Cville shop hopping or hoping?
June 7, 2008 by Haidee
Given that this blog is all about living a stylish life in Cville, I thought I’d start the discussion on the shopping scene in our town’s center of gravity, the pedestrian mall.
I’ll start with what might be the most prominent storefront on the mall, Caspari. While it is indeed a gorgeous store with fabulous finds, I’ve made very few purchases there. I once saw a pillow I liked, turned over the price tag and nearly fell over at the sight of $700. Really? For two squares of fabric and some stuffing? I just hope I’m in the store when someone finally buys the translucent flat screen television. They have confetti ready to fall from the ceiling and sirens ready to go off when that happens.
Despite its prices, I love the Caspari store. It is really the closest thing we’ve got to a Saks, but without the clothes. I, for one, hope it sticks around and runs more sales.
When I get the shopping itch, I have some tried and true faves on the downtown mall. Stores that never fail to provide great eye candy at good prices include Artifacts, Oh Susannah!, Derriere du Soi, Artful Lodger, Novel and London’s Bathecary (love the Seda France candles & Molton Brown). I also enjoy the clothes at Chloe and Eloise, but am often on a budget and thus leave sad and empty handed.
I might head over to the Glass Building for shops like Posh, PillowMint, Quince. Is Georgie still open and still charging half a G for a t-shirt?
But many shops on the mall leave you wondering how in the hell they stay in business. Really…an entire store dedicated to cats? Or a gift shop that still sells Beanie Babies?
I do have an issue with the hours. I know of one maybe two stores that would still be open when I would leave work around 6pm. When my girlfriends came to visit in late March, I must have called a dozen restaurants looking for a Saturday lunch spot. Would you believe that most if not all of the ones on the mall were closed?
Long story short, despite some really great shops, I think the mall is lacking in terms of retail activity. It is even sadder in the winter. Still, I’ll head out to browse on a lazy afternoon hoping that there might be something new or interesting to catch my eye. It has so much potential. But I often have to hop in the car and drive to select spots peppered around town when the mall doesn’t do it for me.
Is it a foot traffic problem? A merchandising issue? Is Barracks really going to be the retail epicenter of our charming town? Yuck…I can’t think of anything more depressing than a strip mall. I’d rather drive out to downtown Staunton, which is surprisingly charming and has some pretty cool shops.
Before I open this up for discussion, I’d like to commend small business owners and praise those who have an eye for style and a mind for its customer. And I’d like to have a moment of silence for Two French Hens (soon to be replaced by Verity Blue) and Order from Horder.
So what do you think? What needs to happen for the downtown mall to offer the charm and shopping that we all tout to our out-of-town friends?
Writer’s note: This is an open and fair discussion. If you are a shop owner and are annoyed that I either didn’t mention you or in some way offended you, please join the discussion and invite us to visit your establishment.
i’ve often wondered about caspari. to be sure, the store is very nice looking both inside and out, but i just don’t understand how something with broad appeal like atomic burrito can go out of business, yet the niche store with $700 pillows is flush.
i probably have no idea what i’m talking about. maybe the pillow is stuffed with money.
I’m not sure the Caspari store is completely focused on selling to walk in customers. If I’m interpreting their website properly, the store might be used to show the product line to buyers from other stores. I knew the Caspari name before coming here (and before they opened) because their stationary and paper goods were available at gift shops in my last city.
If the store is a “showplace” as they say it is on their site, that might explain the surprisingly bad services I’ve experienced there. Standard retail practice is the acknowledge customers within 30 seconds of them entering a store. I don’t think I’ve ever been greeted approached by a sales person there since they’ve opened. My purchase would be pretty low priority if a buyer is due in.
My guess is that most of these stores do a pretty good amount of business catering to the corporate world, somehow, or through internet transactions. But, like Parlie, I’m a moron. I think a good retail purchase is 4oz of beef jerky for a dollar.
There really are some cool things to look at in those stores, though Don’t tell my wife I said that.
Two things keep the mall from having the quality that Barracks Road has: parking (lame, but it’s true) and a lack of unified ownership of rental property. Barracks Road is part of Federal Realty Investment Trust, a publicly traded REIT that has shareholders to report to. They vet businesses for concept, interior design, tenant mix and financial preparedness in a way that doesn’t happen downtown. Downtown is ruled primarily by the individual owner who is simply looking to fill the space and either pay the mortgage or pocket some income. There is little thought given to the quality of the concept, the vendor mix or the continued performance.
The parking issue, while lame and sad, is true. Our society does not like to walk, and especially does not like to shop and walk. So traffic, and I mean consistent, day in and day out traffic is lacking. I know the mall looks busy, but those people are not there to shop - they’re there to work, and eat and get their kids to the Discovery Museum. So the businesses suffer slowly. There’s just enough business to hang on, but not enough to thrive. When people go to Barracks Road, they’re there to shop and spend money. That’s why Barracks is a better shopping area and has been since the 1950s when it was built.
