  Higgs1634 Member Username: Higgs1634 Post Number: 273 Registered: 10-2005 |
I received a letter from BBros notifying me that the RenCen store will be closing. Along with a coupon and directions to the GP and Partridge Creek stores. I take it GM is no longer subsidizing the retailers for the Wintergarden? | ||
Bobj Member Username: Bobj Post Number: 3622 Registered: 11-2003 |
That is too bad, the GP store does have better deals. | ||
Eric_c Member Username: Eric_c Post Number: 1143 Registered: 11-2003 |
I'm amazed it lasted as long as it did. Good try. Damn good try. | ||
Swingline Member Username: Swingline Post Number: 991 Registered: 11-2003 |
It was a very nice store. Business and business casual alike. Seems like it should have been able to make money just on GM, EDS and Dykema business alone. Thousands of white collar male professionals within an elevator ride of the place. Where the hell do those guys shop? | ||
Zimm Member Username: Zimm Post Number: 43 Registered: 10-2006 |
most of the GM professionals i worked with looked like they shopped at Kohl's. | ||
Jfried Member Username: Jfried Post Number: 1093 Registered: 11-2003 |
That is too funny. Kohls was the first thing that came to my mind as well. Kohls & the custom cell phone holster store. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 4344 Registered: 02-2005 |
Stupid idiots didn't even shop at a fine store in their own building... Yet another reputable national brand name leaves downtown. | ||
Scooter2k7 Member Username: Scooter2k7 Post Number: 50 Registered: 10-2007 |
Brooks Brothers is overpriced. Does it really matter whether or not your shirt comes from Brooks Brothers or Kohls? It is all made in China anyways. A shirt is a shirt, especially when it comes from a Communist country! | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 1051 Registered: 12-2006 |
The Ren Cen is a tricky location for retail because even though you have a good chance of capturing the business of those within the complex, you have damn near zero chance of getting any outside business. Maybe I'm wrong; it happens, so let's poll the public or at least a one-blog sample. Any of you who do not work in the Ren Cen: do you ever shop there? I'm downtown quite often, and like to shop when I'm there, and it would never occur to me to shop in the fortress. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 4345 Registered: 02-2005 |
That's a great point, but when you choose a spot like that, you really count on the spending of the many thousands that work there. Additionally, the RenCen shops have marketed themselves, and one would think that mall-happy people in this area would have been receptive. | ||
Thejesus Member Username: Thejesus Post Number: 3237 Registered: 06-2006 |
^not just that, but many of people who work in the ren cen have so many retail options available to them in the suburbs where they live... why buy a suit from the Brooks Brothers at work when i'm going to the mall with the wife this weekend? | ||
Detroitstar Member Username: Detroitstar Post Number: 872 Registered: 01-2006 |
On this same note, I'm not sure how the Pure Detroit or the store next to it ( forgot the name, odds and ends overpriced stuff) stay alive. I go in there every couple weeks and there is rarely ever another person in there. Not sure how they have stayed in business this long. | ||
Bearinabox Member Username: Bearinabox Post Number: 488 Registered: 04-2006 |
I second Professorscott's point. For most of my life, I had no idea there were shops in the RenCen, and most people I know are surprised when I tell them. Suburban shopping malls have huge signs with the names of all the businesses contained in the mall. The RenCen has nothing. Part of the problem is its design, which can't easily be overcome, but I think it would benefit from some sort of list of businesses on the outside of the building where it's visible to foot and vehicle traffic downtown. | ||
401don Member Username: 401don Post Number: 209 Registered: 11-2007 |
Even though I think it's kind of a lost cause anyway, I thought the idea of the Wintergarden was to cluster the retail there. Instead you still have the retail spread all over and the food court in the basement. I acknowledge a basic food court would look tacky there but if they could have grouped one or two nice lunch spots with the retail it might have attracted a little more GM and hotel/local traffic. The old Big Boy restaurant was really the only place that used to draw from all 3 clientele. | ||
Michigansheik Member Username: Michigansheik Post Number: 254 Registered: 09-2005 |
not all shirts are equal, but their pricing was at the higher end. i now get custom made shirts from Chicago of equal or better quality for much less per shirt, when you get the free shirt that is. http://www.nicholas-joseph.com /index.asp | ||
Texorama Member Username: Texorama Post Number: 143 Registered: 12-2006 |
