San Antonio ranked 48/50 "Fun City" (Alamo, Alamo Heights: real estate, lease)

[tgannaway89]

Very poor ratings in shopping (49th), culture (44th), high-impact sports (49th), low-impact sports (48th). Mid-rankings in food and drink (25th), as well as popular entertainment and gambling (24th). Not very impressive but who ever said these lists are.

bizjournals: Rankings for 50 markets (http://www.bizjournals.com/specials/pages/139.html - broken link)

[spursfan]

Hartford and Providence made the top 25 so i wouldnt get too broken up over this list.

[Insomniac]

Firstly, the MODS need to create a "San Antonio Lists and Rankings" official thread. Second, that list is so bunk (do the kids still use that word?) it's not even funny.

Here's how they come about their ranking:

Bizjournals began by collecting federal statistics for 14 relevant types of businesses, from retail stores and restaurants to gambling casinos and golf courses. Each market was graded on both the volume (total number) and the concentration (rate per 100,000 residents) of such businesses.

The sheer fact that Birmingham, Indianapolis, Nashville. Rochester, and many others are ranked ahead of SA in shopping is crazy. As well as other cities ranking ahead of SA in other categories, I won't go into them. It is of course a result of the methodology for compiling that list.

TGANNA and others, please put little if nothing behind this list. The bandwidth it uses is worth more.

[Paka]

Well it does not at ALL hurt my feelings that someone thinks we are boring....we all KNOW better and IMHO too many folks are figuring it out too quickly as well....so the more we can throw off the general masses is FINE with ME!

Just sign me "would never be able to handle living in one of those more fun places because there is not enough hours in the day for me living here!" :O

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by Insomniac

Firstly, the MODS need to create a "San Antonio Lists and Rankings" official thread. Second, that list is so bunk (do the kids still use that word?) it's not even funny.

Here's how they come about their ranking:



The sheer fact that Birmingham, Indianapolis, Nashville. Rochester, and many others are ranked ahead of SA in shopping is crazy. As well as other cities ranking ahead of SA in other categories, I won't go into them. It is of course a result of the methodology for compiling that list.

TGANNA and others, please put little if nothing behind this list. The bandwidth it uses is worth more.

I've always been a staunch defender of SA on this site. But I've gotten to spend some time in Birmingham over the last two years, and while I would never,ever want to live there over San Antonio, I kind of like the place. It's actually a really nice, clean, and a somewhat sophisticated kind of place. I know, I know, it's Alabama. But just as many of us bristle at stereotypes regarding San Antonians, Northern Alabama, or at least Birmingham, is not the hick town, Deliverance-minded people we'd like to think. They actually do have a more varied amount of shopping venues. (I actually am the wrong person to judge, most everything I buy comes from CostCo, Dillard's, or Best Buy) SA certainly has more shopping areas, but we are not real diverse. Most of the stores in the Forum are the same stores at Huebner Oaks, the same stores as the Rim, the same as whatever that shopping area is on 281 past 1604.

I would love to see more locally owned variety here. Instead, I am seeing less.

Now, on the other end of the spectrum, central Alabama near Montgomery.....well, I wouldn't spend much time in that area if you all got some real nice teeth, there.....and stay off any rivers.

[Insomniac]

GWhopper, my comment was never mean as a stereotypical diss at Birmingham or any of the other cities I listed. I've been to Birmingham myself, and it's a fine place. My astonishment came from the sheer fact that SA does have more shopping options as well as more diverse shopping. I see you say we don't, but your two examples are large shopping centers whose tenants tend to be similar from one to the other. However, there is more to those shopping centers in SA. From the boutique stores in Alamo Heights, Upper Broadway, Stone Oak, etc. Don't eye the retail off the freeways, they are going to be the national chains, it's on the surface streets a mile or two from the freeway where the local fare comes to play.

The astonishment also comes from the lame way they compiled the list.

