Malls updating for the 21st century

[MonkeesFan]

Know of any alien looking guy from Del City? lol

Haha, no unless I met you in Norman or Oklahoma City

[Thunder]

It's easy. One eye, three legs, two antennas. You wanna know how many arms? lol

[MonkeesFan]

It's easy. One eye, three legs, two antennas. You wanna know how many arms? lol

8?

[Thunder]

4 lol

[MonkeesFan]

4 lol

Haha

[thanksarthur]

Hmmmmm.....I bet Simon Property Group wishes now that Urban Property Inc. would've left Penn Square as an open air shopping center! For those of you that may not know, Penn Square back in the day was sort of like Utica Square in Tulsa.....an open air shopping area. I guess the only thing in the city that even begins to come close is Brixton Square, but that's not a really good example.

Nichols Hills Plaza is a lot closer, in fact almost identical to Utica Square and very similar to Highland Park Village in Dallas. As for Crossroads, upscale is not the way to go. While I know people are going to argue the whole 73170 zip thing it just doesn't add up. First of all 73116 is by far a wealthier zip code. It has higher home values, higher average incomes (NH is $125k), more homes over $1m, and the highest education of any other zip code. That is why it makes sense for Penn Square to have a Williams-Sonoma and Mr. Ooley's and the Coach store. People can afford to buy it. With Crossroads it's simply not the case. It is just slightly above Wal-Mart quality, maybe almost to Target level but no more. And that's what works. People who have higher disposable incomes just don't live down there or shop there.

[okcustu]

no its not by plaza is all locally owned boutiques and is slightly more upscale than most of Utica but miles below highland park they have polo and Hermes and etc

[jbrown84]

They should move the carosel to the other side of the elevator, take out the entire playground, and set up tables and chairs along side with a new fountain.

As stated by someone else, replace the rails with glass similar to Penn Square, put in modern tiles, more skylights and plants.

You're racking up quite a bill. Not going to happen.

[mmonroe]

it is better to charge $50 a space and have 25 tenets than $100 a space and have 10 tenets.

A whopping $250 difference.

[Thunder]

A whopping $250 difference.

Can you read that the numbers were example only?

[jbrown84]

They can only drop the rent so much. I highly doubt they are charging anything more than just what they can get away with. This isn't a Bricktown situation.

[soonerborn1958]

Nichols Hills Plaza is a lot closer, in fact almost identical to Utica Square and very similar to Highland Park Village in Dallas. As for Crossroads, upscale is not the way to go. While I know people are going to argue the whole 73170 zip thing it just doesn't add up. First of all 73116 is by far a wealthier zip code. It has higher home values, higher average incomes (NH is $125k), more homes over $1m, and the highest education of any other zip code. That is why it makes sense for Penn Square to have a Williams-Sonoma and Mr. Ooley's and the Coach store. People can afford to buy it. With Crossroads it's simply not the case. It is just slightly above Wal-Mart quality, maybe almost to Target level but no more. And that's what works. People who have higher disposable incomes just don't live down there or shop there.

I don't envision NHP ever becoming a Highland Park Village. FENDI and HERMES retail stores in OKC?? We shall see...

[sethsrott]

I don't envision NHP ever becoming a Highland Park Village. FENDI and HERMES retail stores in OKC?? We shall see...

OMG! Are you insinuating that we might get those? Is this an inside source or just speculation??? I MUST know!!

[jbrown84]

I think he's saying it's highly unlikely.

[okcustu]

We have tohold our horses we don't even have very many mid level stores Polo Steve madden lacoste the sharper image in the macys wing is vacant as is the Limited's temporary store by Penny's

[jbrown84]

Yes there are several empty spaces in Penn Square. Fmr. Sharper Image, fmr. Gadzooks, and the fmr. temporary Limited on the lower level by Penney's. Last I heard, according to Patrick, there was a long waiting list of tenants for Penn.

[Patrick]

Yup, long waiting list. But, just takes the right space for the right tenants, and it takes time to actually get those potential tenants to sign the dotted line. There really are fewer empty spaces at Penn than most other malls across the country, and most of the empty spaces at Penn already have tenants in the works. That being said, mall owners like to keep a few spaces for temporary tenants, for when other tenants relocate (like with The Limited)....so you'll always see some empty spots in transition.

That being said, the mall manager at Penn told me that they'd love to have Forever 21 in their mall, and Forever 21 would love space at Penn Square, but they "simply don't have the space that Forever 21 demands" right now. So Forever 21 will be on the waiting list for awhile for Penn. See, that's how it works in leasing retail space in malls. Quail Springs has more open space throughout their mall right now, so they had the space to offer what Forever 21 was needing. Most Forever 21's require a large space. As the mall manager at Penn told me, "they wish they weren't land locked and had more space to lease."

Penn Square Mall is the healthiest mall in the state. They have the highest sales per square foot of any mall in the state, on par with even some of the more upscale malls across the nation......about the same as The Galleria in Houston.

[Luke]

I noticed Williams Sonama was expanding. Found out that there used to be a Disney Store in that spot at Penn Square. I'm a Disney fan and have to go to Quail Springs to get my fix. (That sounds pathetic, I know).

Disney recently repurchased their Disney Stores (from the people who own Children's Place) and then shut down hundreds of them. Thankfully, it appears the Quail Springs Disney Store has been spared and will live.

That said, I doubt Disney is looking to expand their stores after shuttering that many. One can wish Penn Square will get one though.

[Rover]

The new center North of Quail Springs is to be an open air shopping center like the popular new concepts elsewhere. I am seeing these pop up in multiple places in the US. They are more like small downtowns...more urban...more fun than malls.

[Patrick]

Disney Stores aren't doing well nation-wide. Penn's store was one of the ones cut several years ago. We'll see if the Quail store stays open or not. They're definitely not expanding. They may just keep the Quail store open because it's the only Disney Store in the market area.

[Luke]

Yeah, apparently since Hoop Retail who owned the Disney Stores sold them back to Disney, Disney decided to close down 98 of the 350 stores. Thats a sizeable chunk to just shut down. So, since Quail made it through the transition, I'm feeling pretty good about it being around in the near term.

I'm wondering what will change at the Disney Store now that Disney proper has the brand back under their wing.

[jbrown84]

Patrick, any idea why the Penn Square Suncoast was given the boot in favor of "La Mode", a fine supplier of women's uniforms by Dickies...?

[okcustu]

they sell street walker uniforms at Body Central by Macys

[metro]

I noticed Williams Sonama was expanding

Great! It's about time we get a decent sized WS

[progressiveboy]

Yes there are several empty spaces in Penn Square. Fmr. Sharper Image, fmr. Gadzooks, and the fmr. temporary Limited on the lower level by Penney's. Last I heard, according to Patrick, there was a long waiting list of tenants for Penn.

Would love for Penn Square to get Restoration Hardware (Tulsa has had a store for several years. Steve Madden would be nice too. Others coming to mind would be Fossil, Lucky Brand Jeans, True Religion, another trendy store for the young ladies would be Juicy Couture.