A number of things are changing the retail dynamic in downtown Seattle. First, there was the repopulation boom in the last decade or so, with condo and adaptive re-use housing units popping up everywhere in the urban core, in the same way buildings are being rehabed in downtown Detroit as housing units.

Second, retail hadn't kept up. Seattle has a very active, but shrinking retail core that appars not designed to serve the urban resident. That trendy clothing store can't really sell you a pair of boxers. Combine that with the 50 year trend of moving to shopping centers in outlying areas, and that leaves you with an underserved urban population.

Third is probably one of the bigger impacts. Businesses rely on growth, and with shopping centers and strip malls blanketing the 'burbs, the outlying areas have probably seen as much growth as they're going to see. Large footprint stores like Target, Penny's and Wal-Mart are [[finally) looking for expansion opertunities outside of their "traditional" areas. This is the "new frontier" for retail.