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Regarding Subway. I don't like their food. However, let's look at the bigger picture. Perhaps and this is a BIG PERHAPS the folks running the mall are starting to get it, that they are not sitting on a pot of gold and if they want the mall to be viable they better step it up. Keeping a spot rented is a whole lot better than another open sore at the CTC.
Now for my take on the Dillard's subject. It would be a major Coup D'etat if the folks running the mall and Charleston could pull that off. My opinion obviously but I don't think they can and probably don't care. In fact I think a lot of what runs Charleston can't see beyond the city limits much less the bounds of their South Hills neighborhoods and I should know a little bit about this because I live in one of those neighborhoods and know some of these folks...let's just put it this way, they are fine, they have what they need, they are a decade away from death and they really could care less about the rest of us. That's been my impression. Not trying to offend anyone but I live in the midst of it and it's very telling to me besides the crappy state and local economy that this is a part of why Charleston is in the condition it is in.
As for Dillard's and the Sear's Auto space, ideally for the mall to be successful they have to offer stores and restaurants that Beckley, Huntington and Parkersburg do not have. There has to be a reason to drive to Charleston and make it worth it. It used to be the case but no longer is. We don't need another Taco Bell, Wild Wings, Applebees or any of those places that everyone else has.
Charleston needs a PF Changs, Carraba's, Trader Joe's, Dillard's you know some places that someone that lives an hour or so away can get up early on a Saturday and drive in to town and shop/eat at. A Trader Joe's especially would pull from a 2 hour region around town. Your getting close to a million folks. This can be done. It can happen but the people running the mall and the folks running Charleston have to give a darn and I just don't think they can or do.
Excellent point. If the mall is going to survive, they have to make it worth the effort getting there. Charleston has the advantage of there being next to nothing to the south, south west, north east, east, etc... The only real competition is Huntington to the west. There has to be an effort to concentrate destination type stores into the mall. I believe that the mall has done that a bit, but there is also an obvious struggle in that department. People would drive to Charleston and shop and dine if we had some of the things you mentioned, plus things like an Apple Store, Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Container Store, etc... People (specifically women) love to shop! Right now, people drive all the way to Columbus and Pittsburgh to get certain brands. If Charleston could grab some of those key magnet retail outlets, then the mall will do fine. Once you get the people here, more things will come as well.
This of course plays into the Civic Center renovation and drawing in more tourism and conventions. Hosting the right types of events, and getting people to stay downtown and exploit the amenities provided.
Excellent point. If the mall is going to survive, they have to make it worth the effort getting there. Charleston has the advantage of there being next to nothing to the south, south west, north east, east, etc... The only real competition is Huntington to the west. There has to be an effort to concentrate destination type stores into the mall. I believe that the mall has done that a bit, but there is also an obvious struggle in that department. People would drive to Charleston and shop and dine if we had some of the things you mentioned, plus things like an Apple Store, Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Container Store, etc... People (specifically women) love to shop! Right now, people drive all the way to Columbus and Pittsburgh to get certain brands. If Charleston could grab some of those key magnet retail outlets, then the mall will do fine. Once you get the people here, more things will come as well.
This of course plays into the Civic Center renovation and drawing in more tourism and conventions. Hosting the right types of events, and getting people to stay downtown and exploit the amenities provided.
Downtown Charleston is at least 135 miles from any significant shopping competition except for directly West of the city. The issue you are facing is that there is no significant population except to the west that would be drawn downtown, and while Putnam (arguably the most affluent area west of there) might be drawn to the downtown area, the downtown area is facing increasing competition from the Barboursville area, which is closer and offers easier parking, ingress, and egress. Those factors along with online shopping options are putting downtown shopping areas under great competitive stress... not just in Charleston but everywhere.
I think they will face an uphill battle trying to keep the mall viable long term. It isn't anything specific to Charleston. Only areas with massive populations living in downtown areas, like New York City, are able to make downtown retail an attractive situation. Even in Pittsburgh, downtown shopping is pretty lame these days. You'd have to bring a lot of those people living in Teay's Valley and Hurricane downtown to live, along with adding a lot of quality of life amenities to pull it off, and that would involve finding major private investors who have enough faith in the area's ability to support the investment to put their money into such developments. This is far from an easy task. I believe they would be better served to change paradigms and repurpose the downtown area into something else, rather than have a retail focus. With the money they are putting into that Civic Center, I'd say tourism is perhaps the best option.
