Retail coming to Philadelphia (Reading, Levittown: Dutch, child, roof)

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Luckily you're among the few who actually remembers this stuff in any detail. What a fiasco!

As a broadcast tech, I not only experienced it like everyone else, at work I had to hear those obnoxious ads over & over & over again. They were seared into my consciousness. Even my male coworkers were incensed.

Young people need to understand that the department store failures were not the result of locals failing to support the local department stores. Wanamakers was profitable. It was no longer locally owned. The owner also owned Woodward & Lothrop out of DC, which was a dismal mess. The owner decided to close & sell both, thinking that the profitable John Wanamaker chain & historic Center City building would boost the price. The May Company came in & treated us like we were scum. Their reward was a failure of locals to support them. Instead of restoring the Wanamaker name & allowing the buying to be done locally, They decided to double down & offered some obscene amount to Strawbridge & Clothier, to allow locals no choice. That failed & whatever other mishandling was occurring elsewhere, they went down the tubes.

King of Prussia gained from the department store fiasco. Younger posters seem to think that the region didn't support Center City shopping. That is a wrong conclusion.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by timeEd32

Can't believe how long this discussion's been going on. You all ever hear of Amazon?

We have! But for some shoppers we like the additional option of looking at merchandise in a physical location.

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by selhars

^^ I go to the TJ's in Media, or if I'm downtown I'll stop at that one. But usually it's the Media store, because I couple it with all my other shopping which is mostly done in parts of DelCo (or every now and then MontCo.)
For WF, I go to the one near Callowhill.

The Delaware Trader Joe's expanded a few years ago. It's a lovely store with tons of other shopping nearby. You seem to think that people in South Jersey & Delaware should be delighted to make the trek to King of Prussia, yet you want your shopping very local to you. Putting stores in Center City isn't local for people in South Jersey & Delaware but it is far more convenient.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by AJNEOA

Maybe they can take the FYE spot that just closed at Chestnut and S Broad? Anyone know if anything is slated to go in there?

A Givenchy store.


Jk.. no idea, I would prefer clothing retail on that stretch of Broad. It had a chance to look more like 5th Ave, unfortunately Walgreens and Wawa opened, but the closing of FYE is a good thing IMO, hopefully something new will compliment Banana Republic and Ralph Lauren.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by southbound_295

At one point there was talk of them going into the Gimbels/Sterns store in the Gallery. I don't think that they ever crossed the city line.

Boscov's had two stores within the city limits - both in the Northeast.

It was one of the original anchor tenants at Franklin Mills. That store lasted about three years before Boscov's closed it.

There was also a store in a former light industrial building at 300 East Godfrey Avenue. That store had originally been part of Boscov's short-lived discount operation, Ports of the World, and was converted to a regular Boscov's when the company shut down Ports. That store closed about five years ago now.

Originally Posted by southbound_295

Thank you.

I think that what is being lost is that times change, but some things don't.

In the early 60s the Cherry Hill Mall was the largest enclosed mall in the country, & that was before the new wing was built. It ran from Bambergers to Strawbridge & Clothier. People drove to that mall from the Baltimore area for the unique experience. Malls were new. Gas was still cheap. Malls are old hat now.

New South cities, who tore down large chunks of their downtowns, have had malls repurposed to upscale shopping. The Philadelphia area is being treated the same way when you have 3 of the 4 old department stores standing in Center City. Lit Brothers started as a conglomerate of smaller stores in one building. What's lost in this is that public transportation takes people to Center City, not King of Prussia. Those other cities don't have the public transportation systems.

The bones are there in Center City, waiting for the retail to come back. I wish I would have won that really big Powerball. I would have tried to recreate a local department store in Center City.

Originally Posted by AJNEOA

Maybe they can take the FYE spot that just closed at Chestnut and S Broad? Anyone know if anything is slated to go in there?

I'm trying to track down a rumor to the effect that a descendant of the last legendary Philadelphia department store family is eyeing that space.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

I'm trying to track down a rumor to the effect that a descendant of the last legendary Philadelphia department store family is eyeing that space.

Try to find out more about that because I know for a fact that the Strawbridges are still in the Phila. area. How do I know? One of the younger Strawbridge descendants is a student at Haverford Friends School. One of my great-nephews was also student there. They became friends. While my g-nephew no longer goes to that school, they're still friends.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Boscov's had two stores within the city limits - both in the Northeast.