[ryneone]

Originally Posted by GWhopper

I've always been a staunch defender of SA on this site. But I've gotten to spend some time in Birmingham over the last two years, and while I would never,ever want to live there over San Antonio, I kind of like the place. It's actually a really nice, clean, and a somewhat sophisticated kind of place. I know, I know, it's Alabama. But just as many of us bristle at stereotypes regarding San Antonians, Northern Alabama, or at least Birmingham, is not the hick town, Deliverance-minded people we'd like to think. They actually do have a more varied amount of shopping venues. (I actually am the wrong person to judge, most everything I buy comes from CostCo, Dillard's, or Best Buy) SA certainly has more shopping areas, but we are not real diverse. Most of the stores in the Forum are the same stores at Huebner Oaks, the same stores as the Rim, the same as whatever that shopping area is on 281 past 1604.

I would love to see more locally owned variety here. Instead, I am seeing less.

Now, on the other end of the spectrum, central Alabama near Montgomery.....well, I wouldn't spend much time in that area if you all got some real nice teeth, there.....and stay off any rivers.

You just are not looking. Go up and down Broadway. Military on the south side. Bitters and Babcock are both mom and pop meccas. All of those centers (the forum, the rim, legacy, Huebner oaks, and soon to be Alamo ranch market place) do have the same stores because they are power centers on the own sides of town. Now i know im going to get a lashing for this one but national chains are here for a reason. They are good at what they do and the product whether it be food or cloths is/are (?) liked by many. Nothing can survive without a customer base.

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by Insomniac

GWhopper, my comment was never mean as a stereotypical diss at Birmingham or any of the other cities I listed. I've been to Birmingham myself, and it's a fine place. My astonishment came from the sheer fact that SA does have more shopping options as well as more diverse shopping. I see you say we don't, but your two examples are large shopping centers whose tenants tend to be similar from one to the other. However, there is more to those shopping centers in SA. From the boutique stores in Alamo Heights, Upper Broadway, Stone Oak, etc. Don't eye the retail off the freeways, they are going to be the national chains, it's on the surface streets a mile or two from the freeway where the local fare comes to play.

The astonishment also comes from the lame way they compiled the list.

Point well-taken, you are right. Any large off-freeway shopping area in the nation does seem to have the same stores. Still I would like to see far more locally owned and unique stores here in SA, and more venues like what we see in Alamo Heights and Upper Broadway. I am sure you are like me, we can both do without another GAP.

[hello13685]

San Antonio just ranked near the lowest on an AOL ranking of cities as well. It's a conspiracy I guess...

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by ryneone

You just are not looking. Go up and down Broadway. Military on the south side. Bitters and Babcock are both mom and pop meccas. All of those centers (the forum, the rim, legacy, Huebner oaks, and soon to be Alamo ranch market place) do have the same stores because they are power centers on the own sides of town. Now i know im going to get a lashing for this one but national chains are here for a reason. They are good at what they do and the product whether it be food or cloths is/are (?) liked by many. Nothing can survive without a customer base.

Mea culpa, mea culpa! I knew as I was typing that post I was going to get in trouble!!

I would like to add another aspect on the comment regarding why the national chain stores are here for a reason: It's not just that their product is liked by many, it's also the fact the high commercial real estate lease prices cannot be easily met by local businessmen (or women) and can only be afforded by large multinational chains. Many commercial real estate owners would rather lease their properties to major corporations, kind of like betting on a sure thing, then lease to a local businessman who may be more apt to declare bankruptcy if the business doesn't succeed. This hurts everybody in the end. If you own a small retail center and I show up and say "I want to open up a unique Sandwich shop specializing in gourmet sandwiches and authentic East Coast hoaggie's and real Tuscan Pannini Sandwiches. I am not sure the people of San Antonio will like it, but I want to give it a shot" and some other guy shows up and says "I want to open up a Subway, and I have the corporate backing", as a business person, who would you go with?

You would go with Subway, and you would be right to do so. And something that might have been unique and special and may have enriched, in a small way, the daily life of many San Antonian's never sees the light of day.