Originally Posted by
EL Jimbo
If you look at Downtown Shopping Districts in cities like Chicago and New York, typically, they offer stores, restaurants and experiences you won't find in a suburban mall. You mentioned the Magnificent Mile in Chicago as an example. There might be a few of the stores you mentioned on the Mile, but what draws the flocks of suburban and tourist shoppers [[like my wife) to the Mile are the boutiques and high end shops and department stores that even if you don't buy anything in them, they are fun to walk in and look. Stores like Tiffany & Co., Cartier, Saks 5th Avenue, Louis Vuitton, Coach, etc.
If Detroit could somehow attract stores like that to downtown, then they would be the true anchors of a popular shopping district that might also have some of the stores you mentioned. However, I think it would be better to have that type of shopping located just outside of the downtown area along one of the "spokes"
However, if I could wave my magic wand and bring retail downtown, I would create an "anchor" by bringing a Macy's Department Store to the site of the old Hudson's building and fill as much as i could of Woodward between Campus Martius and GCP and Washington between GCP and Michigan with either high end, boutique, or some other unique retail.
The final thing I would do is make the buildings around GCP the "Food Court" of what is essentially a high end outdoor mall. On the ground floor of the buildings facing GCP, I would try to develop more unique dining options both corporate [[yes, even a Cheesecake Factory) and local places too [[Slows Downtown perhaps?).
The bottom line of all of this is that You can't just try and throw the same things you would find at any mall in the surburbs in downtown Detroit and expect it to thrive. You have to create an experience and a destination that people are willing to fight traffic, pay for parking, and endure the elements [[wind, rain, snow, etc) to enjoy that is unique to what they can get out on 102 mile rd.