Suburban Nation by Andres Duany

Author:Andres Duany [Duany, Andres]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-05-19T07:00:00+00:00

RETAIL MANAGEMENT

The sad fact is that the newest, most spectacular suburban shopping center would fail within a few months if it were managed as haphazardly as the typical main street. In order for Main Street to compete against the mall, it must be run with all the expertise lavished on the mall.

Suburban retailers are predatory by definition. Most new malls, big-box outlets, and other shopping centers are built not to satisfy unmet demand but to steal demand from existing retailers.ch Since malls survive by undermining other malls (and main streets), they have refined the techniques of merchandising to a science. Mall designers know that, upon entering, people tend to turn right, and walk counterclockwise. They know that visitors will most likely purchase sunglasses if they are near the rest rooms. They know that women’s clothing stores will fare badly if placed near the food court. How can Main Street possibly compete? Fortunately, many of the concepts and techniques that mall designers use can be easily adapted for the benefit of the city core:ci

Centralized Management: While centralized ownership of real estate may be the ideal, as in a mall, a central management agency can be nearly as effective,cj In its weakest form, this would be nothing more than an interested chamber of commerce. In its strongest form—which may not be necessary—it would be an agency legally empowered to coordinate hours of operation, security, maintenance, landscape, storefront design, and even the location and mix of stores. The following techniques can only be implemented effectively under unified management.

Joint Advertising and Merchandizing: Shoppers are attracted to malls by an advertising strategy that emphasizes the variety of merchandise available at a single location—what experts call a “park-once environment.” Inside the mall, directories and “You Are Here” maps help customers find their way. Further incentive to shop is offered through coordinated sales and festival days, as well as concerts, celebrity appearances, and the like. In many ways, Main Street provides a public atmosphere that is much more natural than the mall for festival-oriented marketing. Instead of offering mall events for shoppers, downtown merchants can organize town events for all.

Anchors: Almost every mall gives away locations rent-free to the so-called anchor tenants that will bring shoppers from a distance. Downtowns should also be prepared to offer subsidies—even free leases or land—in order to secure a major retail draw. Many national retailers and cinema chains have “rediscovered downtown,” but they may still need enticement. Of course, existing anchors should be handled with great care and, in some cases, given incentives to stay in place, as the cinemas are in Portland. This should not be thought of as socialism for capitalists, or even as a subsidy, but rather as the city operating competitively within the reality of a cutthroat marketplace.

Strategic Relation of Anchors and Parking: All malls place anchor department stores at the extremities and cluster the small stores in the middle. In Miami’s Cocowalk, the cinema is located on the third floor, the ticket booth on the ground

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