The Future of the Fulton Mall
With the street repaving complete and many of the other pieces of the $15 million Fulton Mall streetscape improvement plan finished or in process, the New York Times takes a moment to ponder the future of the five-block retail stretch in Downtown Brooklyn. Once a hub for department stores like Abraham & Straus, the Fulton…
With the street repaving complete and many of the other pieces of the $15 million Fulton Mall streetscape improvement plan finished or in process, the New York Times takes a moment to ponder the future of the five-block retail stretch in Downtown Brooklyn. Once a hub for department stores like Abraham & Straus, the Fulton Mall transformed into a destination for working-class shoppers in the latter half of the 20th century. Now a combination of a tough economy and an effort by the city to broaden the area’s retail appeal is resulting in some of the long-time mom-and-pop stores being replaced by mid-tier chains like Aeropostale and, soon, H&M. You’re going to see a whole new Fulton Street in the next 12 months, said Isaac S. Chera, whose family has been a major property owner on the mall for decades. How new and how upscale? Is Hermès coming to the Fulton Mall? Probably not, said Downtown Brooklyn Partnership head Joe Chan. The sweet spot is affordable, accessible retailers that can cater to the entire borough and that will bring added cachet to Downtown Brooklyn.
An Eclectic Shopping Hub Wonders What’s Next [NY Times]
In case anyone here is interested, the history of controversy about renovations to Fulton Mall is the subject of the recently-published book _Street Value: Shopping, Planning and Politics at Fulton Mall_ (Princeton Architectural Press/Inventory Books, 2010).
The book has a web site at http://inventorybooks.info/street-value
I don’t see how filling the Fulton Mall with corporate chain stores is an improvement over what’s there now. The transformation seems obvious. Building owners rent for years to whomever will fill up the spots- if that means half a dozen each of cell phone stores, diamond stores, sneaker stores and fast food places, then that’s what will be there. Landlords sitting tight, waiting for things to change. Then finally the time is right- Brooklyn becomes desirable and the city throws some money at the mall. Paving, trees, knock down those old info kiosks, and bam- it’s time for the landlords to boot out the cell phone stores and welcome in Aeropostale. I don’t think Brooklyn shoppers’ needs were ever in mind. Purely a game of profit for the landlords. I had no interest in shopping on the Fulton Mall before, but I’m not attracted by what it’s turning into either.
tybur6:
When I first moved back to NYC after 20+ years on the west coast, I wrote a letter to the senior vice president eastern division of Costco.
In a nutshell, I told him what you state above.
I ended up meeting with the local store manager, they hired staff as a result of the letter, etc. but the end result is no different than what it was before I wrote the letter. The employees are surly and apathetic. I had to ask two of them to move the other day so I could get past them into the store. They were on a smoke break standing directly in front of the store entrance.
At one point in the process, the local store manager told me “look at the labor pool I have from which to hire” an argument I don’t buy but that is what he said.
I would be happy in most cases to just be verbally acknowledged in any fashion by employees at most of the retail establishments. Often you don’t even get that. I especially like the checkout losers who expect you to look at the screen so you know how much to pay them as they can’t be bothered to tell you themselves.
Just throwing this out there… Has anyone that owns/runs a store in Brooklyn been to *any* store, almost anywhere else?! The shit attitudes (aggressive, badly trained, ignorance of what they sell, dismissive, etc.) of the staff in close to every store is AMAZING!!! Most stores in Brooklyn need to fire their staff and start again. And keep doing it until it sticks.
The mall is what it is because that is what its client base wants.
Were it not, the stores would fail and would have to reconfigure their model. This is pretty fundamental stuff.
Being that it is the third busiest shopping destination in NYC (according to the FMIA), whatever they are doing there works, as the only bottom line that matters is the bottom line.
New stores will come and old ones will close. Is there a Main Street on the planet where this is not the process?
There’s got to be someplace where Brooklyn’s Most Wanted can get gold grills for their teefs … Those closest to the courthouses will be the first be be gentrified … once that mall/tower goes up at the opposite end near the old Dime Savings Bank and Flatbush Avenue … things may well be different. But for now, it’s going to be an uneasy mix.
> 9:47 and no OT!!!!
You should ask for your money back.
Fulton Mall works for me, always has, including Macy’s. Are there better stores? Yep. Can I often find what I’m looking for at a price I want to pay? Yep. I’ve had good and bad service there, just as in some other stores in Brooklyn (like Pintchik, whose staff is downright rude). But I like the place all things considered. I guess that makes me “working” class.
Anyway, that’s all that matters from my end, although I can certainly understand how some folks would feel otherwise. They can always vote with their feet, and stay away from the mall and the Macy’s.
If the “Mall” wants to go upscale, even as far as something recognizably middle-class (any higher and you’ll lose me, for one), the powers that be might grapple with how to lure the “Black Israelites” or whatever they are from their chosen rant spot on Sunday afternoons. Yesterday the costumed loonies were howling their hate speech through an ear-splitting PA system. Free speech and all that–wouldn’t want to be the one to try ousting them, but wouldn’t want to be the adventuresome merchant whose customers must pass them on the way in. (Yesterday we were in the car; on foot, I’ve been the object of their racist spiels as I passed.)