The Observation Deck

I drove by the Hollywood Video building yesterday and they were taking down the marquee sign and the Hollywood Video signs over the front doors.

It also looks like they've been doing other work there.

Does anyone know what's going on?

I think an Auto Zone is leasing the space. Unless Rent-to-Own out bid them.

I thought it would be a great place for a Trader Joe's but since Lakewood residents are ready, willing and able to shop at Trader Joe's at Crocker Park a store here wouldn't make any sense.

Thanks Bill.

There is a sign up in the window for Auto Zone.

I'm not quite so sure that Trader Joe's didn't decide to locate here because Lakewood residents are "ready willing and able" to shop at the Crocker Park one ... Trader Joe's seems very careful not to dilute their brand by having too many stores. After all, how many are in Cleveland right now? Just the one at Crocker Park and the one at Eton in Woodmere. There's been rumors about one in Mentor, but it hasn't shown up yet ... I think they'd spread themselves around Cleveland a bit more perhaps down south, out farther east, or more central (like Steelyard Commons), before deciding to build one just 10 minutes away from another one.

So the chances are that there's not a Trader Joe's here because perhaps they never even considered Lakewood? Certainly if anyone knows that they did seriously look at Lakewood, they should speak up, but it really seems odd ... why here, instead of Mentor/Concord/Painesville? Or down in Brecksville, or down around Macedonia?

c. dawson wrote:So the chances are that there's not a Trader Joe's here because perhaps they never even considered Lakewood? Certainly if anyone knows that they did seriously look at Lakewood, they should speak up, but it really seems odd ... why here, instead of Mentor/Concord/Painesville? Or down in Brecksville, or down around Macedonia?

Good point. Some of the business gained by another location might be lost by an existing location. I think that a Trader Joe's in Lakewood would do quite well. Some business would be lost by the Crocker Park Store but I think more would be gained by a Lakewood store. That's pure speculation.

The Auto Zone is probably paying 20,000 a month for rent. Some of the rents at Crocker Park are twice that.

Which reminds me of a pet peeve. If Auto Zone can afford to pay $30 a square foot for rent why is it that the Cleveland Clinic can only afford $2 a square foot for Lakewood Hospital? Is there really more money in a a $20 fuel filter than a $9,000 x-ray?

The Clinics lease requires that they provide a copy of audited financial statements to the public. So far they have ignored my repeated requests for that information. I wonder what they are hiding? I may give up or I may not.