RSS
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
Yeah, Columbus already has more retail space per capita than it needs, but there are a few shopping destinations that are missing. I know plenty of people have mentioned that it would be nice to have an Ikea in town. I’d like to see a few more cool mens clothing stores (or ones that cater to both sexes) like H&M and Mexx. What else do you want to see?
More clothing stores? More electronics stores? More grocery/food stores? More home/furniture stores?
I think we’ll see things like this popping up downtown within the next 5-10 years. That may still seem like a long time, but I think we’re really on the fast track to major urban renewal.
When you read about a proposal like this it makes you wonder what else could be on the drawing board for the near future. ;)
interesting article. i wonder what affect it will have on the north market. i really enjoy visiting and shopping there. i hope the opening or possible opening of whole foods wont take away from the business of the north market. but i hope that it is a sign of things to come. mayeb stores like bloomingdales, neiman marucs, gucci, etc… could be on there way to columbus! :)
also speaking of columbus only stores, we have the only henri bendel and c.o. bigelow outside of new york. cincy and cleveland have nothing on us now. columbus is much better than those two cities! :D
I think that the addition of a Whole Foods and and a small “market district” would enhance the area to be even more of a destination spot from all over town. People that live near the north market seem to already frequent it on a semi-regular basis. A Whole Foods and other stores would just give more people that don’t live nearby more of a reason to shop in that area. I think the North Market could benefit greatly from this type of expansion.
Put me down for an IKEA as well.
Also, maybe Kenneth Cole can move into one of the 3 Victoria’s Secrets stores currently at Easton. I think they’re actually building a 4th right now. :roll:
I think they’re just remodeling their main one at Easton. It does seem a little excessive to have 3 of them right there, but I guess they sell different things.
Oh, now that I’m thinking about it, I’d also like to see a DSW downtown. ;) Maybe work on into a revamped City Center somewhere. ;)
i agree with the whole victoria secret store thing. they have too many close together. im not putting them down or anything, but it would be nice if kenneth cole did move into one of them. also i like the idea of a DSW in downtown Columbus. i work at the one at Easton and im sure they would do great business down there, since people who live on the south and west sides have to go all the way to the sawmill road/161 or easton stores to buy nice shoes at discount prices. i think they should also tear down city center and build individual stores downtown. they should have a free standing bloomingdales or neiman marcus or saks, and throw in some upscale/luxury stores, food stores, a drugstore or two, some book and record/music shops and some other convenience places :D
I almost forgot…I’d also like to see some sort of farmer’s market downtown. The North Market is great for lunch, but not so good for buying groceries. I realize there is something called the Pearl Alley market, but it’s only open for a couple hours each week, so I never get a chance to go.
I think the German Village area could support some type of weekend/weekday evening market. Parking is getting to be too much of an issue in the Short North.
If somebody gets creative with nice, new, friendly, clean farmers market, I think there’s money to be made. Lots of people are into cooking nowadays.
I miss Virgin Megastore, and since I don’t really care much for “hip” and “artsy” home decor, I feel that Crate & Barrel was a pretty poor trade. C&B strikes me as a rich man’s IKEA.
Virgin’s prices were often way too high, but they had an incredible selection – especially of music. I found all kinds of things there which have never seen the light of day in Media Play, Best Buy, etc…
Yea, Virgin Megastore had a great selection, but with those prices, what does it really matter? You can have the best inventory in the world, but without the right prices no one is going to buy anything…..
i do miss virgin megastore, except for the prices. but you could find a lot of music and magazines that you could not find anyone else. i wish crate and barrel didnt take that space. im just not into the whole yuppie thing and i went in there with my mom and we both thought it was to yuppie and expensive. my mom would rather shop at ethan allen or kittles(expensive but worth it, w/out the yuppie feel) does anyone know of any other stores that are going to be opening at easton or anywhere else in columbus in the near future?
i also heard that von maur(an upscale department store) is moving into the old lord & taylor space(i used to work there until they closed :cry: ).
H&M sounds great.
Several that I’ll second that have already been mentioned:
1) IKEA
2) Neiman Marcus
Also, if we perhaps don’t have the base to support a full-fledged Neiman’s or Barney’s, we might be able to swing a Neiman’s Last Call or Off 5th … Cincinnati and Cleveland both have one of the latter, and we’ve got a full-fledged Saks, so we ought to be able to support one of their outlets.
