The most recent:
WEST PALM BEACH — Could the shabby Palm Beach Mall soon be transformed into a glamorous center for high-fashion outlet stores?
Last month, the partnership that plans to buy the entire site in September unveiled its plan to redo the mall on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard near Interstate 95.
The vision: The Palm Beach Fashion Outlets, 1 million square feet filled with regular, big-box and high-end outlet stores. An opening is slated for 2013.
In an interview Wednesday, billionaire mall magnate Stephen Karp, one of the developers behind the makeover, said he believes shoppers would welcome outlet stores.
Billionaire Mall Magnet.....I like that.
15 comments:
on a matter of time before the chain stores end up on the waterfront, already have seen a sharp increase since Karp came to town.
Really? That might be more perception than reality.
In either case, vacancy rates are extraordinarily low so something is working.
black dog, clays, j.l. coombs, not name a few, in addition to the ones that have already crept in (starbucks, life is good, talbots, not your average joes)
You're being quite liberal with the chain tag. These aren't Gaps or Abercrombie or Fitch.
I'll give you Life is Good and Black Dog, but even those aren't large chains.
Talbot's certainly is, but it does fill a niche and considerable space.
Plus, Clay's isn't in a Karp building, neither is Joe's.
Hmmm...check out the board of directors for Joe's. Alot of connections can be made, you just have to look.
Hmmm, why didn't I think of that. Oh wait I did.
Duh dunnnn.....!
http://www.newburyportposts.com/2007/10/karp-kernal.html
I don't have time to look this up, but does Joe's arrival predate Karp's 2005 purchase?
Anonymous nailed it....Stephen Karp is/was an officer of Not Your Average Joe's...
http://corp.sec.state.ma.us/corp/corpsearch/CorpSearchSummary.asp?ReadFromDB=True&UpdateAllowed=&FEIN=043461276
2007 BABY!! You folks gotta REAALLY read this blog.
:)
Sorry, missed your blog post. Not news to me either. Point is you can make connections and see movement has been underway all along as pertains to downtown. I'm all too afraid much has passed us by already.
Nah, I got your point. Just having fun.
I'm not comfortable saying we've lost anything. I've said this before, the downtown feels no different than it did in the 1990s when I worked at the Daily News.
We had TCBY, Foodees, Starbucks came around. Ciro's was a chain. Ganesh had moved in. Fluke's moved in. Cafe Di Sienna and Greta's opened.
Yeah, we lost the general store on Pleasant and some of the old town businesses like Pray's (Is that right?) or the Sewing Shop, but we got some new ones.
Of all the shops downtown the Running Shop on Water might be the most chain like (that and the Dog) but those are tough spots to fill. I think you need to own multiple stores to make a go of the retail business these days.
And I just have a hard time thinking Karp steered Joe's here because he knew he was buying into the city. Seems far fetched, but that's me.
Thanks for reading.
only a matter of time before the larger chains show up, the small ones obviously pave the way for the larger ones...
I'm not sure that's true.
Anyway, I'm not interested in putting our downtown in a snow globe. It's got to be a vital place selling stuff that people want.
It needs to pay taxes.
It needs to employ people.
It'd be best if it were owned by locals, and franchises allow people to open their own business more easily.
I understand why people lament the change downtown and I'm sympathetic. But change happens. It can be good change leading to a more vital downtown or bad change like what folks saw here 50 years ago.
no offense, but i think most locals have had enough of people that weren't here 50 (or 40, or 30, etc...) years ago telling us how much better off we are now than we were back then.
None taken.
My opinion comes from the locals I talk to so we newbies aren't making this stuff up.
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