There can be too much of a good thing.
A decade ago, downtown Highland Park was invaded by banks. Lots of banks. Different banks. Clicks-and-mortar banks. Private banks. So many banks, the City Council considered ways to keep out yet more banks, and eventually zoned the downtown a . Smart move, as many of those banks have merged, consolidated, folded or retreated due to over-development.
A few years ago, Highland Park residents fretted over empty downtown storefronts. How was it that the corner of Second and Central, home to a Gap for many years and Chestnut Court books before that, had stood vacant for so long? What about the one-time-Gsell's at St. Johns and Central?
In the last few months, something different has been happening in downtown Highland Park, and I'm not sure it's for the better. Sure, it's wonderful that the Starbucks at Renaissance Place renovated and brought in a Clover machine (review in a future column, perhaps). I, though perhaps not my wallet, am thrilled to see Z Gallerie open up next to Michael's. The lovely new Coldwell Banker office at the corner of Port Clinton Square marks a dramatic improvement over the empty shell of Columbia Audio/Video that stood there for way too long.
Among these new tenants, though, we have a sudden influx of copycats. Cupcakes, coffee, ice cream and other cuisine. It is as if someone suddenly decided that it doesn't matter what kind of business they are, just sign them up for a storefront in Highland Park! Somehow, literally facing off on Central, -- sandwiched between in Ravinia and in Highwood. In the mood for ice cream or frozen yogurt? Well, Highland Park is for you. In downtown alone, in addition to packaged product at the usual outlets, we now have Love's, Dairy Queen, Homer's at Potbelly,Yogen Früz at Michael's, Arriva Dolce gelato and yet another gelato place coming into the Border's space on Central.
Looking for something more unique? Downtown Highland Park now features a yarn store near the bead store near a paper store.
I am all in favor of new business moving into Highland Park. But something is wrong, and others sense it as well. According to a Patch news story earlier this week, a group of their vision for downtown Highland Park. Since the Downtown Business Alliance already existed as a public/private partnership, there must be a reason for the merchants to organize additional advocacy.
Perhaps the reason is that we seem to be taking all comers. I'm sure some of our new businesses will be successes for now and long into the future. But two gelato shops opening within months of each other? That's poor planning that virtually ensures neither will do well. There just aren't that many gelato eaters in Highland Park. Those that are have probably had a "real" gelato experience, Italian-style, vs. the little dixie cups of bland, manufactured ice cream that I experienced at newcomer Arriva Dolce. Perhaps the next place will be better, but I hate to see them have to fight it out in just a few city blocks of our downtown.
When he ran for City Council, Tony Blumberg brought his experience from the Plan Commission and , "Good planning requires forward thinking. While we do have the immediate problem of wanting to bring in commercial income, we need to think about how we're going to do that in the long haul." Right now, we seem to be hovering just at the friction point of whether downtown Highland Park needs quality or quantity. I believe there is a way to balance both. The city and the Downtown Business Alliance, representing all its members, need to be mindful advocates of what we want downtown Highland Park to represent.
The nature of retailing continues to evolve. Big box stores provide mundane products, like nuts and bolts, and malls like Northbrook Ct. appeal to certain types of businesses, With the excess of empty stores, I think the city just wants to attract any type of business now to enhance the tax revenue base. As the economy improves, this might change. The types of stores you mention can bring people to town for various reasons. However, driving across Central Ave. last night at around 9:30, I noted both cupcake places were closed as was the gelato store on St. Johns. And the HP movie theater was dark too. It was a beautiful summer evening since the heat wave broke. The Dairy Queen was booming, as were the Japanese and Mexican restaurants just east of the Chase Bank. Both restaurants had lots of folks eating outside in the nice weather. I would image the new retailers group plans on investigating ways to enhance the CBD's vitality. Marketing any business can be incredibly difficult, but product, service and price are still the key elements.
A very timely article with a thought process that has certainly been on a lot of our minds. My thoughts on the subject would range from wondering if our city even has a retail plan other than filling spaces with anyone to thinking that sustainability is a word that falls under a "Green Czar's" realm versa an intelligent and sustainable business plan for our city. Does someone review potential businesses and approve business licensing? While I am a big believer in competition and may the best operator with the best product and service win, I think the cities retail management needs to at least be in the business of helping businesses and giving new businesses that small operators put their time, money and energies into, an opportunity to succeed or fail on their own merits. Believe me, there are some ideas that are sure to fail from the beginning and I am sure I am not the only one that see's a new business and thinks either nice move, or that’s a 3 month disaster. Having two cupcake shops open across the street from each other is POOR retail management and one that could likely lead to both shops failing. The only question becomes which, the natural ingredients or the supersized, will outlast the other? We have a new coffee/Ice location on St John's and now a Texas chain will open a Gelato store on Central. Personally as a lover of Italian Lemone Ice, I am excited. However, as a community member, I do feel for the local shop that will have to compete.
And yes, I share your instinct for "that's a three month disaster" -- I was dead right on Necessity Baking (even though I personally tried hard to make their wonderful products known, and even bought into their weekly subscription program. There are definitely others...
Yes, a new restaurant called "M" (that will be easy to find on the search engines) is supposed to go into that space. I've emailed the owner to try to interview him for a future column. I have heard the "bubbling water leak" is supposed to have a finial sculpture of some kind, but right now I agree with that characterization. The water seems to be everywhere but in the fountain.
