caribou and lave at SCG closed? wtf? « Columbus Underground Messageboard

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caribou and lave at SCG closed? wtf?

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Started 4 years ago by heresthecasey
Latest reply from ZHC

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heresthecasey
Funkytown
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sign's are gone, store's are closed like they never happened. anyone know the details here? there are still a lot of vacancies at SCG now going on three years since it opened, do you think campus partners is going to start thinking about lowering rents? it seems like all the businesses that actually seem like they would fit there (caribou, lave, revol, sunflower) have been forced to pack their bags. meanwhile, mcfaddens is still there blasting obnoxious music and filling the area with drunk underage college/high school students, as well as police nightly. anyone think this might be a candidate for the city's input on bad bars/liquor permit renewal?
anyways, in closing, if we're taking bets i think coldstone is next to go.

Posted 4 years ago #
columbusguy20
Kingsdale
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Caribou closed? What a shame. I've been in there a few times and really liked it. The staff was very helpful and quite nice! Maybe McFadden's should be the next to go!!! :wink:

Posted 4 years ago #
Matthew
Westgate
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I wonder how much the off and on seasons with school have to do with chain closures. I can tell you as a chain manager, most corporate offices just don't get it. They see a peak week or month at the beginning of a term in a college area, and give their operations teams hell for not repeating those numbers or building on them the other 2-3 periods of the year. After a few of these roller coaster trips they may view that location as wishy washy and close it. As stupid as it seems, I've seen it happen.

Posted 4 years ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown / Gay Street
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I'm willing to bet there's a different reason behind each of those businesses closing.
FYI, Sunflower went under as a whole and closed all of their locations. It really had nothing to do with their Gateway location.

Posted 4 years ago #
dru
IV
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odd thing is, we just got a SCG promotional flyer in the mail on Tuesday.
- main interior photo spread = people enjoying coffee outside at Caribou

Posted 4 years ago #
joev
Merion Village
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Maybe the area is just not as viable for business as all of us would like it to be. I'd be the first to be optimistic about it, but there really have been quite a lot of closings and few replacement businesses.

Posted 4 years ago #
shroud
Polaris
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joev wrote Maybe the area is just not as viable for business as all of us would like it to be. I'd be the first to be optimistic about it, but there really have been quite a lot of closings and few replacement businesses.
I think it's a great place for businesses - but things moving in there definitely have to be prepared for the Summer drop-off in traffic. When the neighborhood population drops by THOUSANDS (10,000? more?) for 3 months, it's going to cause things to slow down.
Still, if places continue to have trouble there, maybe they'll knock down the rent a bit and it might be more viable?

Posted 4 years ago #
Matthew
Westgate
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Campus Partners must think they are doing well, they have demolition permits all up and down 8th and 9th ave's right now.

Posted 4 years ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown / Gay Street
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Retail is tough through the whole stretch of campus. There's constant openings and closings by small businesses and chains alike. It wasn't too long ago that Steak & Shake decided they couldn't cut it anymore.
The campus area is the most densely populated in the city, but the population there doesn't have a whole lot of disposable income.
It sounds like the SCG hasn't had much trouble filling their office and residential spaces. They should lease out some of the ground floor retail to offices for now, just so they can have more street-level infill and a better street presence. Keep the leases short and renewable so that they can swap out offices with retail when new tenants come along.
That being said, I still visit the Gateway more often than I would if it were still a bunch of college dive bars.

Posted 4 years ago #
surber17

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joev wrote Maybe the area is just not as viable for business as all of us would like it to be. I'd be the first to be optimistic about it, but there really have been quite a lot of closings and few replacement businesses.
Walker was right on with the businesses as a corporation were having issues, not Campus Gateway. I was told the other day that Carribu Coffee got in trouble for multiple things and business was dropping from the top down (kind of like Sunflower). No matter how much business comes in, when that happens it's over.
As far as McFadden's goes, these complaints crack me up. Ohio St. is one of the biggest campuses in the nation. College kids drink....it's going to happen somewhere. I'd much rather have nice places than run down joints that fail health inspections on a regular basis. It brings a vibrancy to the area and creates a fun nightlife. Really, what's the difference between McFadden's and any other large bar area in America; college or not?

Posted 4 years ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown / Gay Street
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Typically people move away from the campus area when they grow tired of the noise instead of trying to shut down the campus bars. ;)

Posted 4 years ago #
heresthecasey
Funkytown
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yes i agree that there will always be loud and obnoxious bars full of drunk kids on campus. but do we have to have one right smack in the prime spot of south campus gateway, which is the university's showpiece for redevelopment and a point of pride for the area? and not just that but mcfaddens also has terrible food, and terrible service in addition to just being a drain on the area. i have never encountered any of the same problems from the other bars down there (sky, ugly tuna). mcfaddens is the same as the old school bars that they tore down to build scg, thinly veiled under the guise of being a "cleaner alternative".
Walker wrote Typically people move away from the campus area when they grow tired of the noise instead of trying to shut down the campus bars. ;)
and typically people move into the campus area when they are entering as university students. and believe it or not, a few of them actually take an interest in their surroundings off campus and in columbus as a whole. and better yet, they might even try to make campus and columbus a better place by actually bringing problems to the attention of others and suggesting ways to correct them rather than (a) ignoring them, (b) adopting a "there will always be this problem somewhere, so why even bother" mentality, or (c) fleeing the area where the problem exists aka the old, "out of sight, out of mind" :wink:.