It was one of the original anchor tenants at Franklin Mills. That store lasted about three years before Boscov's closed it.

There was also a store in a former light industrial building at 300 East Godfrey Avenue. That store had originally been part of Boscov's short-lived discount operation, Ports of the World, and was converted to a regular Boscov's when the company shut down Ports. That store closed about five years ago now.





I'm trying to track down a rumor to the effect that a descendant of the last legendary Philadelphia department store family is eyeing that space.

If you were still referencing Boscovs in your last part, I would say its almost 100% a no. My sister actually works in management for Boscovs corp. and their focus is expansion into North Jersey, and renovation and improvement of their current stores (Granite Run, Plymouth Meeting etc.). No interest in expanding into urban markets (Philly).

[Pine to Vine]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

The reason Chicago has the Mag Mile is because there's both a sufficient concentration of Serious Money near it (the neighborhoods along the lake north of the Loop) and no single suburban district that has that high a concentration of same. New York and Boston both have sufficient concentrations of Serious Money in the urban core to support such a strip as well in addition to some similar pockets in the 'burbs (though Boston's is clearly secondary to the one in the Back Bay.

Philadelphia's problem is that there's more Serious Money on the Main Line than there is within the city limits. Were it not for that, we probably would see the locus of luxe retail around Rittenhouse Square. Instead, it's closer to the larger concentration of Serious Money. (The location of Philadelphia's other concentration of Serious Money in Chestnut Hill doesn't help much either, for it's as close to KofP as it is to Center City. Besides, I don't think they go for conspicuous displays of wealth up there quite as they do in Gladwyne or did in the western reaches of Cheltenham Township.)

I don't know the comparative wealth distribution of Chicago and Philly, but have no reason to doubt you. This helps me better understand the basis for KoP's location and draw, even though I wish it was different, so thanks (+1).

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

I'm sorry to hear the Plaza's been homogenized. I was a little more distressed to hear that Halls had both closed its Plaza store and shrunk its Crown Center location to one floor. (Halls is Kansas City's answer to Neiman Marcus, only a little more tasetful in its display of luxury; it's owned by the Hall family as well - the folks who own Hallmark Cards. I used to go regularly to see the design exhibits in the basement exhibition gallery of Halls Plaza. Crown Center is to Kansas City what Rockefeller Center is to New York, right down to being the product of one family's vision of urban revitalization. namely, the Halls'.)

I think you might find it interesting, though, to learn that the Country Club Plaza area is classed as an "edge city." It has all the requisites: hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail space and even more of office space, and a significant influx of commuters to it daily. It's somewhat unusual but not unique in being an edge city that's within the same political jurisdiction as the urban core.

I'm a forever Kansas Citian and think my hometown is one of the finest cities in the country. There are also some parallels between it and here, and between Missouri and Pennsylvania.

I, too, am a big fan of KC. I lived there for only 18 months or so in the mid-80s, but have returned on 3-4 visits since then, including a recent long weekend just 2 years ago. Each time I go, I see so much more vibrancy and cohesion. KC is a little gem tucked away in the heartland and I continue to root for its success.

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Boscov's had two stores within the city limits - both in the Northeast.

It was one of the original anchor tenants at Franklin Mills. That store lasted about three years before Boscov's closed it.

There was also a store in a former light industrial building at 300 East Godfrey Avenue. That store had originally been part of Boscov's short-lived discount operation, Ports of the World, and was converted to a regular Boscov's when the company shut down Ports. That store closed about five years ago now.





I'm trying to track down a rumor to the effect that a descendant of the last legendary Philadelphia department store family is eyeing that space.

Was the East Godfrey building associated with Gimbels? Boscov took over suburban mall Gimbels stores with Ports of the World. They dropped Ports & became Boscovs when the traditional department stores imploded. I can't speak for the PA Ports, but the stores were very popular in South Jersey. I have since come to realize that the Ports of the World concept was based on a SC-based chain, Hamricks. Even now, Boscov, Belks, & Hamricks are sometimes the only stores carrying certain brands of clothing for females.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by cpomp

If you were still referencing Boscovs in your last part, I would say its almost 100% a no. My sister actually works in management for Boscovs corp. and their focus is expansion into North Jersey, and renovation and improvement of their current stores (Granite Run, Plymouth Meeting etc.). No interest in expanding into urban markets (Philly).

The Boscovs have never been part of "real" Philadelphia dept store families anyhow.