It was my understanding the Baskin Robbins closed because they didn't want to remodel their location per their franchise agreement. Dunkin Donut's 41 owner acquired a franchise, which is not an unusual business pairing. If there is any lineage to the owner on Central Avenue location, it maybe a sale of a franchise. My dentist is sandwiched between a tattoo parlor and a liquor store. She can rightfully complain about her landlord's choice of tenants. I cannot envision any oversight group in Highland Park offering more than an advisory opinion on what businesses any landlord agrees to rent space to. It was my understanding some storefronts remained vacant, because the vacating tenant was under contract to continue paying rents. Landlord had no real incentive to move on, because likely today's rents are lower. While I am glad to see less vacant storefronts, I know of situations where landlords by demanding excessive rents also caused some businesses to close. Supply and demand has responded by people taking their businesses elsewhere. I remind people when I was a child, Highland Park was a lot less upscale. We had both a Walgreens and a Woolworhs across the street from each complete with counter lunch service. Those days are behind us. I will be considerably more worried if a dollar store opens on Central Avenue.
As I understand it, both Uncle Dan’s and CVS Pharmacy vied for the corner property that Uncle Dan's now holds. Not sure how the process played out but I think relative to Walgreens being up the street, the community was better served with Uncle Dan's, although from a landlord perspective, I could see CVS as an attractive rental.
This tatoo-dentist-liquor storefront sandwich is on Milwaukee Avenue between Lake-Cook and Deerfield Roads.
As someone who was on the Plan Commission when the POSO was developed, let me give you some insight. Banks are actually traffic killers. How often do we actually go to the bank as opposed to banking on the internet or in some other manner? Yet, landlords loved them because they paid above market rents. The corner that houses Uncle Dans was set to be leased to a bank when the POSO was adopted just prior to a lease being signed. The then Owner let the space sit empty because he couldn't get another tenant to pay the rent level the bank was willing to. It took the sale of that building to get someone with vision to lease the space. Not a good thing. Landlords are also enamored with national tenants. My opinion is that those belong in places like Crossroads or Northbrook Court. Successful downtowns are built by boutiques and other businesses run by local merchants who understand their clientele. Our economic development team needs to be working with landlords and perspective tenants to be the bridge. As far as Frost goes, my daugheter spent 4 years in Tucson and everytime we visited we made the pilgramage to Frost. Worlds best gelato! Can't wait until it opens. It will blow everything else away.
Have you had the gelato in France? - while sitting on a bench overlooking the Seine? World's Best? I will demur until they open up. I note that in the last couple of days a brand new huge sign has gone into the windows of the former hardware store/carpet store on Western seeking tenants. Gee I hope something goes in there that will be selling something i may use or consume. Its the North Shore, Larry - Tattoo Botique. You have experience?
I'm having a tough time envisioning a HP forty-something lady getting a tat while munching on a cupcake with a side of gelato while sipping her favorite coffee brew. ;0}
I doubt it. BTW - It's been proven that the final decision on an alternative to killing some of "our" deer herd was the wrong one. I seem to recall several hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars being spent for the sterilization program with little or possibly no noticeable improvement in controlling the deer herd's growth. A report was cited in the HP News a while ago. But I digress. Let's say someone is willing to pay a landlord's asking price to establish a tattoo parlor in HP. I'd bet the City will step in and find some health reason or an ordinance violation to keep the business out of town. So much for the free enterprise concept. I seem to recall that HP has an ordinance whereby an establishment must serve food to get a liquor license? If so, I would imagine the ordinance was enacted to keep taverns out of town because of the "seedy" image. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong about this.
I can only speak for myself but I have indeed owned several US & International businesses as well as sat on many Board of Directors, so I would hope I have some understanding of business. I am sure many of the others in the forum have also have a lot of business experiemce. While it sounds good to say we should all stand up and support our local businesses I would say we need businesses that are relavant and meet the needs of the community. Open a stupid business and you get stupid results. There are no laws other than the laws of simple economics that regulate stupid businesses. Fail to provide value or service and you are likely to fail. Open a business that is too narrow in scope and likely your margins will also be narrow. However, I think the underlying premise of this discussion is to provide some direction and business synergies to help businesses at least be able to make informed decisons and instead of encouraging any business to open it's doors, provide a statistical and practical overview of the market along with current and historic business trends and competition within the area, so that better decisions can be made. I saw 3 more businesses either closing or in one case closed on Central, west of the tracks. Not surprising from a consumer point of view and I would hope that someone can persue businesses that may have more sustainability to eventually take those places.
As for planning and sustainability, I'm a big fan of both. My anchor in whether or not a downtown is functional and attractive to all its residents is The Old Lady in Manhattan Test. If you've ever been to the Upper West or Upper East Sides, they're all over the place. Old ladies, pushing those metal grocery carts. They live in the neighborhood and walk to everything. They never need to drive. Rarely need to take a car. They can function independently. If an old lady can walk to everything she needs, you have a downtown with all the pieces in place. A bank. A post office. A grocery store. A small hardware store. Doctors, dentists, pharmacies. Entertainment, florist, cafe. Hair salon, small housewares, you get the idea. I'd like to see a small hardware store return to downtown. As much as I like Mutual Ace, 41 and the u-turn off 22 are a pain in the butt just to get a couple of screws, a furnace filter or a spare key made.
7 Dry Cleaners 2 Movie theaters, 4 mens clothiers, 8 womens clothiers, 4 service stations. 7 Lunch Counters. you know things change........