Retail/stores you would like to see in SE VA

[wrldcoupe4]

do you know where the club libby lu will be in Richmond? I assume short pump or Stony Point (where Saks Fifth Avenue is)?

[baobabs727]

Well, I must admit that I'm not sure where! But that was the plan. We'll see what happens.

[wrldcoupe4]

hahaa couldnt hurt to ask...and to be honest, can't say that I'll be shopping there

[baobabs727]

I, too, was in NOVA this past weekend and I happened to go with my Manassas-residing cousin to the grocery store. No, not just any old grocery store, but the new Fairfax Wegman's (!) on Rte 29. Oh my goodness. This one looked like a castle of stone and slate, complete with a turret rising some three stories on one end. This place was a palace of culinary amusement! There was a parking garage (!), elevators (yeah, you wouldn't want the customers having to push the carts out down to their cars, would you?), a three story eatery, a 100 item hot buffet, 4 take out stations serving fresh subs, baked goods, pizzas, coffees, etc. The seafood department was like 100 feet long, including a 3 chef sushi station. Then there was the grocery store's wine cellar (yes, in the basement). It must have been 4 times as large as the average Farm Fresh wine/beer department. Back upstairs, there was even a lady making and baking bread 3 feet in front of you, a cheese and tea selection comprising several hundred square feet, a china/household goods/cookware department rivaling that of Williams Sonoma, and so on.... The experience was a bit overwhelming, and frankly, it was too crowded and too big for quick in and out stops. However, this Wegman's made Harris Teeter look like Piggly Wiggly and Ukrops look like Farm Fresh or Teeter. I doubt we'll ever get a Wegman's here, in part due to the shortage of large, prime retail parcels, but mostly because we lack the critical mass of affluent foodies needed to support such a behemoth. But, in the off chance that we ever do get one, she's sure to be a Lion hunter, a Teeter eater, a.....

[hoobo]

Babs, I hope your sources on the Norfolk Nords are on target in their assesment. I also hope that the store has finally developed a mix that tailors to the area. I was still surprised that it didn't carry much in terms of surf-wear considering the local population, but they've done their marketing studies. Norfolk's really came before Atlanta's? That is interesting. As for Dillard's, the MacArthur is supposed to be a flagship, and as you have mentioned, it has a day spa and customer fax machines which I haven't even seen at the South Coast Macy's (all 3 of them, and soon to be 4...at one mall). However, I haven't seen much of a difference in terms of men's furnishings between it and the Macy's stores out here. Then again, I don't visit the women's departments.

Gateway is still around. They still have their website. Anyone remember eMachines? Gateway bought them and took over their sales at Best Buy and the City. Flip through the ads. In the process, Gateway moved its HQ from San Diego to the eMachines HQ in Irvine.

[wrldcoupe4]

I go to school like 5 minutes from there. The subs from the sub shop are fabulous. You left out the fact that it has an olive bar and an oriental hot foods bar, as well as the chef's case. It is quite overwhelming and I hate to say it as any Richmonder would, but its better than Ukrop's. However, I do know that Ukrop's and Wegmans are very close and work together. They will not enter the same markets.They share a lot of ideas. For example, the Ukrops at Chesterfield Towne Center is currently under renovation and is adding more than the following: expanded cafe with elevators, olive bar, hot foods bar, MTO sandwich shop, oriental bar, soup bar (5-6 different soups daily). It already has the pizza shop, panini shop, fried chicken etc place, 2-chef sushi bar, grill (shrimp scampi wrap is to die for!), 60+ item salad bar, chef's specialties case, coffee and ice cream bar, and more. Thats just in the prepared foods! It's one of Ukrop's flagship stores. Clearly, there is an exchange of ideas going on between the two. Ukrop's is similar to Wegman's but on a smaller scale. the wegmans you visited comes in at over 120,000 sf. The ukrop's I described will be around 70,000 sf when renovation is finished.

Wegman's is a true gem. I read an article recently that Farm Fresh is beginning to renovate and open new stores that offer some of these amenities. There's no money in dry-grocery goods anymore. Wal-mart has killed that. It's in the prepared foods....

[PeninsulaKiddo]

Sonoma Wine Bar and Bistro is coming below Ruth's Chris. Red Star and Keagan's are pretty happening on Fri/Sat nights. Vie De France will satisfy your daytime coffee fix. Virginia Beach is so focused on "family-friendly," high dollar spenders (read: rich old folks) right now that I doubt that you will see anything like Time or Club Soda in TC soon. 

