Buffalo Rising Online

What about promoting Downtown as a "Destination" to tourists? With the Canal Side coming along, Bass Pro and more downtown housing, developers should be promoting thier spaces to National Retailers now and spuring interests ASAP.

Gausted, it's already been signed and the Aud is coming down to make way for BASS PRO, deal with it. it's coming.

bass pro should have a lasting impression on the commercial strip. It just needs to be closer to the buffalo news then the old sabres aud. I don't like it as a main attraction (because its the objective of the buildings to serve the waterfront) and considering our remorseful waterfront is cut of with the 190; I don't see how the current location suits the whole large fishing perspective? It does not have that one-two punch with Peal St. oh that’s even if it gets built! However the canals are a real selling point.

The plan for the 500 block of Main Street sounds like a real homerun. There are enough housing options to almost make the 1 tim hortons seem like a real barnburner.

i hope this little trickle of businesses starts an avalanche

I think the most important thing to take from this trend is things have gotten better for downtown. It might not be bringing in chains (who freaking cares) or an avalanche but slow steady progress is important to buildings momentum. We don't want to be a city that grows faster than its means and there are sure a lot of other issues we need to work out along the way. So I say bring on the retail and downtown living options, support them and enjoy the newfound sense of optimism and take it as a tool for pressuring for change in our schools, sewer system, environment, taxes etc.

“We still don’t have the chains yet,” - I echo sbrof, who cares? If you want to shop at a chain, go to the Galleria. Give me one of our many fine local eateries over a chain restaurant any time. Sure, chain retail stores tend to feature lower prices than independents, but when you can walk or take public transit to your retail destination, especially with the cost of gas and vehicle maintenance, I think you'll find the added expense is offset and the quality of service is superior.

CM's references the national retail chains only as a benchmark- when you start seeing national retailers locate downtown, it will be a harbinger that downtown's demographics (population and income) have reached the thresholds they look for. Most chains base their location decisions strictly on the numbers, local entrepreneurs less so.

I'm still trying to figure out why BRO has such a fascination with retail. They seem to equate success in Buffalo with people opening stores. Who is going to shop at those stores? Other than a few places in tourist areas, no money comes into the area in local retail! When a company comes in who sells their products outside the area (say, a financial services company, or even a customer service operation like Geico), they pay salaries to local people, moving money from outside the region to the people here. When you open a retail shop, you move money from the people here to outside suppliers. Why do you relentlessly promote this at the expense of real economic growth?

Sure, cool stores add to our quality of life here. But I'd much rather see office buildings being filled by tech startups over coffee shops and chain stores that suck the money away from our area.

At a time when most businesses are struggling due to the economic climate, it is encouraging to see more shops opening in downtown Buffalo. At least it isn't continuing to slide, as it has been doing for several decades. Certainly better paying jobs and more people working downtown will help, but these all go hand in hand. With more development downtown, retail or otherwise, there will be more people interested in living downtown, opening stores downtown, visiting etc.

I can say that the company I work for is looking at the development downtown with interest to see if it is right for us to open a store there as well. Maybe it will be a few years down the road, but we are hopeful that the development will continue.

Anyone who ever visits the current retail stores, Get Dressed, Jenny Shop, etc. will see for themselves just how busy they get and why they plan to STAY Downtown and why we NEED more retail downtown. A demand is there already, national or local, we already have a large amount of people working and visiting downtown daily who do support the current and any new retail to the area. It's slow right now, but with more interest, more housing and companies taking interest and moving to the city's core, you're gonna see the city actually look like a real city again.

Will the Main Place Mall ever turn around and get a national/anchor retailer? (other than the dollar store?) Or should it be knocked to the ground?

Back in the mid ninties when I lived with down state friends during college they used to call it the crack mall. Granted I have not been there in along time, has it changed much?

theres no denying downtown and buffalo is shaping up and progress is being made. We still need more police on the streets, Ive been helping my friends move into the Webb Lofts this week- Twice in one week people had their car windows smashed in right in front of the webb building, they got a GPS out of a black escalade (a woman from NYC living in the webb lofts on a 6 month stay in buffalo). This happened in broad daylight on a saturday afternoon. and the other im not sure what they got it was a gust of my friends dinner party. If this stuff keeps up the thousands that have moved downtown in the past 2 years will be out just as fast as they were in. And of course one of the new fancy cameras are no where to be found.. most likely because rocco or the owner of pearl street arent kissing mayor browns ass.

