Century Center

[ljbab728]

I can't imagine any reason why it would be.

Please note that I meant to say I can't imagine any reason why it wouldn't be.

[Pete]

Some very disappointing news...

I heard about a week ago that the CVS deal cratered. That corporate balked at the end due to the standard objections: not enough rooftops.

Also, I heard that Corner Bakery has backed out as well.


I believe they are now back to Hal Smith trying to revive the restaurant deal.


Total bummer.

[Teo9969]

Wow

That sucks hard.

[catch22]

Yippee!!

:/

[catch22]

Also disappointed Hal Smith is the best they can find to court a restaurant deal.

[shawnw]

Incredibly disappointing for downtown. Somebody has to be first. I thought these folks had some vision.

Maybe they should give Dunkin a call since they have publicaly committed to a large number of locations here.

[Teo9969]

Some very disappointing news...

I heard about a week ago that the CVS deal cratered. That corporate balked at the end due to the standard objections: not enough rooftops.

Also, I heard that Corner Bakery has backed out as well.


I believe they are now back to Hal Smith trying to revive the restaurant deal.


Total bummer.

Any chance we know if they were looking at current rooftops or projected rooftops?

If the former, then I can live with the decision for now. If the latter, then that's very concerning.

[HangryHippo]

Wow, that blows. Coming up short again.

[betts]

Any chance we know if they were looking at current rooftops or projected rooftops?

If the former, then I can live with the decision for now. If the latter, then that's very concerning.

I wrote them an email when I first moved downtown and asked about a CVS here. They told me that they like a population of 10,000 minimum in the area to open a store. Maybe we need an enterprising pharmacist to open a small business.

[Pete]

^

There is a pharmacist in the First National Center called the Medicine Cabinet:

http://www.okctalk.com/showwiki.php?...Retail+Summary

[bchris02]

Wow, that blows. Coming up short again.

Agreed. This is very disappointing indeed. OKC can never seem to cut a break when it comes to getting national retail, be it downtown or in the burbs. I am sure a local restaurant will do very well though and tend to support them over the big chains if I can. A store like CVS is really necessary though. I wonder if Walgreens can be lured? If not, what about Buy for Less or Crest? I personally think one of those would be better for downtown than waiting for Wal-Mart or Target to build because they are locally owned and also understand the market here.

[kevinpate]

Some very disappointing news...

I heard about a week ago that the CVS deal cratered. That corporate balked at the end due to the standard objections: not enough rooftops.

Also, I heard that Corner Bakery has backed out as well.


I believe they are now back to Hal Smith trying to revive the restaurant deal.


Total bummer.

Gee, thanks ED.


(before anyone crawls up my arse over this, know it is merely my parody of all the tinhatters who blame some politco for every slight, real or imagined.)

[BrettM2]

Gee, thanks ED.

We should have at least had a vote before it died...

[soonerliberal]

This is incredibly disappointing. Having a CVS or Walgreens downtown may not seem like that big of a deal, but it is significant. I am surprised at the rationale though. Downtown Phoenix doesn't seem to have more rooftops than OKC, but they have a CVS.

[Anonymous.]

This must have been what Steve tweeted about saying something along the lines of 'hearing a retail opportunity downtown has fallen through and this is why I don't release information until it is concrete.'

Anyway, this is very sad news. This would have been huge.

[Pete]

CVS in the Century Center wasn't just a rumor...

It's on the latest project list for the OKC Economic Development Trust exactly as: "Century Center CVS".

They also list Costco but don't name a specific location (as I posted on the Costco site).

[Teo9969]

I wrote them an email when I first moved downtown and asked about a CVS here. They told me that they like a population of 10,000 minimum in the area to open a store. Maybe we need an enterprising pharmacist to open a small business.

What is the "area"? 10 block radius? 5 mile radius?

