Invasion of the Chain Stores?
The New York Times on Sunday proclaimed that, having already conquered Manhattan, chain stores were preparing to take over the boroughs and lay waste to the charming neighborhood feel of mom-and-pop stores in the process. The boroughs are all going down like bowling pins, says urban planner Jeanne Giordano. From where we sit, it’s a…
The New York Times on Sunday proclaimed that, having already conquered Manhattan, chain stores were preparing to take over the boroughs and lay waste to the charming neighborhood feel of mom-and-pop stores in the process. The boroughs are all going down like bowling pins, says urban planner Jeanne Giordano. From where we sit, it’s a little simplistic to generalize like that. Like architecture, the answer has a lot to do with context. While we’d hate to see places like Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Smith Street in Cobble Hill or Fifth Avenue in Park Slope get Soho-ized, at this point we think a Starbucks or a Gap would have a positive impact on the stretch of Fulton in Clinton Hill. Of course, we’d prefer a local boutique or gourmet store, but they’ve been a long time coming.
Big-Name Retail Chains Will Take the Other Boroughs [NY Times]
hey, does anyone know what kind of stores are coming to fulton street between nostrand and bedford? the space next to the new gamestop is being worked on now, cliquers closed and the space above t-mobile is also closed. i’m hoping that it won’t be any more beauty salons.
Concerned for Brooklyn –
you have it backwards – the ‘regular people’ in Brooklyn want chains and Walmarts; its your transplants that generally want to keep them out.
It always makes me laugh when people proclaim how much Brooklyn doesnt want or need chains yet whenever a chain opens the are often the most successful locations in the country (i.e. Target, Home Depot, Applebees)
Obviously the people posting on internet message boards dont represent the ‘people of Brooklyn’ since if people were so oppossed to chain stores they wouldnt flock to them as though they are giving the products away.
That being said, the local merchants would do a much better job of keeping chains out if they actually ran stores that were attractive, appropriatly priced and had good products. How many local coffee shops can actually make a decent (at least a decent as Starbucks – which is only passable) espresso? The answer is not many at all (and btw local coffee shops charge almost the same as Starbucks too).
How many local hardware stores have a good selection of products, arranged in a decent manner with even remotly friendly staff (like Lowes – which is now killing Home Depot b/c of the same issues at HD) – the answer is few (maybe Sids and Tanzian and both are doing well despite chains)
The list goes on and on – local merchants essentially offering horrible products, services and pricing, then moaning and growning when a chain opens.
I love the small stores and boutiques but could not afford to do most of my shopping at them. Chains are necessary and fact of life for poorer NYers. we should establish chain free zones in some areas.
only the truly advantaged could have the nerve to turn down chains aka jobs were there are few now. what’e the jobless rate for black men in nyc? 50% or higher.(same as in parts of iraq–a crisis the think tanks cry!) bring any chain you want. watch, the bulk of the workers at the new ikea and whole foods will be black and brown men and women, young and old. all those chic factories that are cool apartments now–those were jobs!
Chains have always been around. Seems when new chain comes in someone thinks sky is falling.
McDonalds is everywhere.
Downtown used to have Woolworths, Lerners, etc, etc etc.
Sears is still in Flatbush. (I think?)
Macys, Macys, Macys.
Atlantic Center is nothing but chains.
“EVERYONE who lives here loves it here.”
Larry, you are truly nutty.
Oh Lord! 12:17 PM.
I am 2 cups a day person. I would do starbucks, or one those hip/yuppie cafes.
this was $8+ a day, or god forbid I decided to splurge on a muffin or pastry that day.
I started drinking coffee from a spanish restaurant (corner of carlton and flatbush) $1.25 for a tall cappachino. delious.
though a bodega is an option they usually do not have an expresso machine or means to warm up the milk.
bedford stuyvesant would kill for every chain (well perhaps not walmart?) that it could possibly get. a gap or an old navy would be major progress. do you understand that there are wide swaths of our commerical blocks that had/have not true commerce since the white flight in the late 60s? an entire generation grew up without seeing a single flowershop, green grocer, butcher etc. in their neighborhood.i’m not talking about on fulton street which was also, for many years, much much worse than it is now. hundreds and hundreds of abandoned store fronts were the norm. of course there were the corner markets run by somewhat hostile arabs in those days, hair salons, liquor stores and a great hardware store where bistro lafayette now stands. again, the needs are so beyond what many of you could fathom. where is the closest drugstore of you live on greene and bedford?
“EVERYWHERE WORTH GOING”
do you realise how subjective that is?