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An Ikea would never work in a downtown setting - they are always surrounded by a sea of suface parking. They also sell crappy put together dorm furniture. I think Buffalo is shooting for something a little more upscale and not a giant sized Dollar General with meatballs which is all IKEA is.
Actually IKEA does have stores in downtown areas but not in the US. It has a store in Hong Kong's Tsim Sha Tsui district and believe me there is no parking there! That said, I understand that IKEA puts a lot of effort into building new stores which is why they are concerned about growing markets. If there ever was an IKEA in the Buffalo Area, it would most likely be shunted out to Amherst, maybe on Sheridan Drive or somewhere closer to UB.
Downtown Buffalo would benefit more with a Neiman Marcus or something like that in my opinion.
Downtown Buffalo would benefit more with a Neiman Marcus or something like that in my opinion.
Agree, it will be interesting to see what sort of retailers Benderson has in mind for Canalside. I know that a large bookstore is part of their plan, other than that who knows.
Agree, it will be interesting to see what sort of retailers Benderson has in mind for Canalside. I know that a large bookstore is part of their plan, other than that who knows.
Benderson's good for building strip plaza's all over WNY
that are empty, some have never been rented and have been vacant
for 10 or 15 years or even longer, Benderson even moved their corperate
headquarters from Buffalo to Florida a couple of years ago.
That should tell you something.
I'd rather see an H&M, Zara, Le Chateau, Scetchers, Nordstrom, and other retailers that we don't have in this region. And BTW, Ikea doesn't ALWAYS surround itself with a sea of parking. Have you visited the Ikea in Brooklyn? No surface lots around that one.
I'd rather see an H&M, Zara, Le Chateau, Scetchers, Nordstrom, and other retailers that we don't have in this region. And BTW, Ikea doesn't ALWAYS surround itself with a sea of parking. Have you visited the Ikea in Brooklyn? No surface lots around that one.
Brooklyn is alot different from Buffalo. If you want to be accessible to the majority of low to medium income New Yorkers, you need to either be off the Subway, or at least a PATH train. In Buffalo, you just need to be within 15 miles of the city.
The reason Ikea didn't (and never will) build a store in Buffalo, is because if they choose to locate in the area, they'll go to an area where they can get more land, for cheaper, more accessibly, and with more parking.
As to the other stores, they are what actually makes sense to bring to the waterfront. They don't have high transportation or storage costs, and people only make occasional trips to them. You need all three to be successful at the waterfront.
And BTW, Ikea doesn't ALWAYS surround itself with a sea of parking. Have you visited the Ikea in Brooklyn? No surface lots around that one.
The IKEA in Brooklyn does not have a surface lot but instead it has a huge garage. It is not on a Subway line either. You would never find enough land near a subway station without spending billions on it and dealing with the issue of demolishing whole neighborhoods. The Brooklyn store was built on some relatively empty industrial waterfront land in an area called Red Hook. They encountered a lot of typically fierce "NIMBY" opposition when they proposed building the store, so they had to provide concessions, like agreeing to build a waterfront esplanade and hiring quotas for nearby low-income residents.
To cater to the non-drivers, they run a free water taxi from Manhattan and free shuttle buses from a subway station in Downtown Brooklyn. They also make a fortune on delivery fees!
Just as the article said, IKEA just does not bother with metros of less than 2 million people. They only make money by doing huge volume.
Thanks for clarifying that. I knew that it didn't make sense that Ikea would build a store without parking, without access to a subway, or (as you said, and I never thought of) a free shuttle.
It appears that Ikea has a couple of stores in smaller metros (I saw SLC and Cincy) but basically they might take a chance on growing areas like those, but an area of a million and quickly going down isn't going to attract much new retail investment.
I'm learning a lot about Buffalo from my frequent visits and my thorough research, but I have a couple questions that I'm sure a local would have no problem answering.
First, why do so many call for the demolition of the Skyway through downtown? Is it mainly because it's an eyesore? What do the proponents of it's demolition suggest to put in it's place?
Similarly, my next question deals with the return of automobile traffic on Main St. downtown. My question seems almost silly but I can't seem to come up with an answer on my own. What will become of the metro rail trains that currently run above ground on Main? How will they be accommodated when the street welcomes autos again?
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