It may not be everyone's cup of tea but Buy For Less is in that immediate area.

Doesn't matter. I'm talking more of a specialty grocer. When you look at it there is much more than a buy for less. A wal mart supercenter, a few homelands not much further. I'm talking about a smaller, upscale grocer. The chamber did mention that even though Borders was closing, it gave them the chance to recruit a new retailer to okc.

So it sounds to me like Okc needs Tulsa to land new retail first and hope that it is successful in the Tulsa metro.

The more new retail that is proven to be successful in the Tulsa area, the more likely that Okc won't seem like such a high risk?

Go Tulsa!!

In most cases Tulsa is a non-factor, unless they can justify some operational synergy between the two markets that mitigates the risk of Oklahoma City suggested by the numbers. It'll be a lot more local than that, down to a square mile or so.

Whole Foods could help because it puts the demographic some of the coveted retailers want in one place. It could show that the household demographic and density numbers don't apply here. Still, you will have to find someone who is willing to look at them and there just isn't that much motivation for that.

The failure of developers and city planning to steer developers into high density retail hurts as much as the housing density demographics. We probably could have solved this "problem" long ago with better development. The reality is that we don't live very close to each other and our shopping is just as spread out. So, right now, you can't even get traffic counts with viable demographics to offset the population density problem. In the end, we have a ton of retail space that just looks awful on paper.

The last news story that was wrote up on Buy For Less mentioned that the NW Expressway & Portland store would recieve a remodel sometime in 2011. I am willing to bet they will probably offer some of the products and services that will be offered by Whole Foods.

I have always liked the deli and bakery in that store. When I worked at my old job I would frequent the deli their because they had a large variety of heat and eat meals.

They are in the midst of doing so. Recently added more murals and they recently expanded the Sushi/Specialty cheeses area (took part of the produce area). The Gourmet Deli is a few years old. Don't know what other plans they have or how extensive. But the whole idea of Gourmet/Specialty etc and Buy-4-Less seems to be an oxymoron.

when are we ever going to see a costco in okc, or are they waitin for the liquor laws to be changed to move in town, sams seem to be doing great especially the one on penn and memorial,
albuwuerque which is maller than omc has 3 costcos and at least 2 sams.

So it sounds to me like Okc needs Tulsa to land new retail first and hope that it is successful in the Tulsa metro.

The more new retail that is proven to be successful in the Tulsa area, the more likely that Okc won't seem like such a high risk?

Go Tulsa!!

There have been many instances where that is exactly what happened. The perception being that Tulsa was trendier etc, so they would get it first. If it worked, then a few years later they would venture down the turnpike.

I am all for boosterism, but really Rand(y)? The hyperbole machine is working overtime. Anthropologie is a coveted brand, but its just another national brand. Having one doesn't put OKC, or any other town for that matter, in the same retail category as Fifth Avenue in NY, Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, or Michigan Ave. in Chicago. Come on, now.


“The Anthropologie brand encompasses inspirational and imaginative concepts such as innovation, optimism, beauty, style and discovery,” said Rand Elliott, president of Elliott + Associates Architects. “By bringing such an established (and) coveted retailer to our city — with stores on Fifth Avenue in New York City, in Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. — we are one step closer to developing Oklahoma City into the leading destination for chic retail.”

I am all for boosterism, but really Rand(y)? The hyperbole machine is working overtime. Anthropologie is a coveted brand, but its just another national brand. Having one doesn't put OKC, or any other town for that matter, in the same retail category as Fifth Avenue in NY, Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, or Michigan Ave. in Chicago. Come on, now.

OKC couldn't be much further from being a destination for "chic retail"--OKC doesn't even have an upscale department store, e.g. Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Saks. We have all 3 of those here in Austin and almost all the "exclusive" chains OKC covets, and yet Austin can't compare to Dallas for shopping, and likewise LA and NYC are on another level relative to Dallas.

Forget comparing to the big boys, or even to cities like Austin or Columbus or Charlotte...OKC needs to catch up to the likes of Tulsa and Albuquerque first.

OKC couldn't be much further from being a destination for "chic retail"--OKC doesn't even have an upscale department store, e.g. Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Saks. We have all 3 of those here in Austin and almost all the "exclusive" chains OKC covets, and yet Austin can't compare to Dallas for shopping, and likewise LA and NYC are on another level relative to Dallas.

Forget comparing to the big boys, or even to cities like Austin or Columbus or Charlotte...OKC needs to catch up to the likes of Tulsa and Albuquerque first.

Folks might want to keep in mind that Pete just locked another thread because of a similar discussion about this same subject.

Folks might want to keep in mind that Pete just locked another thread because of a similar discussion about this same subject.

Missed that. Link??

One of the factors preventing OKC from landing upscale retail is misinterpretation of market data that shows low activity for high-end buying in OKC. But their data is skewed...the reason there isn't much high-end purchasing in OKC is because there isn't much high-end retail (marketing folks aren't the sharpest knives when it comes to interpreting data, trust me).

So what you have is a lot of OKCitians driving to Tulsa, driving to Dallas, to do their upscale shopping. I swear to God I heard an interview about a year ago of one of the marketing execs for Neiman who said this was a "no-no" for OKC and until that changed, OKC would never be on their list for expansion.

Someone with a little market intelligence needs to realize the OKC market is untapped and growing...realize a new emerging market will not show up in the historical sales data. They need to get out and do real market research.

Missed that. Link??

I'm sorry. I misspoke. The thread wasn't locked but the posts were deleted. I believe it was in the Chesapeake Empire thread.