Richmond has or will have a boutique called Club Libby Lu, a division of Saks/Parisian.  Yes, Parisian's flagship stores are at least 260K sq feet, but they do have some around +-200K.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Those are pretty large stores I don't think the block across from the Cosmo could handle a single store of that magnitude... perhaps the Taco Bell/Pilot property could handle it on the first 3 floors of a high-rise office or condo tower. Just an idea hehe.

[PeninsulaKiddo]

PK, you can skip VCU or Old Dominion or UVA or any other academic stop and head directly to Madison Avenue!  The Ad World needs your kind of writing talent  

You've got a great sense of humor and a terrific literary style!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hahaha Thanks burt Maybe some day. Medicine still seems to be my direction at the moment.. but hey... only a senior in high school at the moment lol!

[hoobo]

Those are pretty large stores    I don't think the block across from the Cosmo could handle a single store of that magnitude... perhaps the Taco Bell/Pilot property could handle it on the first 3 floors of a high-rise office or condo tower.  Just an idea hehe.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nah. Make it like the Marshall-Field's at WaterTower Place in Chicago: 8 stories of fun. Or the Nords in San Fran: 5 stories on top of a 3-story mall. TC developers should take a trip to Union Square in SF and see what compact urban shopping should be like.

[PeninsulaKiddo]

Nah.  Make it like the Marshall-Field's at WaterTower Place in Chicago:  8 stories of fun.  Or the Nords in San Fran:  5 stories on top of a 3-story mall.  TC developers should take a trip to Union Square in SF and see what compact urban shopping should be like.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I thought about that... for it to be 260,000 s/f (around there) it would probably have to be 6 stories... A little vertical for a department store. lol. Not that I'd mind by any means!!

[hoobo]

I guess I'm a month behind the times. Sak's has sold off Proffit's to Belk about 4 weeks ago. Now Sak's is focused on Sak's 5th Ave, Off 5th, Parisian, Club Libby Lu (there you go babs) and a slew of stores in the Illinois and Wisconsin.

[PeninsulaKiddo]

Muahahahahaha. I was playing around on windows' paint again... () and c'mon... all those naysayers, wouldn't a Parisian in the heart of TC be amazing? I think yesss!

AGH! IT MADE IT TINY!!! but you get the idea.

[urbanvb]

Yep, that would work I would think... umm, only a little larger.

[PeninsulaKiddo]

Yep, that would work I would think... umm, only a little larger.

[urbanvb]

Your ideas are great.. now we just need to get you into actually designing such buildings.

[PeninsulaKiddo]

The Williamsburg Outlets are adding a few new, interesting, stores...

Michael Kors will have a store there, his first domestic store outside New York or Beverly Hills (WOW).

Banana Republic's second (?Correct me if I'm wrong) store in the region.

Under Armour Outlet.

Ann Taylor Outlet.

And an expanded Nike store.

In the Daily Press they stated that the Williamsburg Prime Outlets constantly rank among the highest per-square-foot sales among outlet centers in the United States. Something along the lines of $535/sq/ft on average. There are also plans to build another 5,900 s/f addition to the outlet mall.

[urbanvb]

I like the outlet stores and last year actually bought a few things at great prices. I haven't been been there this year but hoping to plan a trip out that way soon. The last time I was there, there was new construction so hopefully they have some new stores to check out.

[hoobo]

The Williamsburg Outlets are adding a few new, interesting, stores...

Michael Kors will have a store there, his first domestic store outside New York or Beverly Hills (WOW).

Banana Republic's second (?Correct me if I'm wrong) store in the region.

Under Armour Outlet.

Ann Taylor Outlet.

And an expanded Nike store.

In the Daily Press they stated that the Williamsburg Prime Outlets constantly rank among the highest per-square-foot sales among outlet centers in the United States.  Something along the lines of $535/sq/ft on average.  There are also plans to build another 5,900 s/f addition to the outlet mall.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Is that beyond their latest expansion that brough CK Outlet and stole the RL outlet from down the street? Wouldn't the BR and Kros stores be outlet stores?

[PeninsulaKiddo]

Is that beyond their latest expansion that brough CK Outlet and stole the RL outlet from down the street?  Wouldn't the BR and Kros stores be outlet stores?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Both those stores will be outlets and I think the new addition mentioned is 'brand new' because I haven't heard of it previously... The paper mentioned something about the existing expansions and the stores which will occupy them.

