Is Ridge Hill successful?

[vladlensky]

It seems to be doing OK, Whole Foods is the only reason I go there and it's always pretty busy. Occasionally I shop at L.L.Bean and it's moderately busy, not as much as other locations I've visited.

Overall, I was actually more surprised at how seemingly bad The Westchester in White Plains is - I hadn't been there in several months and returned to see a lot of the stores closed down - Lululemon, Anthropologie were bigger shops and then a lot of empty smaller storefronts. It's starting to feel like kind of a dead mall now.

Rivertown Square in Dobbs is awful. I genuinely feel bad for anyone who rented at The Danforth apartments there due to the alleged proximity of the (now closed) grocery store. Last I checked they still have Brooklyn Market listed on their site as an amenity which is basically deceptive advertising. The developers/village/county had a good opportunity to make it a nice development, but like many things in Westchester that was quickly squandered and looks to be a retail wasteland indefinitely.

[LeavingNYCfast]

I went there once to go to REI and will never go back. Any developer/mall owner who thinks you can charge for parking in this day and age is an idiot. Online shopping is already generally more convenient than going to a store, especially in Westchester where delivery times are quick and driving is a pain. So you want to make coming to your shopping area inviting and easy, adding unnecessary costs like parking is the opposite of that. I can go to lots of restaurants or grocery stores without paying for parking. Looking at the list of stores at Ridge Hill I can shop online just as easily for Loft, H&M, Gap, Old Navy, Pandora, Apple, LL Bean... Why would you pro-actively make it more difficult for potential customers to visit your mall?

[vladlensky]

Originally Posted by LeavingNYCfast

I went there once to go to REI and will never go back. Any developer/mall owner who thinks you can charge for parking in this day and age is an idiot. Online shopping is already generally more convenient than going to a store, especially in Westchester where delivery times are quick and driving is a pain. So you want to make coming to your shopping area inviting and easy, adding unnecessary costs like parking is the opposite of that. I can go to lots of restaurants or grocery stores without paying for parking. Looking at the list of stores at Ridge Hill I can shop online just as easily for Loft, H&M, Gap, Old Navy, Pandora, Apple, LL Bean... Why would you pro-actively make it more difficult for potential customers to visit your mall?

Also Ridge Hill advertises Tesla electric car chargers but they are *inside* the paid parking garage so if I want to, say, charge the car for 30 mins and shop at Whole Foods, I have had to fight with the cashier over there to validate my parking ticket because they are told to only validate parking tickets for the Whole Foods-adjacent garage, even though there's nothing posted to that effect and all the garages are part of Ridge Hill. Instead they want you to spend $200 to get parking validation at the garage with the charger, then go show your receipts at Ridge Hill Customer Service in another building, all of which just seems ... unnecessary. Or you can just suck it up and pay the $6 for parking or whatever it costs on weekends.

That said, I can (and often do) go to Tarrytown which has the faster charges, free parking and just walk across the lot to Stop & Shop. Not as nice as Whole Foods, but a lot less hassle.

Anyway, I'm done complaining but it's really really dumb.

[ponytrekker]

Originally Posted by LeavingNYCfast

I went there once to go to REI and will never go back. Any developer/mall owner who thinks you can charge for parking in this day and age is an idiot. Online shopping is already generally more convenient than going to a store, especially in Westchester where delivery times are quick and driving is a pain. So you want to make coming to your shopping area inviting and easy, adding unnecessary costs like parking is the opposite of that. I can go to lots of restaurants or grocery stores without paying for parking. Looking at the list of stores at Ridge Hill I can shop online just as easily for Loft, H&M, Gap, Old Navy, Pandora, Apple, LL Bean... Why would you pro-actively make it more difficult for potential customers to visit your mall?

True.

Most often I've gone when I needed something right away. Now that there's a Whole Foods closer to me in Chappaqua, with plenty of free parking, even less reason to go.