The Observation Deck

DL,

I think you are right. With the demolition of schools, maybe the BOE can move to one of those sites and leave the Warren Rd. area open for commercial development. They would get more money from selling the BOE building than they would from one in a neighborhood.

Bill Call wrote:
What would you like to see at Bunt's road? Or at the current Post Office site? A new board of education building?

Good point about the dueling Drug Marts, Wal marts, etc. Same could be said about Marc's and others.

A major retailer would be good for Lakewood, I just thought saturation could be an issue, but, as I sometimes do, I posted before thinking my point through.

Just thinking, would a major department store hurt Geiger's at all?

Bill Call wrote:

Jim O'Bryan wrote:Let's pull together to make this a good Christmas for everyone.

This illustrates why a pro-active development department is important for the economic health of the City.

The City has a great opportunity with the closing of the Bunts Road Giant Eagle. A high traffic retailer on that lot can be the anchor for smaller stores in Lakewood much like a department store is the anchor in a shopping mall.

Huh?

How does asking people to go into stores owned mostly by Lakewoodites, that line Detroit and Lakewood and need shoppers this season illustrate anything you mentioned?

How does an anchor (which I agree with Charyn the post office is) on Bunts with NO SHOPPING AROUND IT help any business. Or does it kill business in every area but there.

"A very poor underprivileged person might think that it would be wonderful to have an automobile or a television set, and should he acquire them, at the beginning he would feel very happy. Now if such happiness were something permanent, it would remain forever. But it does not, it goes. After a few months he wants to change the models. The old ones, the same objects, now cause dissatisfaction. This is both the nature of change and the problem with it." Dali Lama

While a Kohls would provide some small satisfaction for a few, it would be the death call for another 5 shops in Lakewood. If people really want Lakewood to stay healthy, moving in the right direction, then the small shop owners need to be supported.

FWIW



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Jim O'Bryan wrote:While a Kohls would provide some small satisfaction for a few, it would be the death call for another 5 shops in Lakewood. If people really want Lakewood to stay healthy, moving in the right direction, then the small shop owners need to be supported.

25 years ago Lakewood had a small department store across from Geigers. Was the retail environment better or worse for the small store front?

When Dillards moved to Great Northern did all the smaller stores close up shop or did they look forward to the customer traffic?

If Lakewood had a department store would it improve the business climate by attracting shoppers? I think so. There is no evidence that having a department store in downtown destroys other businesses. When the downtown Dillards closed did the small shops on Euclid prosper?

I bought my furniture at Plantation Home, my car at Spizter and my candy at Sweet Designs. I have to go out of town to by items sold by department stores. I try to shop Lakewood whenever I can.

On the other hand people are not going to shop in Lakewood out of a sense of of patriotic duty, stores have to offer quality, convenience, novelty, service and price.

With a little imagination the store fronts in Lakewood could provide novelty and convenience and quality.

A department store in Lakewood would be healthy for all retailers.

The biggest obstacle to a healthy store front environment is not the City or its residents, it's the people who own the buildings. Very few of them are willing to put large amounts of money into renovations that would enhance Lakewood's shopping environment. Perhaps a department store in Lakewood would provide enough foot traffic to make expensive renovations worthwhile.

The Lakewood Tops Market was Tops busiest store, the Lakewood Drug Mart is Drug Marts busiest store. Lakewood would be a great place for a large department store. Maybe they just need to be asked.

While Lakewood's economic future is dependent upon a healthy housing market a vibrant retail environment wouldn't hurt.

VIVA LA HIGHJACKHERE!!!

At the southeast corner of the intersection of Warren and Detroit was Bailey's Department Store. Later it was called Nevilles. (Spelling?)

During the time it was Bailey's, I was way pre-teen, but I also remember shopping with Grandma, and we literally shopped only in Lakewood. A couple of times a year we'd go downtown Cleveland, to window-shop and come home with something from Hough's Bakery, near the Terminal Tower. The small shops in Lkwd were crowded and busy as my family remembers, with bakery shops, meat markets, dime stores, deli's, hardware stores, jewelry stores, you name it, and there would be many small shops in our city that had it.

Would a department store really have a negative impact? Would the same "type" of shopper go to Cerny's and Kohl's, or ignore one or the other?
Just a thought. Geiger's and Adler's both were going while Baily's was across the street.

I have to agree that a department store would be welcomed. Logistics of parking limit the options. But I don't think that the effect on other businesses should limit the city from being open to the idea. Here's my thought why. Those with the means to shop at our local habadasheries have transportation available to them to chose a dept store if they wish. Those who are pinching their pennies or even just cost conscious can also get to the store with the better prices, and will. When it comes to clothing, I can't think of a whole lot of places (if any) in Lakewood that would satisfy me as a cost driven shopper. By all means, if I've missed something let me know. Geiger's has some great looking items but it's a specialty store and I've yet to find anything that I consider to be a deal. What else is there Dots, Cerny, Mission, 2nd hand stores...
Consider this as well. When you have a business doing well, you expect your competitor to open up across the street. When an area isn't doing well there are two options; leave 'em the scraps and find greener pastuers or be the business that stakes out the land first. There are 50K customers in Lakewood and only a small percentage of them are shopping in Lakewood. That sounds like a market fit to be picked. It would be a shame if the voice that won out if this was a real option was saying, "no. we don't want you. we prefer to have 4 little apparel shops just getting by. we like the idea of our residents going to another city to shop."

Shawn

I have to agree with your thoughts. In any vibrant district, theatre, entertainment, shopping, there is a synergy that developes amoung the businesses. It is simplistic to disregard this synergy as a negative impact on a business that may be the "only one in town". More shopping opportuities bring more shoppers. More restaurant opportunities, more diners. The flats flourished because there were so many clubs. Sucessful malls continue to be sucessful because of the number of shopping opportunities present...even when they are competing. Would the West end of Detroit be as vibrant if there was only ATC? Would an Appleby's on the GE site kill the Winking Lizard or increase traffic so that both succeed (and spawn further like kind development)?

Jeff

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There is a very entertaining article at the bottom of the front page of the plain dealer today that demonstrates the synergistic benefits that can be realized by similar operations located nearby one another.

and once again, retail is not the end all be all of economic development. Yet when asked to shop in Lakewood for the holidays, the absence of the "mega-store" be it a Kohl's or Target or Best Buy makes it more challenging than it's worth to me. I love authentic bars and restaraunts and service category businesses but when it comes to retail, I need some name recognition. Clothing, electronics, books, music; for those items, I hate to say it but give me a mall.

"there's nothing like the smell of commerce in the morning." - Brody

I guess I'm the wet blanket here. Yes, on a day to day basis, I'll try and shop Lakewood, but when it comes to Christmas shopping, I've been exclusively internet for 6 or 7 years. No Mall crowds, not searching for that perfect gift from store to store....no parking lot battles. Couple of internet searches (in the middle of the night perhaps) and what I really want to give is ordered on line....a few days later the nice man from UPS visits....

And while I certainly appreciate that a good Christmas can make or break your year, it would seem of more importance to stress "the Christmas (shopping) spirit" the other 11 months of the year.

Jeff[/code]