A New J.C. Penny Store In Avon, Why Not Lakewood

[Stan Austin]

The only thing we know for sure is that since Lakewood is 15 minutes from everything there is no need to have anything here.[/quote]flouishdesire

certainly nothing like JC Pennys.---Let Avon go downscale. Lakewood never has been and never will be geographically appropriate for that kind of store.

The only so called department store in Lakewood was Bailey's/Nevilles but it really couldn't figure out how to appeal against Halles and Higbees at Westgate.

Let other cities take on the trash stores while we continue to promote our own individuality such as the recent MOMA LIA project last week.

[ryan costa]

Are there any tailoring or custom clothing shops in Lakewood?

The Plain Dealer often has obituaries of old people who had been seamstresses or tailors working in shops around Cleveland 50 years ago.

[Dee Martinez]

certainly nothing like JC Pennys.---Let Avon go downscale. Lakewood never has been and never will be geographically appropriate for that kind of store.
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As opposed to the elite Check Into Cash chain.
Wasnt JC Penney very heavily courted to be one of the anchors for the "original" Lakewood Town Center, the "good" one?

[sharon kinsella]

Ryan- There is a very good seamstress/tailor on Madison right next to the building that Justine's store was in.

[Bill Call]

Let other cities take on the trash stores while we continue to promote our own individuality such as the recent MOMA LIA project last week.

Some of Lakewoods store fronts could be attractive to small boutique stores. All things considered 50 small, successful shops along Detroit or Madison would be a preferable alternative. However, I don't see it happening because:

1. The stores would have to be within a half a mile or so of each other to attract shoppers.

2. There isn't enough free parking.

3. The owners of most store fronts in Lakewood have a heart attack at the thought of actually investing in their buildings.

4. Even a successful boutique community needs at least one large draw, a tourist attraction, department store, baseball fields, theaters, restaraunts, bars.....oh wait. Detroit has a lot of that now. It seems we are very close but just can't close the deal. What would it take to close the deal?

5. Main Street might close the deal but so far it has spent $200,000 and.....how are those lines coming along the cartage path?

By the way, I don't think I ever shopped at Penny's, I prefer Kohl's and only go shopping every fifth year.

[Gary Rice]

I just took a good looking sportcoat out of my closet to wear that I thought I'd bought a couple of years ago, only to discover pocket stuff showing that I'd had the coat probably 18 years or so...

Perhaps I need a trip to Geigers....

[jennifer scott]

Geiger's has a very good tailor and they also do custom made suits.

[Jeff Endress]

Went to Penny's recently to buy a vacuum cleaner. The store (out at Southgate) no longer stocked them......but they could order me one "on line". Hell, I could do that myself.

Which is part of the point. On line shopping has gotten so easy, and in many cases much more cost effective, the only reason to actually go into a store is:
1) If you have to touch and feel the item to decide or
2) You need it NOW

I can get my favorite shoes (size hasn't changed for a long time now) from Zappos....usually get free shipping, no sales tax.

Looking for an odd item....do a google search.

The only real purpose that most retail serves is either instant gratification or satisfaction of the need to see the item you're buying.

Jeff

[c. dawson]

I can't imagine any reason we'd want a JC Penney, or that Penney's would want to relocate here ... where is the freestanding building with a massive parking lot for them? And frankly, what do they really have anymore? It's mostly clothes ... in the "good old days," a department store was literally a mall within a single store ... there would be clothes, furniture, jewelry, perfume, books, sporting goods, records, a restaurant, photo studio, appliances, shoes, electronics, etc. What do they have now? Clothes, maybe some furniture (though more and more department stores are getting rid of that), some cookware (cheap stuff), jewelry and shoes. Sears has tools, unlike other department stores. It is a dying model in a sense ... because department stores moved from towns to malls ... and now malls are a dying breed, as shoppers move to "lifestyle centers" and "big box retailers." Now people go to a clothing store, an electronics store, a bookstore, a music store ... or to a lifestyle center that has all of those.

Lakewood's better served by attracting small retailers, specialty retail, restaurants, service companies, etc. If anything, sprucing up the storefronts, getting the stores/restaurants etc. in town to band together for marketing purposes and promotions would serve the city far better than wishing for a retailer that still clings to an old model that is being steadily passed up by the new model.

