An interesting (and pretty depressing) article from Reuters today. According to a recent survey, Americans are expected to increase their holiday spending from last year, but the percentage of that increase will be the smallest since the company conducting the poll first began surveying in 2002. The article goes on to note that many large-retailers, such as Saks, Abercrombie & Fitch and Target missed their sales projections in September, another indication of the problems facing the American economy. Indeed, retailers (particularly luxury retailers) have been hit particularly hard by the current economic climate.
All of these figures raise a particularly troubling question from an urban revitalization prospective. Urban retailers often have enough trouble competing with mall and big-box counter-parts. How will they fare in a depressed economic climate?
UPDATE: More bad news. The economy shrank .3% in the third quarter.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
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Lets say you are a world class boxer and I introduce you to a world class sprinter and ask would you rather box him or race him, what would you choose? This is the reality of Main Streets all over the region. They have chosen to compete with strip malls and big boxes using the same rule book and therefore playing to suburban design strengths. Many Main streets have become a collection of boutique stores and gift shops meant to draw tourists and suburbanites for high cost purchases. In hard economic times these types of stores are affected the most as many of them rely on one or two peak times to pay their bills.
What are our strengths as Urban cores? Density Density Density. We can compete because we have a larger captive audience, but we need to target our local market--city and borough residents--despite their often lower buying power---because our strength is in volume and proximity, not parking and suburban convenience.
Partly this is the fault of planning which has handicapped cities by forcing them to play by suburban rules(parking requirements) and build in the suburban form(setback regs, single use zoning, and density restrictions.) But, we cannot forget It is also the fault of local governments and businesses who in many cases gave up on local residents as economic engines, looking only to the wallets of suburbanites to drive sales. Following the rules of density and demographics For every Braveheart Pub, there should be 3 Paprikas. For every suburban Wegmans their should be 3 urban grocery stores. If we are allowed to play our game, play to our strengths, we will be able to weather difficult economic times because we are simply a more efficient paradigm.
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