mallguy

Unfortunately the "Neighborhood Market" might have some challenges. Being independently-run will be tough. The owner of the property should just lure a mini-chain such as Southern Season or the like.

Yes, I would like a Target at the Greenville News site. It would work well for one because the soccer moms who will not walk anywhere could park right behind it. It could be very well-designed. White Plains, NY has a Target (and a Walmart) across from its City Hall (and a Ritz-Carlton); Boston had a Woolworth's right down from the State House; and there are plenty of other examples. For people who look down at a Target downtown do the burger place (former Hot Dog King) and parking lot just north of the Greenville News site, and the liquor store just to the east, look better?

The Greenville News building needs a high-traffic retailer. I'm thinking a Saks Off Fifth could be an option. Maybe a Container Store, although those seem to locate in higher-end malls near Bloomingdale's or the like? I'd still really like an urban Target.

Movie theaters have lower sales per square foot than other types of stores. Downtown has enough restaurants, too, so I'd just have preferred a destination retailer. One may come, but a fitness center and movie theater aren't the "national retailers" that articles in the Greenville News had alluded to.

Surprisingly, nationwide, independent hard-copy bookstores are on the upswing and are opening again; this is just a reflection of the trend. Digital bookselling isn't necessarily doing great; look at Barnes & Noble: the physical bookstores are doing OK and the Nook division is not.

I'm not exactly ecstatic about a fitness center and a dine-in movie theater at this location. I was thinking something higher-profile. McAlister Square had a fitness center and a movie theater, and now-defunct Biltmore Square in Asheville had a dine-in movie theater, as does the Arboretum in Charlotte. I was hoping for a nice high-end retailer or a major traffic generator.

CP isn't buying out CSX; even if both parties wanted to do the deal, the Obama administration would block it. CP's main passenger train interaction would be with VIA, Canada's version of Amtrak, which (VIA) is shrinking, so CP might not have all of the institutional experience and productive working relationship with passenger train operators that US railroads have.

Driving by McAlister Marketplace (the strip center in the McAlister Square parking lot, next to the Camelot movie theater) today, it seems like McAlister Marketplace is almost now totally dead. The sole remaining tenants are a church and a nail salon or something. Is it being redeveloped, or is it just finally succumbing to the mall's fate and dying on its own?

Belk at Dutch Square is closing in January 2015. As I've said, once a Southern mall loses its Chick-fil-A (which the mall did a few years ago) and its Belk, it's over.

That "exposed garage", whatever it is, looks really ugly.

Does anyone know the train schedule (admittedly a "more or less" schedule since it's a freight line) for the Norfolk Southern branch line that parallels Augusta Road from the West End until Greenville High School? I'm thinking that a heritage streetcar from North Main through downtown and down Augusta Road, partially on those tracks, would be an attraction.

Why not also let private charities play a larger role than they do? Increase the charitable deduction for "help the poor and homeless"-type charities, which would help funds flow for this need. Or make it easier for uptown businesses to do more patrolling (such as the various business improvement districts in NYC that have their own staff that supplements the paid police). Just more government isn't the only solution.

True. Its location was just so bad (if I recall right, its entrance was next to the Landmark Building or whatever it's called parking garage). I'd love to see it return, maybe in a better location.

I'm with you 100% in that downtown Greenville needs to remain "a unique place" with "local charm". If it becomes a clone of Haywood, it could have problems, since Haywood is just larger and has free parking. However, I'm not worried about chains coming in, and I'd welcome them: First, downtown Greenville had no chains whatsoever (except for maybe Atlanta Bread Company and 1 or 2 others) 15 years ago. Greenville's downtown had "local charm" and was "a unique place" then. Now we've had an influx of chains: even apart from Brooks Brothers, CVS, etc., plenty of stores and restaurants, from Bevello to City Tavern and others, are chains. Greenville's downtown still has "local charm" and is "a unique place". Second, plenty of downtowns in the NYC metro area, such as Stamford, CT, White Plains, NY, New Canaan, CT and more have slews of "suburban" stores in them. Both Stamford and White Plains have Targets, Macy's, and the like, and White Plains even has a Nordstrom and a Wal-Mart. Both of those cities have plenty of "local charm" and are "unique places". Their architecture, layout and more make them unique, and they have plenty of local stores mixed in with Targets and Macy's. So downtown remains "a unique place" despite the influx of chains, and even if more come, it will still be "a unique place". Isn't Charleston "a unique place"? It has plenty of chains on King Street.

