Westchester's downtowns under attack (Mount Kisco, Larchmont: sales, leases, houses)
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Shops losing sales to Amazon, Fresh Direct, etc. Aside from shuttered storefronts and blighted main streets, local governments are complaining that this could lead to higher taxes:
Take Mt Kisco and Larchmont. Both are affluent communities with strolIable downtowns and vacant storefronts . Cosi closed a sucessful store in Mt Kisco after a 15 year run and the popular Jersey Mikes Subs after two years. I suspect a lot of the closures in Mount Kisco are lease hikes, because whole buildings abruptly lose their storefront businesses. Larchmont has lease hike issues but also generational changes with people retiring.
I suspect there are a lot of entrepreneurs out there who would love to open a store...we looked into it very seriously and finally passed. If community leaders want to revitalize downtowns they need to ease up on property taxes which building owners pass on in their leases and quit blaming Amazon. Store owners need to be smart and offer quality products, not just stuff people can buy from Amazon at half the price.
Take Mt Kisco and Larchmont. Both are affluent communities with strolIable downtowns and vacant storefronts . Cosi closed a sucessful store in Mt Kisco after a 15 year run and the popular Jersey Mikes Subs after two years. I suspect a lot of the closures in Mount Kisco are lease hikes, because whole buildings abruptly lose their storefront businesses. Larchmont has lease hike issues but also generational changes with people retiring.
I suspect there are a lot of entrepreneurs out there who would love to open a store...we looked into it very seriously and finally passed. If community leaders want to revitalize downtowns they need to ease up on property taxes which building owners pass on in their leases and quit blaming Amazon. Store owners need to be smart and offer quality products, not just stuff people can buy from Amazon at half the price.
And in order to that, have to *raise* prices. Am here to tell you, places like Amazon exacerbate an already *bad situation*.
Take Mt Kisco and Larchmont. Both are affluent communities with strolIable downtowns and vacant storefronts . Cosi closed a sucessful store in Mt Kisco after a 15 year run and the popular Jersey Mikes Subs after two years. I suspect a lot of the closures in Mount Kisco are lease hikes, because whole buildings abruptly lose their storefront businesses. Larchmont has lease hike issues but also generational changes with people retiring.
I suspect there are a lot of entrepreneurs out there who would love to open a store...we looked into it very seriously and finally passed. If community leaders want to revitalize downtowns they need to ease up on property taxes which building owners pass on in their leases and quit blaming Amazon. Store owners need to be smart and offer quality products, not just stuff people can buy from Amazon at half the price.
If these are due to lease hikes, are there replacement tenants actually opening right away for every business that closes? Does not look like this is the case.
Also, if they ease on commercial property taxes, then that cost gets passed on to the home owners.
Instead, go to a mall where you have to walk around for 15 minutes to find a sign, another 15 minutes to find a store, another 15 minutes to find the sporting goods section, another 15 minutes to look for workout shorts with zippered pockets before you give up and spend 4 seconds to buy it on Amazon and get it tomorrow for less and delivered for free.
Dunno but the stores I go to that sell stuff I want, WalMart, Target, Apple Store, are always crowded.
Instead, go to a mall where you have to walk around for 15 minutes to find a sign, another 15 minutes to find a store, another 15 minutes to find the sporting goods section, another 15 minutes to look for workout shorts with zippered pockets before you give up and spend 4 seconds to buy it on Amazon and get it tomorrow for less and delivered for free.
Dunno but the stores I go to that sell stuff I want, WalMart, Target, Apple Store, are always crowded.
Just left Kohls. Expensive stuff I wouldn't buy if I were naked. Maybe a fleece from Columbia but I already have 11and could buy for 1/2 the price at Modell's.
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Amazon is just the latest in a long blame game first it was the shopping centers and the malls then for quite a while it is Walmart, they have been blamed for every main street failure over the last 10 years or so it seems. I agree with supporting local business and do so when I can but when I look at the bulk of them they serve me no purpose and I go to a big box store. People today don't have a morning to walk and shop their lives are far more hectic they want to get in and get out and don't want to look for parking.
Amazon is just the latest in a long blame game first it was the shopping centers and the malls then for quite a while it is Walmart, they have been blamed for every main street failure over the last 10 years or so it seems. I agree with supporting local business and do so when I can but when I look at the bulk of them they serve me no purpose and I go to a big box store. People today don't have a morning to walk and shop their lives are far more hectic they want to get in and get out and don't want to look for parking.
What the mayor of bronxville was alluding is that many of these municipalities' expense levels were based on getting some uplift from commercial taxes. Take that away and either spending eould have to be cut or residential taxes increased significantly and this is something that residents eere not prepared to face.
Shops losing sales to Amazon, Fresh Direct, etc. Aside from shuttered storefronts and blighted main streets, local governments are complaining that this could lead to higher taxes:
Is there a path forward for these downtowns to survive?
Yes, but it requires a type of agility and attention to detail that isn't all that common in the small business world.
On the retail front, just thinking about the handful of independent booksellers that still exist in the tri state area, they hold a very broad variety of book signings, child friendly events, and the like in order to continue to differentiate themselves. The toy stores that continue to operate are very carefully curating their selections to include items that can't be found on Amazon. Etc etc.
The walkable areas of town need to include ALL of the common services that can't easily be replicated by Amazon either - pharmacies, coffee houses, post offices, cafe, etc
The walkable areas of town need to include ALL of the common services that can't easily be replicated by Amazon either - pharmacies, coffee houses, post offices, cafe, etc
Some of these amenities are being eroded in one way or another, not always related to amazon. It seems like anything not related to offering sex (or the illusion of it) is fair game nowadays.
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