[emathias]

Originally Posted by ardecila

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And before anyone trots out the factoid about how America is over-retailed... that's largely a suburban problem. I've seen no evidence that Chicago or other core-city markets have too much retail space, especially on the big-box end. If anything, city neighborhoods are under-served by chains. Inner-ring neighborhoods swamp the stores along Elston, Clybourn, and Roosevelt on weekends, but outer neighborhoods go to Oak Lawn, North Riverside or Lincolnwood because those options mostly don't exist in the city. We haven't really seen a ton of store closures in the city either, at least not closures due to over-expansion and weak demand.

I agree that most recent closures have been due to chains having trouble overall, not specifically with Chicago necessarily.

Originally Posted by the urban politician

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A nicely designed shopping district is an experience that one cannot replicate whilst sitting in their pajamas passing gas on their couch browsing a laptop.

I completely agree, especially for things like clothes. Even with generous mail-order return policies, I much prefer shopping for anything like clothes or food in person. The idea of waiting for clothes to be delivered and then trying it on and then mailing it back if I don't like the fit or the way it looks on me just seems really tedious and inconvenient compared to going and trying it on or inspecting it in person and knowing right away if it fits and/or I like it.

Originally Posted by jpIllInoIs

The last thing we need is another "shopping district" especially in that area. First any out of town shoppers are heading to Mich Ave and State St. And west/south loopers have big box hell Roosevelt. Anything that diverts shoppers off of Mich Ave and State Street is not a benefit. ...

I strongly disagree. A huge part of the advantage of living in a dense city is convenience and the ability to get things without a car in a reasonable amount of time. To make that work, every dense neighborhood should have its own retail district or even multiple districts if it's a geographically large neighborhood like Lakeview, which does have multiple retail corridors.. It's nice to have access to Michigan Avenue and State Street, but it's hardly convenient to only use them, even for basic things, especially if you don't commute to the Loop. I love s ten minute walk from North Michigan Avenue, and yet I still like having a few things on Wells Street and in River North instead of having to always go to N.Mich. in fact, with all the new residences and retail space from the recent projects on and near Wells Street I hope that we get more than just convenience stores, pharmacies, banks, and restaurants in the new retail space. It would not only benefit the residents, but the workers in nearby offices.

For example a Banana Republic or Gap or Zara our American Apparel on Wells would be welcome for the convenience of being able to pop in and get basics when needed instead of wading through the tourists on Michigan. One of the nice things about the Belmont and Broadway area is the Gap on Broadway and other shops where you can find either basics or more boutique items. I'd love to see Wells south of Chicago Are develop a retail scene like the ones near Damen/North or Belmont/Broadway or Lincoln Square or Clark/Diversey or Logan Square. It's great that River North has easy access to Michigan Avenue, but it would still be even better if it had, in addition to that, a smaller-scaled neighborhood shopping corridor with a basic clothing store and maybe a shoe store and bookstore and some specially shops.

Originally Posted by KWillChicago

It's starting to fill in the Ryan canyon nicely, but why aren't developers interested in the land on the east side of the expressway? They could start up a whole new shopping district that would be closer to the loop, trains and restraunts. Kind of like a replica greek town on Halsted but closer to peoples work buildings. Office depot and parking around presidential towers would be a good start.

It's the Kennedy West of the Loop - the Ryan is south of the Circle Interchange.

If the City would find a way to construct the Clinton Subway or especially the once proposed West Loop Transportation thing, that would happen organically on Clinton. Even without that, both Clinton and Canal are seeing more retail than was there even just as decade ago.