Space Savers Now in Crossroads
The move was quick, and the Cary location of Space Savers is now in Crossroads Plaza, where Coconuts music and movies was.
Smith & Hawken to Shut Its Doors
The economy’s newest casualty is unfortunately Smith & Hawken. The retailer featuring (overpriced) neat garden items has been around for 30 years, and will shut down all of its stores, including the one at Crabtree. Inexplicably Plow & Hearth seems to still be doing OK.
HHGregg Coming to Crossroads
Today’s column by Sue Stock reveals that the former Circuit City location on Walnut Street, across from Crossroads, will be filled by HHGregg this fall.
Bank Of America Installing Drive-Thru ATMs at North Hills
The way North Hills mall approaches the intersection with Lassiter Mill Road has always created an odd triangle of land. It has been used as a small overflow parking lot and a staging area for North Hills construction projects. Earlier this year Bank of America moved from of its doomed building across Six Forks from the fire station to the space in North Hills next to Total Wine. The problem with that space is that it doesn’t provide for drive thru tellers or a convenient ATM.
Construction recently began on the little triangle of land and yesterday it was revealed that it will be remade to house a pair of drive-up ATM machines. While the location is not ideal given its distance from the BOA branch, it is a clever use of a forgotten piece of land that, for over 40 years, nobody has put to good use.
Big Changes Afoot At ITB Autoland
The cluster of auto dealerships on Wake Forest Road has just undergone some major changes. In a move that probably has Al Smith rolling in his grave, Buick joins Cadillac, GMC, and Pontiac across the street Thompson . Southern States has moved its Nissan operation into the space vacated by Buick, and will create a large used car superstore in the former Nissan space. Volkswagon remains unchanged. It will be interesting to see if Thompson expands its operations by acquiring some of the abandoned adjacent businesses on Creekside Drive.
222 Glenwood Sees More Retail Changes
As reported 24 days ago here , the Dunkin’ Donuts is closing at 222 Glenwood. Today is the last day, but there are new businesses coming to the retail level of the condo building. Word is that the space formerly occupied by European Espresso & Wine Cafe will become a second pizza-by-the-slice entry to the Glenwood South market.
Also coming to the area will be “an Asian placeâ€. It isn’t clear as to whether the restaurant will occupy the former Dunkin’ Donuts space or will do the long-awaited upfit on the space to the left of Tobacco Road. Best bets are on the latter. Hopefully these will be good places that can add to the Glenwood experience.
Whole Foods Planned for North Raleigh
The plan for the new Whole Foods
(.PDF) at Six Forks and Strickland Roads in Raleigh has been submitted to the city’s Planning Commission. The plan calls for a 40,000 square foot retail store, a sea of about 275 parking spaces, and a 13,000 square foot strip retail building on a previously clear-cut large lot adjacent to two major arteries.
This plan is the very definition of “car-dependent sprawl†with no chance of ever evolving into anything else. If Harris Teeter, Food Lion, or a developer such as John Kane planned such a cookie cutter design, they would be lambasted as being backward-thinking, earth-hating, Capitalist pigs. Somehow trumping itself as being greener than thou allows Whole Foods to get away with this.
Whole Foods is an outstanding, high-priced food market. However let’s stop pretending that Whole Foods is anything other than what they are; a big box chain whose sole interest is their stock-holders. That’s all they are at Ridgewood, and that’s all they are going to be in North Raleigh.
Take the Shop Local Challenge
A friend of mine who owns a one-shop operation sent me a nice little challenge. In the spirit of the 5 Businesses You Miss Most, take the challenge and see if we can keep the locals healthy and strong:
- 3 – What three independently owned businesses would you miss of they disappeared? Stop in. Say Hello. Pick up something that brings a smile. Your purchases keep those businesses around.
- 50 – If half the employed population spent $50 each month in locally owned, independent businesses, $42.6 billion in revenue would be generated. Imagine the positive impact if 3/4 of the employed population did that.
- 68 – For every $100 spent in locally owned independent stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll, and other expenditures. If you spend that in a national chain, only $43 stays here. Spend it online and nothing comes home .
- 1 – The number of people it takes to start the trend… you
Sam’s Club Moves from Harrison Ave.
Last Thursday Sam’s Club opened their newest area store, located at NC54 and I-540, in the Shiloh Crossings shopping center. The store is actually a move, as the store at Harrison Ave and I-40 closed on Wednesday.
A Southern Season Named to Retail Superstars
A new book entitled “
Retail Superstars: Inside the 25 Best Independent Stores in America
†includes Chapel Hill’s wonderful
A Southern Season
. The book takes readers inside the history of how the stores started and grew in spite of large national chains moving in nearby. The book can, ironically, be purchased through
Amazon
,
Barnes & Noble
,
Borders
, and
many other
fine retailers.
[ via ]
Circuit City Purchased; Landlords Cross Fingers
On Tuesday Circuit City was purchased by Systemax, Inc “a leading multi-channel retailer of computers, electronics, and industrial products, has purchased the Circuit City brand, trademark, website and other assets. The purchased assets include the customer records of the original Circuit City.â€
In the last few days CircuitCity.com was relaunched , and a big sale is now underway. What is interesting is the fact that the Circuit City stores (at least in this area) are still fully lit at nights, including parking lot lights, store interior lights, and signage. It’s understandable that the parking lot lights would be on for safety reasons, but unless the store is still trying to push its brand, there are not many other reasons to be wasting money by illuminating the store and signage, of all things. Perhaps the stores will make a comeback. This would make many landlords, techies, and one President of the United States happy.
LEGO Store Now Open in Crabtree
The
LEGO store
in Crabtree Valley Mall opened its doors at 10am this morning. The store is located in the center court, on the lower level (in the space once occupied by the Sharper Image, Museum Company, and, uh, Orange Bowl 😉 )
Great Outdoor Provision Co. To Close in Falls Village
TBJ is reporting that the Great Outdoor Provision Co. will close its Falls Village operation. Apparently they and the center’s owner, Bell Properties (a top-notch REIT out of Greensboro), could not agree to terms on a new lease.
This is a curious situation. I assume that Steve Bell would never explain the real story to me if I asked, but it seems rather odd that a shopping center that has lost its grocery store anchor, its nice restaurant anchor, and a slew of small stores in the back would play hardball in this economy with a high-end tenant who claims that they wish to keep their store open.
Perhaps a partial demolition of the complex is in the works. The 35-year old center’s original section is designed like a hook and has terrible frontage for stores in the rear of the property as well as on the back side of GOPC (near Chick-Fil-a). Also next door is an apartment complex that is pushing 40 years old. All of this is in an affluent area, but the risk of seeing the area slide in the way that North Hills Drive has is very real with aging rental properties (anyone notice the rise in crime, dead bodies found, and graffiti near 440 and Glenwood Ave lately?). Perhaps a reorganization of the shopping center property as well as the adjacent apartment property would be a fantastic injection of new life for the North Ridge area.
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