New stores coming to Duluth, anyone know of any? (Rochester: safe, housing)

[fromupthere]

Originally Posted by duluthian2008

Also I have driven past that Starbucks in Rochester many, many times. I never see anyone in their parking lot. I feel there is one major contributing factor to this. Their location is so far off the beaten path that most people dont find it or dont want to venture out there. Once that area gets more built up with more retail, offices and houses I think they would do very well. You never know, if these closings do well for Starbucks they may reopen some of their closed stores such as Rochester's in the coming years.

LOL!!! That is so funny! That area is very developed, lots of homes, tons of businesses, traffic is always heavy over there. Mayo has 2 huge offices there and IBM is just down the road from there. I do believe they have a drive-thru and I'd have to say people probably use that more than actually going in. That's fairly common for places down here. I'd have to say you are driving over there at some very odd times if you really have driven by there. I think you should stick to reporting on Duluth. Rochester has many other Starbucks, Caribou and other coffee shops. One Starbucks closing is no big deal.

[duluthian2008]

My family lives in Rochester. I spend a lot of time down there. Its funny that the strip center Starbucks was in was not filled to capacity. That area is not as developed as Starbucks was told it would be and did not preform to the standards Starbucks had set for that location. I know there are all of the Mayo Offices there and my relatives work for IBM. I know there are plenty of homes there and business's but there are not nearly the amount as there are by the freeway. If the location was closer to the freeway I think it would have done better.

[fromupthere]

Are you bragging that your relatives work for IBM? You should still stick to reporting on Duluth. I'm not reporting on Duluth even though I lived there for over 30 years, and you shouldn't report on Rochester just because you have relatives here. (Not all businesses need to be right by a freeway/highway to be successful.)

Is the Danish Bakery building in West Duluth still vacant? Why has that never been filled? I wonder what will happen with the old Bullyan RV space with all those houses and townhouses being built behind the new one.

[ComeToDuluth]

can't we all just get along?

[fromupthere]

Sure. I just think someone shouldn't report on a city they don't live in. I have family in Wisconsin, Missouri and Texas whom I've visited many, many times but I'm not on their boards reporting on those towns.

I come to this thread to learn about what's up in Duluth, not to have someone try to tell me what's happening in my own town.

So what's new in Duluth? Went to Landing 53 last time I was up there and that was some very good food. I like that about Duluth - so many non-chain restaurants that are delicious. I keep hoping to read about more opening.

[duluthian2008]

Not at all am I bragging that my relatives work at IBM. I was simply saying that they work in that area so I not only find stuff from the internet, when I am out there too but also from them being they drive past that location every day. You would be surprised how much I know about Rochester. This is my specialty and my job is in retail real estate. I sort of need to know about the entire state and the markets in each individual city. I can report on anywhere I want, I dont have to be strictly cut off at Duluth. But hey I might not know everything about the cities everywhere or Rochester so I am not saying I am a know it all. But I do have a right to say something about where ever I want. Just letting you know. But what I was saying was just coming from the Starbuck's headquarters and why they closed these first 50 stores of 600. The store obviously was under performing and couldn't sell the amount of sales it needed to make it profitable. If it would have it wouldn't have closed. But that area is very nice with lots of business's such as Cinemagic Theatres, Merrill Lynch, Green Mill, Mayo Clinc Offices, Mayo Clinic Credit Union, and other business's. Stores dont always do as well in areas that they should be. Its just something that no one can figure out why. Even if the site is perfect, the demographics are great and the area is growing extremely fast, the business or retail store just sometimes does not do well. That area was perfect, it just was a little underdeveloped in the retail business area, but if they just had a few more full strip centers it would have been totally different being it would be drawing people out there. If they put a Shoppes on Maine type of development out there it would be a very different situation being those types of large retail centers tend to draw many people. But sorry for getting out of my own territory.

I am not trying to tell you what is happening in your own town by the way, your town was one of seven locations closing you it just so happened that someone decided to post a comment on that particular location, I didnt, so dont get angry at me.

Well the old Bullyan RV site, the Maple Ridge Estate Development and also Landing 53 in the Hermantown Centre strip center are all on in Hermantown. I am not sure if I am suppose to report on that being its not "my own town" and others get angry when I dont report on "my own town."

The Old Danish bakery being its in "my own town" I can report on. I have seen no activity there and I dont think anyone is looking at this particular site at the moment. Its kind of out of the way for retail and it does have the potential to become another factory or offices or even apartments. I really dont know, plus I haven't been out past it for a few weeks.

