[combusean]

some reflections...

I do most of my shopping at chains and have noticed a "retail donut hole" around downtown.

Guitar Center and Fry's Electronics, are more or less equidistant from downtown. I can drive to North Phoenix or Tempe to go to these stores. I go to PetSmart or WalMart or Target or Costco on occasion...I prefer the Spectrum Mall locations for these stores but 40th-ish and Thomas is just as far from me.

When I was looking for a gym, I noticed Gold's has finally closed that for themselves. Same with Urban Outfitters. Instead of being "centrally located to nothing" as Central Phoenix sometimes feels like, something feels actually here for once. Of course, those are just two brands.

Somewhere I read, I think it was John that pointed out that another CityScape store, Urban Outfitters, indicates to other retailers that formerly sketchy areas like downtown are "ready" on some level for mass market appeal and gentrification, that it's safe for other chains to open a location here.

I was at a Roosevelt meeting, still on a Chicago high, and we were talking about Urban Form. I mentioned that one thing downtown Phoenix is lacking that are in other cities are "stumps" that are 5 or 6 stories but crammed to the brim with department stores on upper floors and pedestrian friendly shops on lower floors. Their comparatively lower height balances out the scale of large surrounding buildings. And I had been wanting a Macy's downtown for a while.

Needless to say, that did not go over well, and is part of the reason I don't go to Roosevelt meetings. A bitch at the table declared the Q&A was over, the lady with the accent leading the discussion schooled me on boutique retail like I didn't already know.

Some random questions:

Where do you guys do your shopping? I'm mostly looking at non-grocery items but those are apropos to: do you get most of your basic stuff at one place or do you go to lots of places? Especially for random things like hobbies (art, music, athletics, etc.) are you going to get it at a chain store or independent shop? How far do you have to drive?

In "looking forward" to the next cycle...whenever it comes...I'd like to say downtown Phoenix was a classic example of bad timing. The boom was mostly good to us, but it was too late and too little: most of the money was spent in California first, and we didn't have anything open yet that started to draw people in finally like ASU, light rail, or a major anchor like CityScape. I think the next cycles should finally give us a tower crane count of respectable cities.

What will that next boom offer in terms of construction? In terms of projects and judging what we've built so far, what's next? What does the retail look like in what you want built?

CityScape is the first complex since Arizona Center to offer stores that don't typically cater to the 9-5 office worker or tourist kitsch. The vast majority of the complex will still be this--the restaurant mall will be as busy during lunch as dinner. We all know how AZ Center turned out, however--it didn't survive as a destination and much of its retail was converted to office. (Yet somehow the BCBG New York store survives. I don't fucking understand that at all) CityScape will open with as much fanfare in similar bad times. What do you think will happen to CityScape over the long term?

What should downtown look like and offer to solve all your retail needs?