[baobabs727]

I go to school like 5 minutes from there. The subs from the sub shop are fabulous. You left out the fact that it has an olive bar and an oriental hot foods bar, as well as the chef's case. It is quite overwhelming and I hate to say it as any Richmonder would, but its better than Ukrop's. However, I do know that Ukrop's and Wegmans are very close and work together. They will not enter the same markets.They share a lot of ideas. For example, the Ukrops at Chesterfield Towne Center is currently under renovation and is adding more than the following: expanded cafe with elevators, olive bar, hot foods bar, MTO sandwich shop, oriental bar, soup bar (5-6 different soups daily). It already has the pizza shop, panini shop, fried chicken etc place, 2-chef sushi bar, grill (shrimp scampi wrap is to die for!), 60+ item salad bar, chef's specialties case, coffee and ice cream bar, and more. Thats just in the prepared foods!  It's one of Ukrop's flagship stores. Clearly, there is an exchange of ideas going on between the two. Ukrop's is similar to Wegman's but on a smaller scale. the wegmans you visited comes in at over 120,000 sf. The ukrop's I described will be around 70,000 sf when renovation is finished.

Wegman's is a true gem. I read an article recently that Farm Fresh is beginning to renovate and open new stores that offer some of these amenities. There's no money in dry-grocery goods anymore. Wal-mart has killed that. It's in the prepared foods....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, I wasn't going to say it, but I'm glad to let a Richmonder make the comparison: Ukrops is fantastic, but Wegmans is other-worldly! That is exciting about the Ukrops expansion/renovations. And, yes, the Fairfax Wegmans is 120K-130K sq ft like the one in Sterling (which I have not visited). I emailed Wegmans begging them to think a little differently in terms of the giant big box on 18 acres (which we would never get) in favor of entering into a mixed use development partnership at or around TC. Wait...I have a response!

"We received your e-mail asking us to consider building a store in Norfolk. Thank you for the compliment. We are very pleased that you have enjoyed shopping in our stores enough to want to see a Wegmans in your community. At this time we have no plans to build in Norfolk, however, we have made our long range planning committee aware of your suggestion. What follows is a list of planned stores and potential sites:

Baltimore County (Hunt Valley), Maryland, September/October 2005

Mt. Laurel, NJ, Early 2006

Cherry Hill, NJ, 2006

Warrington, PA, 2006

Turnersville (Washington Township), NJ, To Be Determined

Leesburg, VA, To Be Determined

Thank you again.

Michelle

Wegmans Consumer Affairs "

[vdogg]

Leesburg, VA, To Be Determined

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Leesburg? So explain to me exactly how they determine that Leesburg can support one and we can't? I'm sure if they did a little more market research they'd realize they could make a killing here.

[baobabs727]

With respect to Parisian, the only thing I've ever been told is that it would be a boutique type version in 135K-160K sq ft on the TB/Pilot properties. Parisian is reluctant to enter the market with only 1 storefront. At present, most retail analysts believe that this market has all of the large department chains it can handle--both in terms of available prime sites and absorption capacity. The trend nationally in malls is to rely less heavily on the anchor stores anyway. So, it is unlikely that Parisian could build the 3-5 stores they typically would in a market of our size unless someone else leaves, gets bought, merges or goes belly-up.

[baobabs727]

Leesburg? So explain to me exactly how they determine that Leesburg can support one and we can't? I'm sure if they did a little more market research they'd realize they could make a killing here.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

From what I understand, there is a good deal of high-end growth in residential units in and around the Leesburg area. Wegman's does have specific demographics in mind, including a pretty good pop density w/in 3, 5 and 10 miles (I believe in excess of 100K pop for the latter) and an avg household income of somewhere around 60-70K/yr. However, they do adjust these prerequisites depending on the the specific geographic expansion target and in consideration of their existing and future competition. The average new concept Wegman's is doing around 40-45 million plus in sales/yr. Most grocery chain stores do maybe 10-20 million/yr per unit.

[hoobo]

Leesburg and Dulles are the growth areas of Loudoun County. I think babs put it best, though.

Couldn't Parisian build at TC, MacArthur, and Patrick Henry or City Center in NN. That would be decent expansion. With Federated buying May, there's less competition. It's doubtful that Sak's (which still owns Parisian) or Bloomie's would enter the market. And Dillard's has its product issues. If Parisian plays it right, they can do well.

[hoobo]

Leesburg and Dulles are the growth areas of Loudoun County. I think babs put it best, though.

Couldn't Parisian build at TC, MacArthur, and Patrick Henry or City Center in NN. That would be decent expansion. With Federated buying May, there's less competition. It's doubtful that Sak's (which still owns Parisian) or Bloomie's would enter the market. And Dillard's has its product issues. If Parisian plays it right, they can do well.