I mean "equal" in terms of "equally appealing to people and retailers". Not "identical in every respect". Downtown Greenville certainly isn't equal (in the sense of "identical") to Haywood Road; downtown is much nicer, has nicer stores on average and has a higher-class customer base, in my view (and probably demographic and rent surveys support this view). However, what is key in retailing is critical mass; any retail area needs to have a critical mass of stores that is equal in size enough to compete with other retail areas. Downtown certainly has that for niche boutiques and restaurants, but it doesn't for stores that really draw crowds, such as Target or department stores. It needs more anchors to draw crowds, which would help the niche boutiques. It could certainly have upscale anchors rather than mid-market ones, which would probably blend well with its current stores.

Agreed. A Target or Trader Joe's would also draw people downtown on a regular basis, since those are "everyday" stores. That would only help the existing boutiques, which are non-"everyday" stores. Publix, Mast General Store and maybe Staples and CVS are the only stores that people regularly need to go to, and those are good anchors but not enough. Downtown seems to have the largest mass of upscale boutiques and gift shops in town; I spend most of my shopping time at places like Target or a department store, though. The Greenville News site would be great for a Target and an Imax or something entertainment-oriented.

The more national retailers, the better. Downtown Greenville has plenty of space for both local and national retailers, particularly with the acres and acres and acres of vacant land and parking lots that could be developed into additional retail space. The more of both types of retailers downtown, the larger the critical mass of stores would be, which would help attract even more customers. As much as I like shopping at Brooks Brothers, for everyday items, downtown just doesn't offer enough stores to be an equal competitor with suburbia.

As a lawyer, I don't think that law school is the way to go in that law schools outside the top tier these days are faced with sharply declining enrollments and soaring costs, meaning that ones outside the top tier are facing significant budget challenges and some, if not many, risk being forced to close. Law schools aren't a growth area, at least until the economy turns up and lawyer hiring picks up significantly. Unfortunately Charlotte School of Law isn't in the top, middle or even lower-middle tier.

I see that this store opened, and I saw pedestrians carrying bags from it. I'm surprised that the building wasn't spruced up a bit before the opening. Specifically, the façade is kind of dirty; I'd have thought that a higher-end store such as this one would have at least invested in a new paint job or mildew remover or something. Still, glad to have it.

Another hotel?

That's great! The east side of downtown has so much room for nice new construction (the parking lots and dinky buildings are an eyesore), and so I'm glad to see this. It looks like good architectural quality as well.

I've never been to Little Rock but keep seeing these discussions on the main UrbanPlanet homepage, and so I took a look at it. Based on the directory, it has a high proportion of locally-owned tenants, which is not good, indicating that A-list retailers aren't interested. It looks attractive and has good Yelp reviews but has only 4 reviews. I assume that the center just isn't getting much traffic. It needs a department store anchor.

What's the deal with the severely degraded condition of I-85 between Greenville and Spartanburg, and further north past Spartanburg? The road is in such decrepit condition that much of any trip consists of swerving around potholes. I would have thought that it would have been repaved well before it became so rough.

I wonder what will be next? Downtown now has a cluster of higher-end mall chains, which should mean that other mall chains will come. I'd think that Urban Outfitters would be next, since Anthropologie's parent owns it. I wonder if Von Maur, which seems to be one of the few department stores planning to come to the Carolinas, would do a downtown store, or if Target would? (Not necessarily on Main St., but nearby?)

3-4 seems like a low-traffic store; I've shopped at that Brooks Brothers twice on weekends and there have always been people inside. I just hope all of these fantastic new stores downtown do well. Given how packed Mast General Store is, and given the prices that it charges, there is certainly enough business for expensive stores downtown.