kohls (Richmond, Roanoke, Lynchburg: sales, tenant, new construction)

[OuttaFlorida]

Anyone know if a khols is opening up in the area? I've been seeing a lot of commercials for it, including one that said "grand opening sale". But they never give an address!

If I had to guess, I'd say Valleyview or Tanglewood, but I've driven by those places the past few weeks and haven't seen any new construction.

[Waterfront]

We don't show up on their list of new store openings (Kohl's Careers - About Kohl's - New Store Openings), but I would be happy to see one in our immediate area.

[seanpecor]

Maybe they were seeing commercials for a different market? They only other explanation I can think of is that there is a looming behind-the-scenes buyout of an existing department store, but it would be hard to keep something like that quiet.

Sean

[Diamond Dave]

Kohl's is not coming. They've said repeatedly they're not coming to Roanoke. Which is stupid, because they have stores in smaller, less affluent places (like Lynchburg, Harrisonburg, and Waynesboro. Waynesboro!), which means somebody at Kohl's has a burr under their saddle for Roanoke, or some serious misconceptions.

Jenny Kincaid Boone's blog at roanoke.com is pretty good about covering local retail:

The Storefront - Roanoke.com

[headnsouth]

Originally Posted by OuttaFlorida

If I had to guess, I'd say Valleyview or Tanglewood, but I've driven by those places the past few weeks and haven't seen any new construction.

I'm not surprised there's no new construction at Tanglewood -- I went in there the other day and couldn't believe how many empty stores and kiosks there were. It's a nice location right there by the highway and in SW county; I wonder why it's faltering when Valley View is growing?

[Adventurist04]

Kohls, has a store in Lynchburg, Lynchburg has the same local stations that we have. They are reaching the Lynchburg audience The reason for the "grand opening sale" is because whenever they open a new store anywhere they have a sale at all of their stores to celebrate it. Its just a sales pitch. It does urk me they dont open a store here.. they have 5 in Richmond where I am from. They should just give us one of theres!

[seanpecor]

Originally Posted by headnsouth

I'm not surprised there's no new construction at Tanglewood -- I went in there the other day and couldn't believe how many empty stores and kiosks there were. It's a nice location right there by the highway and in SW county; I wonder why it's faltering when Valley View is growing?

Where it could, Tanglewood moved away from the mall format and the newer or relocated stores (T.J. Maxx, A.C. Moore, Staples, Steinmart, Barnes & Noble, etc) appear to be doing well. But Valley View captured the youth market almost completely and that digs into other demographics as well. For example, you've got a 14 year old daughter and when you take her and three of her friends to the mall, they want to go to Valley View. On top of that, Tanglewood has almost no teenage friendly eating choices, and that's another show stopper. Capture the youth market, capture the parents too, and your competition is left with very young families and very old folks. Personally, I prefer Tanglewood because I absolutely hate having to get into and out of Valley View. As a 36 year old male, Tanglewood actually has more stores of interest to me than Valley View does, despite being half the size.

If I ran Tanglewood I'd transition completely away from the basic mall concept and design a new "brand" that differentiates from Valley View entirely. One successful model is the "factory outlet mecca" as executed successfully by a small town in Manchester, Vermont. The small town of Manchester is totally freaking mobbed most days. At Tanglewood, I think it would totally, completely, kick butt. Here are some of the factory stores that Manchester has:

- Michael Kors Outlet Store
- Reebok Store‎
- J Crew Factory Store
- Zales The Diamond Store
- Banana Republic Factory Store
- Hickey-Freeman Factory Store
- Jockey Store‎
- Jones New York Factory Store
- Polo Factory Store‎
- Bose Factory Store
- Gap Outlet
- Bass Shoe Outlet‎
- Burberry's Factory Outlet‎
- Coldwater Creek
- Garnet Hill Catalog Outlet
- Izod‎
- Van Heusen Factory Outlet‎
- Timberland Factory Outlet
- Tommy Hilfiger Outlet Store‎
- Giorgio Armani General Store
- Orvis Sale Room

And so on, and so forth. The "outlet" concept is a good model in a good economy, and a great model in a bad economy, because there is a built in "sale" message behind the outlet name.

Sean

[sregorat3]

Originally Posted by Diamond Dave

Kohl's is not coming. They've said repeatedly they're not coming to Roanoke. Which is stupid, because they have stores in smaller, less affluent places (like Lynchburg, Harrisonburg, and Waynesboro. Waynesboro!), which means somebody at Kohl's has a burr under their saddle for Roanoke, or some serious misconceptions.

Jenny Kincaid Boone's blog at roanoke.com is pretty good about covering local retail:

The Storefront - Roanoke.com

These areas might be smaller, but the Lynchburg MSA is only slightly smaller and the other MSA's have more than enough population to support such retail. Economically, they are really all pretty similar. You write as if you live in Cville, which is widely known as a particularly affluent area. My guess is that if there were to be a new strip center with available land, Kohl's would be a probable tenant. Until then, you can always come to Lynchburg!

[Teebyrd86]

Originally Posted by Adventurist04

Kohls, has a store in Lynchburg, Lynchburg has the same local stations that we have. They are reaching the Lynchburg audience The reason for the "grand opening sale" is because whenever they open a new store anywhere they have a sale at all of their stores to celebrate it. Its just a sales pitch. It does urk me they dont open a store here.. they have 5 in Richmond where I am from. They should just give us one of theres!

Wait.. your from Richmond? Now I am confused.

[VALover]

I love Kohl's! I go to the one in Lynchburg. It is the only clothing store I can stand to shop in. I usually go to the one in Lynchburg about every three months or so and stock up on all the stuff I love. In a way I hope they don't bring one to Roanoke because that would take part of the fun out of going.

If anyone in Roanoke wants to shop at the one in Lynchburg it is super easy to get to and there is lots of other shopping right around it.