Fulton Attracting 'Manhattan-Type' Customers?
The Observer has a Q&A with Al Laboz—chairman of the Fulton Street Mall Association and one of the strip’s big property owners—in which Laboz talks about new businesses like H&M coming to the corridor. He has this to say about the demographics stores are looking to cater to: “Now that downtown Brooklyn is experiencing a…
The Observer has a Q&A with Al Laboz—chairman of the Fulton Street Mall Association and one of the strip’s big property owners—in which Laboz talks about new businesses like H&M coming to the corridor. He has this to say about the demographics stores are looking to cater to: “Now that downtown Brooklyn is experiencing a renaissance, with 5,000 new apartments being developed in a four-block radius, we’re getting a new type of highly educated … I’ll call them the Manhattan type of customer. And the challenge that we have on Fulton Street right now is really to keep our core local customer while also embracing the new customer that’s starting to come into Fulton Street.” Laboz also says “major, large-scale retailers” are eying 505 Fulton. Meanwhile, a reader sent in the photo above yesterday, which shows that work’s kicked off at the future home of the Shake Shack on the Fulton Mall—not a Laboz property, but certainly an example of one of the commercial corridor’s newcomers.
Albert Laboz Has a Mall in Brooklyn He’d Like to Sell You [NYO]
Pretzels have twisted minds.
“they spend their ENTIRE day commenting on a blog making fun of people who live in their neighborhood. Get a life dude.”
“you sit on this site all day and make judgments about strangers on the internet. Piss off.”
Where to begin?
1. I don’t think Pretzel likes us much.
B. I don’t think Pretzel gets the point of the blog if he thinks any of spending the entire day here, making fun of people, and making judgments isn’t, well, mandatory.
Third, I don’t think Pretzel realizes that most of us are friends, not strangers.
IV. I think Pretzel should avoid the OT at all costs if he doesn’t like the comments here!
“And WTF is a Moonface? Can we please stop with that?”
As I understand it, a Moonface is a wide-eyed midwesterner (I always imagine Iowa) who moves to Brooklyn, is supported by their parents, and is happy to overpay in rent and for $10 scoops of Blue Marble ice cream and $10 Bark hot dogs. I’ve never taken it to have racial overtones.
Had he simply said “affluent” there would have been no problem- that would have been less objectionable by far. I think Mm, snappy and several others would agree with that. Reread what he said- “we’re getting a new type of highly educated … I’ll call them the Manhattan type of customer”
Saying without saying. And no- he didn’t say they were dumb. I didn’t accuse him of that -although i think he dissed Brooklyn a bit too. And absolutely I understand how a RE and business owner would want to highlight all these new, affluent potential customers. It’s a plus- just find a less offensive way to phrase it.
Had my first Shake Shack burger and fries recently. Delish!
“I think he’s talking about Asians not Whites”
By all means, bring on the Asians!
bxgrl – he didnt say the old customer was dumb and uneducated.
Let me say this a different way. Surely you can see how a RE owner and head of the BID would want to highlight the fact that recent development nearby has brought thousands of new affluent residence and potential shoppers to the immediate proximity of his BID and RE.
Now how would you have him say it, whereby the description of this new demographic (there were never 1M condos and 3K rentals within a block or 2 of fulton mall before) wouldnt be offensive based on how you are looking at it?
The saddest thing about Fulton Mall is having to look at the closed and abandoned Gage & Tollner restaurant building. No matter how vibrant and successful the strip is supposed to be, it cannot seem to support a decent restaurant. That is a shame and a problem.
maybe, fsrg. But that doesn’t take away for the offensiveness of Laboz’s comment implying the “manhattan type” customer is new and highly educated. Unless he conducted an indepth survey of the people who shopped there for decades his is basically anecdotal. Again- I don’t object to improving Fulton St. I object to the way its being characterized.