The Main Place Mall is still a dead mall, it just needs new managment and a marketing director to get it Going Again- Promoted to National Retailers and Revamped to attract them.

"until they [chains] are willing to open retail locations in that area there is no point in really promoting downtown as a tourist destination"

because the reason i travel to cities is to shop at GAP and JC Penny to buy the same stuff I can buy at home.. I understand using it as a metrics of a changed demographic but thinking that downtown isn't good enough without chains is a total misconception.

sbrof, you don't have to travel to a city just to shop at GAP, but if its there in conjunction with other events you may just puruse. Cities need to have the full gammit of novities and activities for both residents and visitors. I bet some of those new young professionals in the lofts would love a GAP or other national retailor. Just because they may not be the vision of certain people, many others like to shop at chains, and would see their return to downtown as a reason to go down there, as an alternative to the mall. Besides, cities tend to have a hierarchy of retail and its a good thing. There's nothing wrong with having local shopping districts (Elmwood) and areas with national retailers. As long as they take up storefronts instead of being in strip malls then it is a win for the city. Main street could surely use an influx of these types of tenants.

GDC, you dont think the MPLG has tried to get national retailers in? Like it has been already said, without a magical number of certain incomes of people living within a certain square mile it is not going to happen. To think the MPLG doesnt want to make money is ludicrous, can you imagine the cost of heat and AC alone in the mall? If there was a way I'm sure they would have brought them in. I promise they are working on it.

Who cares about Bass Pro (i would like to see them open), but i'm more excited about all of these small businesses opening. Much better for our economy as well. The money we spend here is all recycled in our community.

This new retail is a positive sign.....it's not alot....it's not time square.....many of these businesses will fail and be replaced by a new store. But these are people and businesses making an investement in a part of our region that hasn't seen investment in decades. The spin off (new taxes, construction jobs) benifit all of us, even us in Amherst!

More office tenants and alot more living opportunities will just mean more small retail businesses. I can't imagine we will see a target or a walmart in downtown buffalo in our lifetime, not enough people in the CBD. But who cares, when i have to go there.....it's a 20 minute drive.

I'm excited about whats happening in the city.....slowly but surely!

The area as a whole has the demographics. What is needed for the Main Place mall is a one-stop place to shop at unique retailers not found anywhere else in the area. If there are locations out in the burbs it will not get off the ground. It needs to be a unique shopping environment to get people to go out of their way to visit.

The amount of people in the picture above is not the norm. Another thing about that picute is it reveals just how much the current metro-rail stops block visual access to Main St. This is a problem at all of the cross streets to the pedestrian mall.

Retail is just one aspect of life. Trying to make it better in the city is not at odds with promoting new jobs, etc. Lets bring up schools too while we are at it ;)

damp - those people in the picture are paid actors. Nobody from the burbs walks down main st in the middle of the day.

Yes Carl I have, and I disagree that they aren't that great. They have a far greater selection of products than Gander Mountain, Dicks, or any of the other local outdoor stores combined.

If you look at any successful plaza or mall, they all have one thing in common, an anchor store. That's what Bass Pro is. They are the anchor store for the Canalside project. They will bring the masses, allowing for the smaller, dependant retail stores to follow. This will cause Canalside to be a destination center, unlike the rest of downtown because the demographics are not there and is too far from Canalside to feed off of it.

Retailers look at the trade area around the proposed store. They will look at a 1-mile, 3-mile and 5-mile ring to carve out a trade area. The majority of their customers will come from the 1-mile and 3-mile rings. When they look at the population, it is a good possibility that, in downtown, they will be satisfied. But when they look at the all important median household income and disposable income, it will not work. Here is an example:

Famous Footwear Looking for : 100,000+ population within a 5-mile radius Median HH Income of $50,000+ within 5-mile radius

Using the Tishman Building at 10 Lafayette Square as a reference point, the demographics show: 1-Mile 3-mile 5-mile Population 15,347 112,378 274,495 Med. HH Income $19,529 $24,038 $27,639

Doesn't work, does it. Until these income figures change, downtown will not see a critical mass of retail. Small, locally owned shops will open, but all will be specialty shops catering to the daytime population or the small, wealthier, residential population. Large amounts of retail will not fill the storefronts of the city, local or national.