Thanks for your insightful comment, Amy! And for reminding me that I am also a huge fan of Rock Paper Scissors, which is THE source for personalized stationary and, among other cool stuff, cardboard stag heads .
It is a shame about the parking situation. I personally find it quite easy, but I previously lived in Georgetown in DC where I battled with the worst of it.
Let’s unite, people, and enjoy one of the most charming places in Cville. Quit your griping about parking. There is a free trolley on the weekends, two huge garages, one big lot, and street parking. For maybe 15 minutes of space hunting or $4 in parking fees, you can have several hours of perusing some really cool shops, stopping in to one of Cville’s cafe-style restaurants (unavailable anywhere else), and potentially catch some live music or an art exhibit.
Barracks does have some good shops, but in terms of parking, I think the Harris Teeter / Kroger parking lot is hell on earth.
By the way, I’d like to add that the distance between the Corner and the Downtown mall is a mile. A whole mile. You can park anwhere within that mile, stop by L’Etoile for lunch and hit up Finch and Duo, the new half consignment / half new clothing store on Elliewood.
If you can’t walk a mile to double your shopping fun then…well, then, I just don’t know what to say.
Which might be why Barracks isn’t as boutique friendly as the Downtown Mall.
There are plenty of city dwellers who would rather walk on the Downtown Mall than deal with Barracks Road, which is laid out in a way that almost requires you to drive between your stops.
I agree with Haidee…parking by the supermarkets is harrowing at times.
This reminds me of a conversation on cVillian back about a year ago. When Maya opened and people were talking about the rise of West Main Street, there was some chatter of the distance one had to walk to get to those places. It turns out that the distance between Maya and the Omni is the same as the distance between Escafe and The Nook. I think nothing of either walk, but I think some people were surprised.
When looking for retail spots for the Blue Ridge Eco Shop, I originally wanted a Downtown Mall spot. Then I did my research. It is very hard for retailers to make it. Much better for restaurants. Go on the mall and count the shopping bags, one research tool I used. There aren’t any. Maybe a CVS bag here or there, but the Mall is not a shopping, more of an outting, brosing. Mix that with high rental rates, and you have to sell a lot to pay your bills. One property owner told me flat out that most of his client weren’t “making money” that it was more of a hobby for the owners. Not a “pay-the-bills” business.
I have two things to add to your discussion…
The first thing I thought of when I read your article is that maybe the target customer is not you. It seems like these stores are catering to customers who are looking for distinct merchandise and are willing to pay for it.
The second…there is something to be said for a piece of clothing or an accessory that has more personality than what you can find at a Banana Republic. You can’t judge everything on the price you pay for it, or else you’re missing some great stuff out there because you deem it too expensive. Don’t get me wrong, not all my clothes come from high-end boutiques, my white Ts come from J.Crew and I have even bought a cocktail dress at Target. But when I’m looking for a piece that’s different and going to last me a long time (some black work pants that I actually like or a dress for a wedding reception that I’m not going to see on a handful of other guests) I go to Georgie.
Carolinee, thanks for your input! I completely agree that perhaps for a few of these shops, I’m not the target customer. Did my bargain-shopper tendencies show through that clearly? Indeed, I have become a bit “cheap”, but I’m not proud of it. I think it is due to the fact that I’ve shifted my disposable income to other things like antiques and vacations, so J.Crew sale rack, here I come!
Of course, I will absolutely invest in a piece of clothing if I love it. And Georgie is one of the many great Cville shops where you can get some beautiful, timeless pieces.
I do wish we had a few more options in the area along the price points of Zara, Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters…I feel like the market is out there.
I like the pictures of the stores.
Yes, but a place like Barracks is the death of the small business. They had a great, from scratch baker that even ground his own flours and made great bread. But Barracks wanted a corp place like Panera so they killed the poor guys lease and stuffed in a bread maker that ships in frozen dough and heats it in house. Dont even get me started on Barracks and Barnes and Nobles, which killed the Book Cellar with its nice dining and bar and bookstore.
Start screwing with the mall and start seeing The Gap…Urban Outfitters and other dream crap of the designer Martini ilk and every other place you see at every stinking mall on the planet. Ummm…Applebys!
Danpri, thanks for joining the convo.
I certainly don’t want to see private, small establishments leave the mall. Small businesses are what make a town unique. My comment above was about offering mall shoppers cool merch at all price points. I feel like most of the current shops are targetting a customer with more disposable income to spend than your average mall meanderer.
Still, one or two mainstream shops might help attract the masses, which could make the mall more profitable for all, don’t you think?
Barracks Road might be in for trouble, too. I read somewhere (cVillain? Cvillenews?) that Albemarle Place is going to have a big Barnes & Noble, which probably means the Barracks Road one will close. So, in the future, Barracks might have two massive, empty stores (Goodys being the other one).
Oh, and for inexpensive gifts on the Downtown Mall, I love the candle store Glo, the dog boutique (for animal people), Artifacts (for reasonably priced, but high style home stuff), and Cha-Chas (for girly, Secret Santa type gifts). There’s not much in the way of inexpensive clothing, though.
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