On the whole, though, Columbus really has the retail sector fairly well covered, even in the luxury market (especially for a city our size). With Godfry’s, Saks, Neiman’s, Henri Bendel, Clive Christian, etc., we’re in good shape. What downtown in particular is really lacking is nightlife. The city rolls up the streets after regular business hours. That leaves a lot of dead time when no commerce is happening and no social scene is active. I often joke that Columbus is the city where you can buy all kinds of designer clothes and have nowhere to wear them.
i think columbus can support a barneys or neiman marcus, though we have a better chance of having a neiman marcus. if we can support a store like neimans, then why not gucci, chanel, prada, boss, kenneth cole, etc… i know that we could support a kenneth cole better than cincy and a tiffanys to boot. but an outlet version of neimans would be nice downtown or any new department store downtown. i wish fields would come back to columbus :)
I always have mixed feelings about all the big-name designer fashion houses. I think it would be good for bragging rights against other cities to have Cartier, Kenneth Cole, Prada, etc. have boutiques in town, but realistically, we don’t have the base for an upscale shopping mecca like Tysons II out here. Polaris is good enough.
I get Kenneth Cole and Salvatore Ferragamo shoes at Filene’s Basement (DSW) in Dublin and have no complaints. Godfry’s in the Worthington Mall stocks Brioni and Oxxford for upscale men’s business attire. Jared at Polaris stocks Rolex, and if you’re wealthy and demanding enough to be looking at the post-Rolex brands out of Robb Report, you’re wealthy enough to buy a plane ticket to Switzerland.
Upscale nightlife attire is a little harder to find in Columbus, though that likely has something to do with the lack of upscale nightlife. Roberto Cavalli, Dolce & Gabbana, True Religion, and so on are hard to find around here. The market for such things is nowhere near strong enough to bring a boutique for such brands into the area, though; they’d have to sell through a larger department store.
i can understand your point. ive been to tysons 2 and they have a crap load of nice stores. but im sure that columbus could attract those types of stores, if not department stores like neiman marcus, bloomingdales or antoher saks. then again, we are better than cincy and cleveland when it comes to attracting stores(usually) and just having a better “lifestyle”(if thats what it can be called). but i wonder what brought tiffanys and kenneth cole to cincy? if we are strong enough to attract saks and clive christian(which sells furniture for the truly blue-blood) why not neimans, gucci, etc…(especially gucci since we did have one until about 1991 or 1992)?
It’s about damn time.. too bad we couldn’t get it in the city center – what a draw! I can die a happy man now knowing that we are starting to become a player in the international world (a sign is an amazing store like H & M setting up shop!)
breaking news: macys will be converting kaufmanns store names to macys! they plan on closing the kaufmanns at city center, polaris, tuttle crossing and eastland. im glad to hear that because i did not like kaufmanns. its surprising, because macys said they did not have any interest in coming back downtown! hopefully with macys moving downtown, city center will be able to attract more big names(i.e. h&m, kenneth cole, etc….)!!! :D
So… The Kaufmanns space in Polaris will be up for lease? With Lord & Taylor unleased and Kaufmanns closing I’m guessing that whole wing of Polaris Mall will be a lot less shopped. I mean Gap and Starbucks will still draw some people down, but there won’t be anything “big” to go that way for. I use to work at Forever 21, before Lord & Taylor closed there were a lot of people who shopped at Lord & Taylor and let their daughters come over to Forever 21 (and Gap). Once they closed we pretty much only got regulars or people who were hardcore shoppers (you know the type that have to hit every single store even if there is nothing in it they want). With Kaufmanns closing I think Polaris is going to have to entice someone very important to lease the space(s) or that end of the mall will go downhill very quickly.
Just my two cents.
~ME
i agree. i used to work at lord and taylor and i remember that daughters would tell there moms they are going over to forever 21, the gap or starbucks. but the lord and taylor space has already been leased by von maur. it is a department store somewhat similar to nordstroms. so lord and taylor is taken care of, but something will have to be done about kaufmanns. i appreciate your insight.
Also, I’m not a big fan of Mr. Wexners (at one point I swore off shopping at ANY of his stores) but I would really love it if Victoria Secrets could put their clothing line in a store. Note: I said CLOTHING.. not bras and panties and all that crap. VS’s pants go from 32″-36″. I got two of their yoga pants for X-mas (36″) and love them! They are the first pair of pants I have found that I can comfortably workout in! True their prices are kinda high… but I would shop for shirts, socks, and shoes any place that carries pants long and big enough for me!! (And when they have a sale… it’s usually a damn good one) I think that is what they should do with one of the VS’s already in Easton. For example: Change the one in the main mall from lingerie to clothing and leave the other two alone (lingerie and bath & beauty). Or just get rid of the other two and combine all three into one big store! (That would be good for Polaris if you ask me) Wow… I’ve rambled enough!
~ME
That would be cool, but I doubt that will EVER happen.
Anyway, do you shop their clearance? They are almost always running sales on yoga pants. I just got a slew of their clearance catalogs in the mail.