i dunno where RL gets his stats, but until i see something substantive that backs him up, i really don't buy his jive - as much as i have a bunch of respect for the guy's efforts and most of his opinions.
at least rob goodspeed substantiates his views with some manner of fact.
anyway, it's an interesting discussion.
but if you follow his premise, nothing would ever get done in developing areas.
sometimes, if you build it, they WILL come.
wasn't RL going to go to grad school a few years ago? and then suddenly he was going to open a restaurant?
nice guy, but kinda self serving in his views vs. his 'consulting' job.
rob has time to write more deeply because he's in school full time. My stuff is based on the basics of retail trade area work, ranging from Reilly's work on retail gravitation to the Huff model for calculating retail trade areas. It's really pretty simple. It's just numbers (although my strength in the industry is more the qualitative assets-competitive advantage side).
And since you respect Rob so highly, fyi he refers to me as "DC's one person think tank" and says so on his blog... anyway, I am going to school albeit intermittently, and yep, my partner in the restaurant had a stroke so that business tanked, and yep increasingly I do consulting outside of the city on exactly this kind of stuff, market demand and positioning for commercial districts. Oh, and I am on the DC Retail Action Strategy task force advisory committee, and the lead consultants do the same exact same kind of work. The question is, how do you balance desire and equity with market reality? All you need to do is read one market study yourself and then poke through the market numbers for various neighborhoods in the publication from the DC Marketing Center and then you should know exactly what I am talking about.
If you want cheerleading, talk to people who work for the city or the DC Marketing Center. If you want open-eyed directness talk to people like Kennedy Smith, or me, or other like minded folks.
it's not that nothing gets done, it's just that have to be really clear about the phasing and staging of change in the retail mix, and the offer.
If you think that doesn't matter, ask the people who ran failed businesses. Some failed for reasons of skill, but in any case, each business failure in the interim (i.e., Phish Tea, Rib Tip, what was that soul food place with the ear splitting music, the shoe place, the bookstore, etc., contributes to negative perceptions.
The Ohio's music wasn't that loud. Yep, Birdland. There was a shoe store back in 2003 on the 500 block, etc. But think of all the people and all the money that was lost. Phish Tea probably burned up close to $1 million when you figure all the nonpaid rent and lost investment. Etc.
Phish Tea had terrible food served by surly staff. I try to patronize local businesses - but I draw the line at poor quality. You will see me weekly at places like Sidamo and the Argonaut, but twice was enough at Phish Tea.
9 comments:
wow.
exciting stuff.
i dunno where RL gets his stats, but until i see something substantive that backs him up, i really don't buy his jive - as much as i have a bunch of respect for the guy's efforts and most of his opinions.
at least rob goodspeed substantiates his views with some manner of fact.
anyway, it's an interesting discussion.
but if you follow his premise, nothing would ever get done in developing areas.
sometimes, if you build it, they WILL come.
wasn't RL going to go to grad school a few years ago? and then suddenly he was going to open a restaurant?
nice guy, but kinda self serving in his views vs. his 'consulting' job.
just mho.
rob has time to write more deeply because he's in school full time. My stuff is based on the basics of retail trade area work, ranging from Reilly's work on retail gravitation to the Huff model for calculating retail trade areas. It's really pretty simple. It's just numbers (although my strength in the industry is more the qualitative assets-competitive advantage side).
And since you respect Rob so highly, fyi he refers to me as "DC's one person think tank" and says so on his blog... anyway, I am going to school albeit intermittently, and yep, my partner in the restaurant had a stroke so that business tanked, and yep increasingly I do consulting outside of the city on exactly this kind of stuff, market demand and positioning for commercial districts. Oh, and I am on the DC Retail Action Strategy task force advisory committee, and the lead consultants do the same exact same kind of work. The question is, how do you balance desire and equity with market reality? All you need to do is read one market study yourself and then poke through the market numbers for various neighborhoods in the publication from the DC Marketing Center and then you should know exactly what I am talking about.
If you want cheerleading, talk to people who work for the city or the DC Marketing Center. If you want open-eyed directness talk to people like Kennedy Smith, or me, or other like minded folks.
it's not that nothing gets done, it's just that have to be really clear about the phasing and staging of change in the retail mix, and the offer.
If you think that doesn't matter, ask the people who ran failed businesses. Some failed for reasons of skill, but in any case, each business failure in the interim (i.e., Phish Tea, Rib Tip, what was that soul food place with the ear splitting music, the shoe place, the bookstore, etc., contributes to negative perceptions.
I think that you are referring to the Ohio. I thought that it went under because the owner was murdered in Del Ray.
I think Richard means Birdland.
The Ohio's music wasn't that loud. Yep, Birdland. There was a shoe store back in 2003 on the 500 block, etc. But think of all the people and all the money that was lost. Phish Tea probably burned up close to $1 million when you figure all the nonpaid rent and lost investment. Etc.
Wow, Richard Layman sounds a little full of himself, and more than a little touchy.
Calm down Richard, it will be OK.
If you're going to disrespect someone by name, have the decency to leave your own name, Anonymous @ 10:47
Richard is a well-read guy and pretty down to earth. You're an anonymous coward on the Internet.
Phish Tea had terrible food served by surly staff. I try to patronize local businesses - but I draw the line at poor quality. You will see me weekly at places like Sidamo and the Argonaut, but twice was enough at Phish Tea.
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