CometoDuluth, I wish we could. I am open to getting along. I think I was just misunderstood.

[fromupthere]

Whoever said I was angry? I think you are judging based on what you are reading into posts. You are reading more into things than what they are. I just think it's pretty funny some of the stuff you say and how I've seen in posts where you change your tune based on what others are saying.

You are the one who made it more. I commented that corporate decisions can be made on businesses that have nothing to do with how well a location is doing. You posted a false statement and I pointed that out. I guess from now on we all should just assume your word is gold and leave it at that. Report on whatever you want, I don't care.

[duluthian2008]

Your not getting what I am saying also. Its different if this was word on the street stuff that I am posting. But most of it is corporate. I am not right on everything I say, thats why the tune of my posts change. But I also have a lot of corporate connections through many companies that I do get reliable information from.

Corporate decisions can be made any way they want. A corporate company can close a location just because they don't like where it is located or they don't like the area. Plus some corporate decisions on closing stores are just randomly picking stores to close, like Romano's for instance. The Romano's in Rochester probably did the best out of all of them in the state. The company did not close it because it was underperforming but instead they either randomly picked it or felt that the distance from were they get their supplies was too far and that the store was too expensive to operate. But with Starbuck's it was a set decision on these store closings. They are closing these stores because they are underperforming, they didn't just randomly pick the first 50 locations. They looked at each state and saw what stores did not perform as well as they needed to. Plus the people who live in Rochester may like their Caribou Coffee a lot more than Starbucks. This closing is not at all saying that Rochester is not doing well or anything, but instead it may just be the general likes and dislikes of the citizens in that city. I mean we all know that Rochester is not only the fastest growing city in Minnesota but probably one of the nicest and well built cities in the state. It is doing far better than Duluth is. I mean I guess we did just hit a stable decline in people, losing only 50 people this year!!!

But my word is not gold on many things. I dont want to make it sound like everything I say is a must be right kind of post. But on some situations I do know a large amount of information. And I am not saying that this Starbucks issue is one of the types of issues but I still do know a good amount information on it. I cant be right on everything and we all have our own opinions. So we cant all agree.

I feel I have upset you in many ways and I am very sorry for that. I do not want to come off as a know it all but when this type of information and dealings are part of your everyday job I can get a little frustrated. Sorry.

[fromupthere]

I knew why the Macaroni Grill here closed. My point on bringing up the corporate decision was because you were questioning how well the downtown Duluth Starbucks was doing and that sometimes it doesn't matter how it is doing for it to close.

You stated in a different thread that your family was in real estate so I have assumed that when you state you've talked to different businesses about them coming to Duluth that this is what you are being told by those businesses. That is not what I find funny about your statements that change. It's not the fact-based stuff that I get a kick out of.

I think sometimes perhaps your brain is going faster than your fingers are typing (I am guilty of this quite often) and things come off the wrong way (as probably is the case with me too)? No hard feelings and I'm glad we figured out what we each mean and that we are not being rude.

I did not mean anything rude by saying you should stick to reporting on Duluth. I was making fun of your statements about that particular area of Rochester needing to be more developed. That area has flourished in less than 10 years when it used to be just farm land and fields. It almost seems to be developing too fast IMO. Probably not much retail there since a few blocks over there is a ton of retail.

[duluthian2008]

It is a shame that Macaroni Grill closed in Rochester though. That was a beautiful restaurant and they had wonderful food.

Yes I still am wondering on the downtown Starbuck's in Duluth. I never am down there so I dont know if it is busy ever or not. It seems like it would be being its right in the middle of downtown and there are 14,000 workers in downtown Duluth. Plus there are only a few coffee shops in the downtown area of Duluth. If anyone has been past there lately I really would like to know if its busy or not.

My family is in both residential and commercial real-estate. I think my brain is going a lot faster than my fingers am typing. I often re-read my posts and sometimes I know what I wrote was not what I meant to say and it does come off wrong. I am truly sorry for that.

That area has developed a ton in the last few years. But thats what I was saying if a lot more retail was there i think it would make a difference. But at the rate that area is growing I think if Starbuck's would have opened in a year in a different, easier location to get to, I think they would have done extremely well. I am sure the one there did well, but like I have said not well enough. Glad to figure things out, thanks for your patience.