Those are all good points and I do not disagree with any of them but this whole concept of tourism being the salvation of WV let alone Charleston I just don't see it happening or at least not on the scale that people seem to think is needed and attainable.
Leaving the rest of WV alone and just focusing in on Charleston what is there here that Charleston has to offer that would be able to bring in any real kind of tourism? We have not had anything in our history that is notable enough to bring in historical tourism. No major battles, historical events or anything of that nature. We don't have any natural wonders that are close enough by that would attract that kind of tourism. No big recreational lake near town, no caverns, no formations, fossil sites etc..., we don't have major pro or even a decent sized college sports presence to attract folks for that. We don't have like a Nascar track. We don't have industry tourism as in something like the Bourbon Trail in Kentucky. We don't have anything cutting edge technologically going on here. We don't have a zoo or aquarium. We don't have an art museum with rare and classical works. We don't have a "Vanderbilt" or "Graceland" type of stately home worth visiting. Hell we don't really even have a historical birthplace of anyone famous existing here. We don't have a Chinatown or some ethnic type scene going on like that. We don't even have upscale or unique shopping for the region anymore. There is nothing in Charleston that is rare enough and unique that other places don't already have that would bring people in here. How in the world is Charleston going to grow from tourism when there is nothing really to tour I guess is my question?
Those are all good points and I do not disagree with any of them but this whole concept of tourism being the salvation of WV let alone Charleston I just don't see it happening or at least not on the scale that people seem to think is needed and attainable.
Leaving the rest of WV alone and just focusing in on Charleston what is there here that Charleston has to offer that would be able to bring in any real kind of tourism? We have not had anything in our history that is notable enough to bring in historical tourism. No major battles, historical events or anything of that nature. We don't have any natural wonders that are close enough by that would attract that kind of tourism. No big recreational lake near town, no caverns, no formations, fossil sites etc..., we don't have major pro or even a decent sized college sports presence to attract folks for that. We don't have like a Nascar track. We don't have industry tourism as in something like the Bourbon Trail in Kentucky. We don't have anything cutting edge technologically going on here. We don't have a zoo or aquarium. We don't have an art museum with rare and classical works. We don't have a "Vanderbilt" or "Graceland" type of stately home worth visiting. Hell we don't really even have a historical birthplace of anyone famous existing here. We don't have a Chinatown or some ethnic type scene going on like that. We don't even have upscale or unique shopping for the region anymore. There is nothing in Charleston that is rare enough and unique that other places don't already have that would bring people in here. How in the world is Charleston going to grow from tourism when there is nothing really to tour I guess is my question?
Spot on.
You know it's bad when a national company pokes fun in their national radio advertisement (forgot which company it is, but it's either a car rental or vacation website company) at Charleston. The commercial makes some comment about "that time you accidentally spent your vacation time in Charleston WV and not Charleston, SC. Verrrrrry different towns" and then the person doing the advertisement laughs.
I thought some more about the concept of Charleston tourism and came up with close to 10 more things I could add that we don't have but it becomes ad nauseum and depressing like amusement parks, dinner theaters, outlets etc...
But I want to pose a question. When you think of places that you travel to. Places you've been, you are at or you are going to and not places that are an hour or so away but places that you had to go out of your way to travel to.
What does Charleston have that those places have that made you take a day trip or over night stay to see?
I thought some more about the concept of Charleston tourism and came up with close to 10 more things I could add that we don't have but it becomes ad nauseum and depressing like amusement parks, dinner theaters, outlets etc...
But I want to pose a question. When you think of places that you travel to. Places you've been, you are at or you are going to and not places that are an hour or so away but places that you had to go out of your way to travel to.
What does Charleston have that those places have that made you take a day trip or over night stay to see?
Usually I travel to places with Natural beauty or to places with vibrant downtowns. I typically don't like your typical tourist trap town. I think Charleston has the framework for tourism, just not the volume of business or recreation opportunities to support it. You need things like aquariums and museums, but also mixture of specialty stores and local restaurants.
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