Downtown Retail

[ndavies]

Hudson's was proof, a major retailer downtown can make it a destination... even before it closed, there were at least people on merchant's row on a daily basis. The problem with Hudson's was that their sales had dropped significantly and they still had the high overhead associated with that massive building, and the dropping sales just didn't support it anymore.

Now to expect a ton of people to come from the north is not realistic, at first anyway, but if they could attract people from the south and west of town, it could be feasible... with a little bit of time and advertising, other stores will follow, say a Macy's, I really believe, from an economic standpoint, it could work solely from the point that a retailer like that would make it a destination. These are the types of retailers that make malls survive, so using that logic they could make it work... they would have to advertise it though.

Why would they come from the south or the west? They would have to drive right by Fairlane in Dearborn or Southland mall in Taylor. Both are less than 15 miles from downtown and contain most of the stores people would drive to including Macy.

[ghettopalmetto]

Why would they come from the south or the west? They would have to drive right by Fairlane in Dearborn or Southland mall in Taylor. Both are less than 15 miles from downtown and contain most of the stores people would drive to including Macy.

[[This is the part where someone says, "Yes, but if the store is *special* and *unique* and *doesn't exist anywhere else in the Detroit area*, it'll attract people.)

"Special", "unique", and "doesn't exist anywhere else in the Detroit area" being code words for high-end designer stores that, again, couldn't survive in downtown Detroit due to the lack of income density.

[esp1986]

Why would they come from the south or the west? They would have to drive right by Fairlane in Dearborn or Southland mall in Taylor. Both are less than 15 miles from downtown and contain most of the stores people would drive to including Macy.

If it is done properly, the store would be done to be one of the nicer ones in the area... most of the people in the northern suburbs are in their own little world and think that Sommerset is the best place on earth, in my experiences anyway. If they build a nice store, to rival that of Macy's in Sommerset, people from the south and west will come, the same people that don't want to drive the 45 mins+ up to Sommerset.