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This is a great list. I am curious how Tier 4 will play out in the future. Do you think any of those will rise in tiers or fall? Are there any cities ready to join Tier 5?
I second Austin and maybe Nashville and Charlotte approaching Tier 5. San Diego is my best bet for joining Tier 4.
I don't know about Portland in general...
I don't see any city falling, though some cities are more susceptible to closures than others.
Austin is very early in its scene. They’re trying to turn South Congress into a high end shopping destination. And they have the domain name which has a couple stores like Louis, Gucci and a Saks and Neiman marcus. San Marcos which is halfway to San Antonio has something going to.
One thing to note is those Austin stores seem to be pretty small in size and inventory. I suppose that’ll grow overtime.
The question is can Austin continue to grow the way it has the last few years, not just in shopping but overall. With the increase in COL and downturn in tech etc.
Agree with this but would place Chicago in Tier 2. It's still an amazing shopping destination and quite walkable in many parts, along with a big flight destination given O'Hare's international prominence and Midway's domestic capabilities.
Have to agree here. The obits that have been penned about Chicago (outside of just shopping) are a bit premature. One thing that works very favorably for Chicago is that is the destination to shop in the Midwest and unlike coastal cities has little competition for hundreds of miles. A flagship Macys/Bloomingdale's are there which are much more upscale than their suburban counterparts and the legacy of the Gold Coast is still very strong there. I also know that the Neimans there performs very well and you have Nordstrom and Saks.
Sure, the Mag Mile has suffered a bit, but Chicago's luxury (outside of dept store flagships) was always more centered around the Rush/Oak/Walton corridor. Many of the stores that left the Mag Mile set up shop south of the River on State, which makes much more sense given the clientele for those brands.
As you said, the walkable shopping experience is unrivaled anywhere else outside of a Boston/NYC/San Fran. Chicago still offers a full luxury experience.
I second Austin and maybe Nashville and Charlotte approaching Tier 5. San Diego is my best bet for joining Tier 4.
I don't know about Portland in general...
I don't see any city falling, though some cities are more susceptible to closures than others.
Nashville's luxury retail seems woefully inadequate given its explosive growth and wealth although I understand much of it is recent.
The upscale mall there (Green Hills) only has a Nordstrom/Dillard's/Macys. Nashville needs a Saks or Neiman to even be considered in Tier 4. They don't even have a Hermes/Gucci which all of the current Tier 4 cities have.
I feel Charlotte is further ahead of Nashville as well. Southpark is a very nice center with a Neimans and a flagship Belk store. They also have Gucci, MCM, St. John.
I was surprised to see Denver/Cherry Creek not make the list.
Nashville's luxury retail seems woefully inadequate given its explosive growth and wealth although I understand much of it is recent.
The upscale mall there (Green Hills) only has a Nordstrom/Dillard's/Macys. Nashville needs a Saks or Neiman to even be considered in Tier 4. They don't even have a Hermes/Gucci which all of the current Tier 4 cities have.
I feel Charlotte is further ahead of Nashville as well. Southpark is a very nice center with a Neimans and a flagship Belk store. They also have Gucci, MCM, St. John.
I was surprised to see Denver/Cherry Creek not make the list.
Nashville has a Gucci store inside The Mall at Green Hills.
The Green Hills mall would be considered "B-tier" by Dallas/Atlanta/Houston standards. Nashville is still seen as a bread-and-butter city though. Just look at the fashion presented in the media in the world of country music: it is seen as being "simple and casual" that doesn't have much emphasis on glam. Nashville doesn't have much of a modeling industry like most real, world-class cities that over these high-end brands do (even Dallas, Atlanta, and Houston have a decent modeling industry, even if small compared to NYC, LA, and Miami). It never had a flagship legacy department store that even Charlotte had with Belk or Dallas with Neiman-Marcus. Nashville even has a Tiffany's, but so does Jacksonville, Tucson, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis, all cities not seen as "high end". CoolSprings serving Williamson Co. is the second nicest mall in Middle TN, and one of only two with a Macy's (Green Hills is the other). It has an Apple store, but don't look for much if you're a subscriber to Vogue. But even that has noticeable vacancies and despite locals reading through the comments by some as being "high-end", it's a very AVERAGE mall IMO for someone coming from a major coastal city, and it certainly punches below its weight given the average median household wealth of the area, the wealthiest county in TN and one of the wealthiest in the southeast.
The Green Hills mall would be considered "B-tier" by Dallas/Atlanta/Houston standards. Nashville is still seen as a bread-and-butter city though. Just look at the fashion presented in the media in the world of country music: it is seen as being "simple and casual" that doesn't have much emphasis on glam. Nashville doesn't have much of a modeling industry like most real, world-class cities that over these high-end brands do (even Dallas, Atlanta, and Houston have a decent modeling industry, even if small compared to NYC, LA, and Miami). It never had a flagship legacy department store that even Charlotte had with Belk or Dallas with Neiman-Marcus. Nashville even has a Tiffany's, but so does Jacksonville, Tucson, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis, all cities not seen as "high end". CoolSprings serving Williamson Co. is the second nicest mall in Middle TN, and one of only two with a Macy's (Green Hills is the other). It has an Apple store, but don't look for much if you're a subscriber to Vogue. But even that has noticeable vacancies and despite locals reading through the comments by some as being "high-end", it's a very AVERAGE mall IMO for someone coming from a major coastal city, and it certainly punches below its weight given the average median household wealth of the area, the wealthiest county in TN and one of the wealthiest in the southeast.
I think high end retail is playing catch-up in Nashville. It will inevitably come.
The city is growing and developing its skyscraper and infill density development infrastructure so fast, that basic infrastructure like sewer/water cannot keep up downtown.
There are several under construction/planned skyscraper cluster luxury residential and hotel developments in downtown and midtown that should play host to high end retail brands in the near future. A Ritz Carlton being one of them. And also a rumoured St Regis.
Nashville is fast-emerging as one of the four big city southeast destinations, along with Atlanta, Miami and Charlotte. And it's national stage brand prominence as a high-earner household destination is also fast-growing.
I think high end retail is playing catch-up in Nashville. It will inevitably come.
The city is growing and developing its skyscraper and infill density development infrastructure so fast, that basic infrastructure like sewer/water cannot keep up downtown.
There are several under construction/planned skyscraper cluster luxury residential and hotel developments in downtown and midtown that should play host to high end retail brands in the near future. A Ritz Carlton being one of them. And also a rumoured St Regis.
Nashville is fast-emerging as one of the four big city southeast destinations, along with Atlanta, Miami and Charlotte. And it's national stage brand prominence as a high-earner household destination is also fast-growing.
Nashville's luxury retail seems woefully inadequate given its explosive growth and wealth although I understand much of it is recent.
The upscale mall there (Green Hills) only has a Nordstrom/Dillard's/Macys. Nashville needs a Saks or Neiman to even be considered in Tier 4. They don't even have a Hermes/Gucci which all of the current Tier 4 cities have.
I feel Charlotte is further ahead of Nashville as well. Southpark is a very nice center with a Neimans and a flagship Belk store. They also have Gucci, MCM, St. John.
I was surprised to see Denver/Cherry Creek not make the list.
Nashville is also getting a Saint Laurent sometime next year.
And also, the entire region is ~2M people, it will take time for retailers to catch up as the region continues to grow.
Can’t mention southeast destinations without including Disney World
So: what's the luxury retail scene like in Orlando?
Seems to me that Disney aims at the broad middle.
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