Quote Originally Posted by pahdz View Post
I don't think people realize how much of a magnet that store STILL is for the area. I always have customers from out of town stop in there while they are here. Maybe Urbanized can confirm/deny.
You're correct, Bass Pro is still very busy pretty much all of the time, and still draws an amazingly large contingent of out-of-towners. Pete is also right that a huge percentage of them drive there, shop, get back in the car and leave the area without buying so much as a cup of coffee elsewhere. That could have been avoided or greatly mitigated with the exact same store and location, but with better land use that encourages walkable interaction with the rest of the district. This would have also been a benefit for Bass Pro, as I can guarantee you that many people already in the district don't walk into BP, yet would if it didn't feel so remote and detatched. I do think that there are ways that it could be retrofitted. For instance, allowing small permanent retail structures to follow the "stream" that leads from the store to the canal.

By the way, you would also be surprised at how much of Bricktown's business revolves around Harkins. In fact I think it was much more of a game-changer for the district than BP was, since it is better integrated with the district and serves as one portion of a visit to BT rather than as the entire visit.