Let Avon turn into strip shopping hell. I grew up with that in Mentor, which is wall to wall shopping centers, a nightmare of traffic, and mostly bland chain restaurants. Anyone who wishes that sort of hell for Lakewood (and keeps crying out for Applebees, the blandest of the bland) is barking up the wrong tree. People are attracted to Lakewood because of our interesting shops and restaurants, tree-lined streets, grand old houses, and walkability. Let's not ruin that just to get a "savior" in the form of some department store, big-box retailer, or national restaurant chain that doesn't fit in.

[Bryan Schwegler]

Now I need to know. If the department store model is dying then what is replacing it? Catalog/internet sales? I would be surprised if it was boutique specialty shops. While there may be challenges with particular franchises, are individual shoppers not still making their purchases at one stop retail stores? Everyone is still wearing clothes and buying new items so where on earth are they coming from. I need to know.

Look at the stock and performance of all the large Department Store companies, they're doing extremely poorly. Their business model is dying, their time has passed, they're viewed by most newer retail shoppers as passe...their father or mother's place to shop. They're considered stodgy and boring. This is a documented business fact shown in study after study. That's why places like Sears are trying to reinvent themselves.

Bill hit the nail on the head as far as part of what's replacing them...specialty shops clustered together like Legacy Village or Crocker Park. But moreso it's the discount retailers like Target and Walmart. You can't be as naive to think that only department stores sell clothing.

People can argue otherwise, but business results and dollars spent tell the true story. Department stores, at least as classically defined, are a dying relic of a previous era.

I truly believe that if Lakewood could perhaps concentrate the store front area and come up with a solution to the perceived parking problem, we could easily become another shopping destination. However with a rather poor parking situation and miles of store fronts, there's just too much to make it convenient. In today's hectic world, convenience is a major part of the puzzle.

[Stephen Eisel]

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=JCP&t=my


http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=SHLD&t=5y


http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=KSS&t=my



http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=WMT&t=my

[Bill Call]

Let Avon turn into strip shopping hell. I grew up with that in Mentor, which is wall to wall shopping centers, a nightmare of traffic, and mostly bland chain restaurants. Anyone who wishes that sort of hell for Lakewood (and keeps crying out for Applebees, the blandest of the bland) is barking up the wrong tree. People are attracted to Lakewood because of our interesting shops and restaurants, tree-lined streets, grand old houses, and walkability. Let's not ruin that just to get a "savior" in the form of some department store, big-box retailer, or national restaurant chain that doesn't fit in.

That makes sense to me.

How do we get from here to there?

The Mainstreet program has a lot of potential and the right person running the show. I guess we will see.

On the other hand, there might be an advantage to having a larger retailer like Kohl's or Penny's in downtown Lakewood. I wouldn't want to see a string of such stores but one might provide just enough traffic to help those smaller stores. You have to sell a lot of soup to pay the rent.

[Justine Cooper]

I hate malls but actually wouldn't mind having some old fashioned anchor department store here. I have no idea where but the smalls stores each specialize in something different so I don't think it would be competition. Is Winking Lizard competition for the small restaurants (maybe it is I don't know) but it does bring people from outside of Lakewood here. Not Kohl's! I do miss the old Higbees being downtown all decorated. That would be cool to bring in a department store with some old fashioned flair. Probably not possible though.

In case you question wasn't rhetorical Shawn, I have bought clothes online but don't like to because you can't try them on, but buy a lot of other stuff that way that I can't get in Lakewood. I also love second hand shops so that after someone pays big bucks and wears it once I can get it at a fraction! Great designer dresses with tags on from CA at Designer Consignor by the way!

[Dee Martinez]

Another city gets a store and a dozen people write to say there REALLY glad it isnt here.
I love Lakewood. We even reject things that no one has proposed.

George Clooney? Are you listening? "Syriana" was boring. So dont bother asking me out, OK?

[c. dawson]

Maybe we should have new forum on the Observation Deck, called "Recommendations" where we can talk up local stores and service providers that we use and like, so that if someone is curious about a good barber, or a good drycleaner, or a good bakery, they could go right to that forum and find out ... these things have been mentioned here before on other threads, but as time goes on they get buried by newer topics. So this way, they have their own forum, and on the Recommendations forum we can break it into threads, like "clothing stores," "barbers/hairstylists" "tailors" etc.

Just like neighbors talking across the backyard fence, recommending where they would go for a particular good or service ...