[bchris02]

This is incredibly disappointing. Having a CVS or Walgreens downtown may not seem like that big of a deal, but it is significant. I am surprised at the rationale though. Downtown Phoenix doesn't seem to have more rooftops than OKC, but they have a CVS.

If CVS could sell strong beer/wine there is no doubt the deal would have happened. In Arizona I am pretty sure they can sell hard liquor even. In states like ours with draconian liquor laws, it takes more rooftops to be able to support a grocery store or a store like CVS than it would in states with more lax liquor laws. This is why getting the liquor laws liberalized would benefit everyone, even those who don't drink.

[soonerguru]

One door closes, another one opens. Maybe CVS was a bit premature.

[catch22]

Looks like Walgreens will just have to build two locations on the same corner opposite each other

[kevinpate]

Looks like Walgreens will just have to build two locations on the same corner opposite each other

I don't know about anything else, but yeah, I laughed. Out loud even.

[shawnw]

What kills me about this is that, if you've read the book "Good to Great", you see part of how Walgreens achieved their success included tracking metrics on a per-customer basis instead of a per-store basis, using 9-store clusters within cities, knowing that the point was to shower customers with convenient locations. They expected certain stores would lose money, but that per-customer spending would rise within the cluster, which it did. By this model, there's no reason we shouldn't be able to support one downtown, because I think downtown per-customer spending would be high for folks like myself that would shop there quite a bit, being so close. Unless they've changed things since that book was written.

[betts]

What is the "area"? 10 block radius? 5 mile radius?

Since there's one at 23rd and Classen and they were considering a store downtown, you'd have to think maybe a 1 mile radius is what they were using here.

[Urbanized]

I want to see this type of development as much as anyone, but I'm sorry, people on here have an outsized opinion of the present appeal of downtown to national retailers who live and die by the spreadsheet. I understand that the tiny but growing population to the north and east provide an appealing demographic mix.

But if it were based on the afore-mentioned one mile radius and you looked at it on a map, everything from half-past-two on the clock face to the ten o'clock position would consist of office, industrial, and brownfield, with some hotel rooms sprinkled in. If you went beyond a mile in those directions, it becomes even more depressing...in a hurry.

This type of retail is probably going to require some combination of the following:

1. A leap of faith on the part of the retailer (easier when the retailer is local)
2. Crazy sales tax collection reports for the zip code in question
3. Elapsed time (simply put: more rooftops)
4. Subsidy

Honestly, if it's going to happen organically, I think it's more likely to happen north of this location, perhaps in Midtown. I didn't disbelieve that it was happening, but if it doesn't I understand why.

[bchris02]

I want to see this type of development as much as anyone, but I'm sorry, people on here have an outsized opinion of the present appeal of downtown to national retailers who live and die by the spreadsheet. I understand that the tiny but growing population to the north and east provide an appealing demographic mix.

But if it were based on the afore-mentioned one mile radius and you looked at it on a map, everything from half-past-two on the clock face to the ten o'clock position would consist of office, industrial, and brownfield, with some hotel rooms sprinkled in. If you went beyond a mile in those directions, it becomes even more depressing...in a hurry.

This type of retail is probably going to require some combination of the following:

1. A leap of faith on the part of the retailer (easier when the retailer is local)
2. Crazy sales tax collection reports for the zip code in question
3. Elapsed time (simply put: more rooftops)
4. Subsidy

Honestly, if it's going to happen organically, I think it's more likely to happen north of this location, perhaps in Midtown. I didn't disbelieve that it was happening, but if it doesn't I understand why.

Completely agree with this.

I was skeptical of CVS to Century Center in the first place. Even if it were to go downtown, Century Center isn't the optimal location. Midtown or North Auto Alley would be better. Deep Deuce might work but its more likely after it continues to be built out.

When you factor in the draconian liquor laws, it looks even worse. In states with more liberal liquor laws, national retailers can afford to take more risk because they will still make a profit on alcohol sales. In Oklahoma they don't have that to fall back on. That will affect a national retailer's willingness to locate downtown.