I wish this was different, as my profession is as a real estate broker in retail sales and leasing, but it isn't.

It's true, the Main Place Mall would rather turn the entire building into one big office, just look at the second floor today and half the first floor and what about the delay of 50 Court Street? (surface lot right now) that Main Place wants to take over it's OFFICE TENENTS. If they really tried to lure National Retailers they would Update the 1960's look inside and out and make it ATTRACTIVE for retailers and visitor's. And create a marketing technique that would be made news worthly that it would even make a story on this very site.

After spending a few years living on the west coast and frequenting cities with vibrant downtown areas, Ive observed a lot of things that Buffalo is lacking in and how things could get better and the whole "retail" issue has piqued my interest. In order for retail to flourish downtown, there need to be better paying jobs downtown which will attract more resident to live downtown which will attract more retail. I agree that nice mom and pop stores are uniqe to Buffalo but I notice so many people take such a hard-line stance against national retail chains moving into the area. Its seems like native Buffalonians are scared to have a major retail giants like a Nordstrom or a Ruth's Chris (steakhouse) move into the area. The attitudes and ideas of people are so narrow-minded. I don' live in Buffalo but did for about 25 years. After moving back to the area (I don't live in Buffalo but a few hours away), the narrow-mindedness is one of the things I notices was so prevalent upon coming back to the area.

How nice would it be to see a Banana Republic or Gap-like national chain stores open up on Main Street which would appeal to the young professionals. Or some nice high-end restaurants like someone mentioned a Morton's or a PF Changs.

Now Buffalo is no San Diego but look at their downtown. THey have the vibrant Horton Plaza which boasts ALL kinds of national retailers and is a toruist destination for all who come to visit the city of San Diego. San Diego has a LOT of downtown housing albeit it is way more expensive than Buffalo's. THey also have a lot of high paying jobs that fuel the economic and business activity in their downtown core. Buffalo has an uphill battle in attracting the high paying jobs to its core due to the high taxes, construction costs, political climate, and cold weather which make it less attractive to lure out of towners but if there are jobs, people will come. However, if the city can succesfully attract high paying jobs to the downtown core, more disposable income, more people to spend it, more retail.

Oh and I forgot to add, I wouldn't be getting too excited about a Tim Horton's or a Dunkin' Donuts opening up downtown.

I so love that so many voices are saying the same thing: It's about the high-paying jobs, not retail (mom-and-pop, chain, or otherwise). And the points people make about local residents being narrow minded (and myopic in obsessing about retail) I really don't mean to be negative but I think it's important to listen to these voices and understand that high-paying jobs need to be a public concern and ongoing public discussion. I see many issues tackled in this blog but I don't see any consistent coverage of that topic.

God, I am so tired of Bass Pro "the saviar of Buffalo". People seem to forget thay we are paying them to open here. I am sure we would get a Banana Republic, Gap etc if we built them buildings, give them tax relief and nominal rent also. I went to "Canal Side" the other evening. Done after 7 minutes. The area still needs a lot of work, lots and lots of retail, theatres and eatery's before it is considered a destination point. Sure, Bass Pro will be a stepping stone, but a small one at best. Now, if we had the high paying jobs and a few hundred thousand new jobs in the area, these chains would be clamoring to get to our waterfront.

I love EB Greens but, as with a LOT of other restaurants like the Chop House, EB Green's and others have had to entice people to come to the restaurant with coupons in the Gusto and honoring Entertainment Card discounts. Restaurants that are thriving and doing well don't need to entice people to come down by the use of coupons in the Gusto. Its a bad sign. You would never see a prominent high-end steakhouse or restaurant in a major downtown center trying to entice people to come to eat via the use of coupons.