Why no Downtown shopping district? (Franklin, Brentwood: sales, apartment, hotels)

[Antioch]

With Nashville being the "it" city, I wonder why there is no major shopping district downtown? Back in the 90's Church Street Center was where the Downtown Library is now, it was only open a few years during the 90's. There was also a Castners Knott and other department stores in the 90's and before. Downtown was a major shopping area back in the 60's and before. I wonder what happened and are there any plans to bringing retail back to the downtown area?

[artemis]

Originally Posted by Antioch

With Nashville being the "it" city, I wonder why there is no major shopping district downtown? Back in the 90's Church Street Center was where the Downtown Library is now, it was only open a few years during the 90's. There was also a Castners Knott and other department stores in the 90's and before. Downtown was a major shopping area back in the 60's and before. I wonder what happened and are there any plans to bringing retail back to the downtown area?

Many of them moved out to the Malls.

[N.Cal]

I have asked this very question for 6 years and 6 months...


There is supposed to be some retail going into the new apartment/offices Broadway/Fifth.

[BirdieBelle]

Downtown has not been a retail hub since suburban malls became popular in the 80s and 90s. Church Street Center was indeed the biggest effort to revive retail downtown, but it failed less than 10 years after it opened because the contractor who built it folded, and the developer apparently had liens from subcontractors. Tenants bolted and it closed.

It's hard to imagine now, but in the late 80s/early 90s there were almost no venues on Broadway (besides Tootsie's and Ernest Tubbs' record shop). In fact Second Avenue was a bigger deal than Broadway was at that time.

Plus hardly anyone lived downtown as well. Now there are many more downtown residents who could support retail themselves

[JMT]

Downtown is getting a Whole Foods, Publix, H&M Flagship, and other retail in the various developments taking place in the city center. The Nashville Yards development alone (where Amazon is going) is advertising that it will have 600,000 square feet of retail and entertainment, and the Fifth & Broadway project (where AllianceBernstein and the National Museum of African American Music are going) will have 230,000 square feet of retail and entertainment. By contrast, Church Street Centre was 187,000 square feet.

[travelhound]

We don't need any more places to shop, nor do we need any more event spaces. We have one of the prettiest upscale Malls in the country, Green Hills Mall; the only disappointment was the Dillards rebuild, I think it's awful, the old one was so much better. We have so much shopping here that we have people whose lives are nothing but shopping, that's all they do. We already have H&M at Opry Mills. They tried upscale merchandise when the opened the Neman Marcus, but the stuff doesn't sell, they had to reconfigure the store with a new Jr department that had regular consumer priced merchandise. Nobody needs a 1200 dollar blouse from Off White, or a cheap 5.99 blouse from Walmart. To much stuff. We have the Gulch, Hillsboro Village, Opry Mills, Belle Meade, Franklin, Brentwood, Bellevue, countless strip malls with stores and all the hotels have upscale shops. We can't sustain much more retail, most of these places are empty all day most of the year, and downtown has no parking for shops to open. Most of the old shops closed down there, they couldn't draw customers anymore with paid parking. In the old days downtown was funky and fun with lots of free parking, it's a Disneyland/ Las Vegas type atmosphere now and locals almost never go down there for anything. 30 dollars to park on big event nights now, 10 on normal days.

[BirdieBelle]

Originally Posted by travelhound

They tried upscale merchandise when the opened the Neman Marcus, but the stuff doesn't sell...

Do you mean Nordstrom?

Originally Posted by travelhound

We can't sustain much more retail...

Our sales tax from all that retail is almost 10% per transaction, and the revenue from that sales tax funds most of the public services the state provides. Some state-shared revenue goes back to cities for them to spend on public services. In fact, 1.125% of every transaction at a cash register in my city, including those at restaurants, goes directly to the public schools here.

So we'd better find a way to support "all that retail" because, since we're so proud of not having a state income tax, the money to pay for the stuff we all use has to come from somewhere.

[jjbradleynyc]

Originally Posted by JMT

Downtown is getting a Whole Foods, Publix, H&M Flagship, and other retail in the various developments taking place in the city center. The Nashville Yards development alone (where Amazon is going) is advertising that it will have 600,000 square feet of retail and entertainment, and the Fifth & Broadway project (where AllianceBernstein and the National Museum of African American Music are going) will have 230,000 square feet of retail and entertainment. By contrast, Church Street Centre was 187,000 square feet.

This will just add to the dynamic live/work energy and vibrancy of downtown. I suspect there will be many more retail clusters and stores added to the mix in the next 3-5 years, as Nashville's downtown contiues to become a true 24/7 spot.

[N.Cal]

it's a Disneyland/ Las Vegas type atmosphere now and locals almost never go down there for anything.

Have you actually been downtown since "the old days"????


The downtown residential population has increased 68% since 2000 and there are nearly 15,000 people living in the downtown area. Add all of the people who commute downtown to work, plus the tourists, retail beyond cowboy boots and Nashville t-shirts and trinkets is definitely needed. An urban Target would be a great start. Something like the Fig@7th in downtown LA would be perfect.

[Shakeesha]

Originally Posted by N.Cal

Have you actually been downtown since "the old days"????


The downtown residential population has increased 68% since 2000 and there are nearly 15,000 people living in the downtown area. Add all of the people who commute downtown to work, plus the tourists, retail beyond cowboy boots and Nashville t-shirts and trinkets is definitely needed. An urban Target would be a great start. Something like the Fig@7th in downtown LA would be perfect.

I doesn't sound like it. His post is so off-base and out of touch. Oh my....