Posted 4 years ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown / Gay Street
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I'm not asking you to not care about this neighborhood. If McFadden's is breaking the law in terms of underage drinking or exceeding noise decibel levels, complain through the proper channels.

Posted 4 years ago #
surber17

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heresthecasey wrote yes i agree that there will always be loud and obnoxious bars full of drunk kids on campus. but do we have to have one right smack in the prime spot of south campus gateway, which is the university's showpiece for redevelopment and a point of pride for the area? and not just that but mcfaddens also has terrible food, and terrible service in addition to just being a drain on the area. i have never encountered any of the same problems from the other bars down there (sky, ugly tuna). mcfaddens is the same as the old school bars that they tore down to build scg, thinly veiled under the guise of being a "cleaner alternative".
Walker wrote Typically people move away from the campus area when they grow tired of the noise instead of trying to shut down the campus bars. ;)
and typically people move into the campus area when they are entering as university students. and believe it or not, a few of them actually take an interest in their surroundings off campus and in columbus as a whole. and better yet, they might even try to make campus and columbus a better place by actually bringing problems to the attention of others and suggesting ways to correct them rather than (a) ignoring them, (b) adopting a "there will always be this problem somewhere, so why even bother" mentality, or (c) fleeing the area where the problem exists aka the old, "out of sight, out of mind" :wink:.
I'm not quite sure what else you want there that will support college kids. It's not suppose to be a place to go get a relaxing drink. McFadden's is also a chain that will take care of the place, keep it clean, and pay rent on time. You call it a drain on the area......how? It's a business that saw a niche and filled it. How is this place any different than the new "O"-Bar? If you dont like it, you dont have to go; but I dont see one sign that it is draining anything out of that area.

Posted 4 years ago #
HeySquare
German Village
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A couple months ago, I took some heat for being skeptical regarding the viability of the small businesses in the SCG... specifically that the rent was likely going to be too high in new construction to enable the businesses to succeed long term.
I'm disappointed, but not surprised, to see my predictions coming true.
Just wanted to point this out, so that the next time I talk about historic preservation and economic development... that taking a breath and considering options before advocating demolition of older buildings... that such a plan may be a better choice for small business development... just remember this conversation.
It's not nostalgia. It's economics.
And I'm not saying that SCG was the wrong choice in this case. As has been pointed out to me... there were many problems with this area that a clean slate helped to alleviate. But new construction usually has a high price tag, and a price that new small businesses can rarely afford.

Posted 4 years ago #
somertimeoh
Harrison West
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I was telling Lew or someone the other day after our meetup at Eddie George's that I'm glad those places are there. If they weren't, Short North bars would be filled with college kids and then we'd have to seek new places that aren't within walking distance from our homes. Those kids need a place to go just like we do. I'm glad there are lots for them to choose from - SCG, campus dives, BW3, etc. Let's not forget, most of us were all there once :roll:
I think SCG will eventually find places that fit the neighborhood and satisfy the needs of the people who go there. I know most people on here would want it to be local, but I think more recognized chains are the way to go here. College kids want things familiar and that's where they go to spend their money. Adventurous kids that want to support local and care about things like that will seek it out, but you've got to serve the masses in this case if you want a high occupancy rate and successful tenants.
Think Anthropologie, not Forever 21; bluemercury or Sephora, not Bath and Body Works, etc. I don't know, I just think it would get a better crossover from IV, VV, NoFi, etc. residents than the places that closed.

Posted 4 years ago #
Cyclist
Peach District (State of Mind)
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I know a T-Mobile store is going in there at SCG.
I wish Gramaraye could anwser all these questions of the universe.

Posted 4 years ago #
ZHC
101 East Main Street, Downtown
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HeySquare wrote A couple months ago, I took some heat for being skeptical regarding the viability of the small businesses in the SCG... specifically that the rent was likely going to be too high in new construction to enable the businesses to succeed long term.
I'm disappointed, but not surprised, to see my predictions coming true.
Just wanted to point this out, so that the next time I talk about historic preservation and economic development... that taking a breath and considering options before advocating demolition of older buildings... that such a plan may be a better choice for small business development... just remember this conversation.
It's not nostalgia. It's economics.
And I'm not saying that SCG was the wrong choice in this case. As has been pointed out to me... there were many problems with this area that a clean slate helped to alleviate. But new construction usually has a high price tag, and a price that new small businesses can rarely afford.
I agree with your take, re: new construction and rent, although I think it needs to be mentioned that this is also considered a historically horrible year for retail of all types. Shopping Mall Vacancy rates have never been higher in my lifetime and several chains are closing massive amounts of stores...
Perhaps if these stores only had one of those two factors to deal with (expensive rent and bad retail environment) they could have survived (assuming these actually closed).
btw is there official conformation that these stores have closed? I don't wish to be unintentionally hurting their business if they haven't.

Posted 4 years ago #