which means that they get to set the budget and projects for the building.  The last time a condominium meeting was held was in January 2021.  It lasted for less than 20 minutes and culminated in the election of Sid Chakraverty to the board.  His term ends in March 2023.  There have been no meetings regarding the budget for 2022.  In fact, Smith Management mistakenly sent the budget for 2020 Washington Avenue to Ely Walker condominium owners instead.  If you live in 2020 Washington Avenue, some of us in 1520 Washington Avenue have your budget for 2022.

There is already a suit against Sid and Vic. Hopefully it goes to trial soon.

Thank you!  I hope the lawsuit leads to a change in management practices at Ely for the sake of all the residents.