Retail coming to Philadelphia (York, McDonald: engineers, districts, developers)

[RightonWalnut]

Originally Posted by rainrock

Modells could do some serious damage to the current Rittenhouse vibe.

Agree 100%

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by rainrock

Modells could do some serious damage to the current Rittenhouse vibe.Ouch!

And the Gallery redo is going to be delayed a year or 2. The city should revisit that whole idea of turning the Gallery into a Discount Outlet. There has to be better alternatives.

Yea like tearing it down and building nice highrise towers.


IMO, a full Target, Crate and Barrell, Home Goods, Trader Joes would be a far better setup than fashion outlets... Center City is becoming too saturated with discount chains, while the burbs continue to get the good stuff.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by asiandudeyo

At this rate, This forum will become: Retail Leaving Philadelphia.
And if you notice, City Sports will be replaced by Modell's. So probably Modell's on Chestnut will close down. Leaving yet an empty storefront.

You're panicking. Once the W Hotel is finished we'll probably see another transition in that block. Who cares about that awful dollar store closing for instance? John Fry,prez of Drexel and new president of the Chamber of Commerce, is a take charge guy who had a crucial role in the transformation of UC as EVP of Penn back in the 90s. He's probably fully aware of your retail concerns.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by RightonWalnut

Are you ****ing for real? This can't be true lol. Modell's??

The space they're in on Chestnut St used to be a Today's Man. It was a pretty nice store. Modell's turned the space into crap. And, no, I'm not against pro sports wear stores...

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by rainrock

Modells could do some serious damage to the current Rittenhouse vibe.Ouch!

And the Gallery redo is going to be delayed a year or 2. The city should revisit that whole idea of turning the Gallery into a Discount Outlet. There has to be better alternatives.

I'm guessing the Gallery delay is connected to the state budget mess.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by cpomp

Yea like tearing it down and building nice highrise towers.


IMO, a full Target, Crate and Barrell, Home Goods, Trader Joes would be a far better setup than fashion outlets... Center City is becoming too saturated with discount chains, while the burbs continue to get the good stuff.

Didn't the latest renderings of the "new" Gallery include two attached high rises?

I'm hoping John Fry, new head of the Chamber of Commerce, will impact some of that low end mentality.

[Duderino]

Some context is in order regarding Modell's. They do have a higher-end model for some of their stores, as evidenced by this article in Boston, where they're opening on a similarly high profile shopping street: Modell's to score Boston store | Boston Herald

Let's keep in mind that rents have continued to rise on Walnut, which indicates strong demand, as well as the businesses being pretty deep pocketed.

The "doom and gloom" mentality doesn't make any sense, especially as there's more well-to-do people in/around Center City than ever before, with more to come (see the many new luxury apartments/condos).

I think there's always some churn after the holiday season after retailers evaluate markets and profitability. If a store closes, that certainly doesn't mean that Philly couldn't support something higher-end; it's very likely that the retailer may not have been willing to pay the rent or that the style just doesn't jibe with local consumers.

[asiandudeyo]

Originally Posted by rainrock

Modells could do some serious damage to the current Rittenhouse vibe.Ouch!

And the Gallery redo is going to be delayed a year or 2. The city should revisit that whole idea of turning the Gallery into a Discount Outlet. There has to be better alternatives.

I still have high hope on East Market.
So while Gallery redevelopment is stalled, I hope something is going to work out across the street.
Well at least if East Market is stalling, the Brickstone property behind it is almost done. Target will definitely spur some more retail growth in that area.

[asiandudeyo]

Originally Posted by Duderino

Some context is in order regarding Modell's. They do have a higher-end model for some of their stores, as evidenced by this article in Boston, where they're opening on a similarly high profile shopping street: Modell's to score Boston store | Boston Herald

Let's keep in mind that rents have continued to rise on Walnut, which indicates strong demand, as well as the businesses being pretty deep pocketed.

The "doom and gloom" mentality doesn't make any sense, especially as there's more well-to-do people in/around Center City than ever before, with more to come (see the many new luxury apartments/condos).

I think there's always some churn after the holiday season after retailers evaluate markets and profitability. If a store closes, that certainly doesn't mean that Philly couldn't support something higher-end; it's very likely that the retailer may not have been willing to pay the rent or that the style just doesn't jibe with local consumers.

I agree.
I hope Modell's is upping their game once they are relocated to Walnut.
Maybe they want to be closer to Under Armour, which btw will open in 2017.

On another topic, I do have a bad feeling about Under Armour opening in 2017. Under Armour is one of those "trendy" brands at the moment.
If they take long to actually settle on Walnut, there is a chance that by 2017, the brand is no longer trendy (just like North Face) and flocks of trend-followers who help to increase the company's profit will run into the next "IT" leisure-wear brand. Marmot has been getting trendier now.
As the result, Under Armour does not see the need to open a HQ on Walnut and abandon the project.
I think I am ahead of myself. LOL.
But this cold happen.

[jn00]

Originally Posted by Duderino

Some context is in order regarding Modell's. They do have a higher-end model for some of their stores, as evidenced by this article in Boston, where they're opening on a similarly high profile shopping street: Modell's to score Boston store | Boston Herald

Let's keep in mind that rents have continued to rise on Walnut, which indicates strong demand, as well as the businesses being pretty deep pocketed.

The "doom and gloom" mentality doesn't make any sense, especially as there's more well-to-do people in/around Center City than ever before, with more to come (see the many new luxury apartments/condos).

I think there's always some churn after the holiday season after retailers evaluate markets and profitability. If a store closes, that certainly doesn't mean that Philly couldn't support something higher-end; it's very likely that the retailer may not have been willing to pay the rent or that the style just doesn't jibe with local consumers.

I'm hopeful it's not a trend either but just seems like as always 2 steps forward and 1.5 back. In the last year or we seem to have lost some higher end places like Burberry, Coach, Calypso. It also seems like when a new space for a great higher end retailer opens up, it's been going to cell phone stores or banks. Granted we've gotten a few outlets and athletic stores, but there are tons of great mid price to higher end retailers not opened in center city. Would be nice to see some of them take the plunge.