urbanSTL

debaliviere wrote:

kbshapiro wrote:E) MOST IMPORTANTLY...CVS/WGs job is to make money for shareholders, if they felt they could make money downtown, they'd be here. So support everyone you can until you get the retailers you want.

I don't know why they feel they can't. I've visited downtowns similar to ours in which there are multiple CVS and Walgreens stores, and not too long ago we had two Walgreens here in downtown STL. It seems to me that there's money to be made by whichever one wants to step up and build a store first.

Most internal real estate guys at retail companies utilize a formula to figure out if a particular location works for them. If it doesn't fit their criteria, they automatically throw it out. Some city officials/developers/brokers are very proactive in their recruitment of national companies and can persuade them to a new location that was initially off of the retail company's radar. With that said, proper retail recruitment is a team effort.

Yep they look at stats and not the actual site.

So are you saying that the city or the partnership is not proactive in trying to woo retail?

downtown2007 wrote:Yep they look at stats and not the actual site.

I would imagine the stats include other chain stores located within x feet (CVS loves to put a store right next to a Walgreens, right?). Maybe getting a Dollar Store downtown will make it look more attractive, statistically, to other bandwagon-jumping stores and we'll see more interest in chains leasing space downtown.

Before you know it we'll be complaining over our CRISPY HONEY-CHIPOTLE CHICKEN CRISPERS® about how downtown has become a soulless neighborhood overrun with generic chains

downtown2007 wrote: So are you saying that the city or the partnership is not proactive in trying to woo retail?

From my experience, the city waits for retailers to call them. The partnership is pretty much the same. The partnership doesn't even have an up to date list of available retail and office spaces.

I thought of this thread on Saturday when I was in Kansas City as I noticed there is a Dollar Tree in the middle of the Westport neighborhood

Granted it's within a shopping center a couple of blocks away from the heart of the more historic part of the district. But still that's considered a pretty desirable nabe of KC and my friends that live there said they never thought of it as out of place.

kbshapiro wrote:Correct, the store will be a normal sized dollar store. As soon as the lease is finalized, I'll let you all know. The other big deal I've been discussing will be public within a week or so.

Looks like they chose Soulard.

gone corporate wrote:^Any more info you could share? What site have they chosen? Is it in Soulard proper or in Kosciusco? Thanks

The Bread Co. strip mall: http://nextstl.com/forum/viewtopic.php? ... 0&start=90

Has the immediate possibility of a downtown Dollar Store been precluded by the new Soulard location?

If a Dollar Store does open downtown, it wouldn't be the first time:


The 1878 book A Tour of St. Louis has some great things to say about the St. Bernard Dollar Store: "A visit to St. Louis is not complete without a critical inspection of the St. Bernard, the contents of which fairly confound the visitor by the profusion of elegant articles, comprising almost every conceivable household utensil, ornament, notion, fancy goods, etc., and the yet more surprising price at which they are sold."

I'd love a Thirty Dollar Store. A one-stop shop for all my fancy goods.

I don't have issues with dollar stores, I just wish, as I do for other chain stores, that they would be built within existing building or using architecture more fitting of their surroundings.