Yes, I do sometimes shop in the Ren Cen, and I don't work there. However, I have to add that I tend to do so at holiday time, specifically because it's a good way to beat the crowds. | ||
Ddmoore54 Member Username: Ddmoore54 Post Number: 339 Registered: 07-2004 |
I don't work in the RenCen but I do go down specifically for the Brooks Brothers 346 store there. It is the same stuff as the other BB stores but at a lower price point. They also have more womens clothing. I might have to go stock up. When did they say it would close? | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 2227 Registered: 10-2006 |
The Ren Cen was never intended to cater to the outside--only the internal crowd encapsulated in it's enclosure. Fortunately SOM has done about all they can to try and open it up to outsiders... | ||
Waymooreland Member Username: Waymooreland Post Number: 18 Registered: 11-2007 |
As a downtown dweller, I do shop at the RenCen occasionally -- about once or twice a month. However -- stand by for chicken-or-the-egg statement -- I would shop there more if there were more realistic shopping options for my budget. Of course, it probably would take people like me shopping there more to prove that there is demand for more diverse retail options. Personally, Brooks Brothers was out of my price range in the first place, so it doesn't affect me except that I would love to see the RenCen's retail offerings expand, not contract. | ||
Genesyxx Member Username: Genesyxx Post Number: 841 Registered: 02-2004 |
Man, sorry to hear. I'll have to stop by to find out exactly when they're shutting down. | ||
93typhoon Member Username: 93typhoon Post Number: 40 Registered: 04-2006 |
I walk past that store every day - and can count on two hands the number of times i have seen a customer in there. The place should have closed two years ago! | ||
Peter Member Username: Peter Post Number: 123 Registered: 02-2007 |
Speaking of empty Brooks Brother's, let's talk about the one in the Northwest terminal. How do they stay in business? I have traveled many times from that terminal and have never seen someone shopping in there. I imagine that the real estate in a location like that must be much more expensive than the Wintergarden. | ||
Hudkina Member Username: Hudkina Post Number: 92 Registered: 12-2004 |
A shop doesn't have to be as busy as Walmart to stay in business. As long as you sell enough product to offset your overhead costs then you can stay in business. | ||
Smogboy Member Username: Smogboy Post Number: 6919 Registered: 11-2004 |
As far as Brooks Brothers shirts compared to regular run of the mill shirts that one can get at Kohl's? Brooks Brothers shirts are far superior. They wrinkle less, require less ironing, are made with a heavier cotton, fit better, and seem to withstand washing better than some of those less expensive shirts. They're just constructed better. Now I don't have a closet full of these dress shirts but the few that I do have, I covet. Yes, I paid a wee bit more but sometimes one just has to spoil oneself. Sad to see the store closing in the RenCen though. | ||
Rb336 Member Username: Rb336 Post Number: 4503 Registered: 02-2007 |
good riddance to overpriced, poorly constructed clothing. their shirts were about the only thing decent, but I can get custom shirts for the same price, so I do. happened to see a store invoice once -- their mark ups are, seriously, more than 1000%. The example that stands out is a Navy blazer retailing at $385, store invoice, $28 | ||
Viziondetroit Member Username: Viziondetroit Post Number: 1359 Registered: 11-2003 |
"Stupid idiots didn't even shop at a fine store in their own building... Yet another reputable national brand name leaves downtown." ^^^^^ In tough economic times I don't think $200 pants and $150 dress shirts are high on the priority list when the work place is very casual these days. I'll order from paulfrederick.com before I spend all that kind of bread on the same time items. (Message edited by viziondetroit on January 15, 2008) | ||
Gnome Member Username: Gnome Post Number: 565 Registered: 08-2007 |
This is the central problem with any high-end retail establishment in the CBD. When will the folks come in a devote time to shopping? The problem with shopping at the Ren Cen - when I was there - was a "time-of-staff" issue. The folks in the complex are either low-to-mid level professionals, or support folks for the professionals, and they have to account for the "time" during the day. Most are worker bees. They have bosses to answer to. How do you shop for clothes while "on the clock"? Which client do you bill for that hour? Sure, some fudging of time is allowed here and there, and you can get in some browsing while dashing around at lunch, but the buying process is rushed. So shopping during the day is problematic. Shopping after work? Ok, let's say after work. The problem is most of the professional people are facing a 45 minute to an hour commute to get back home. The kids are hungry, dinner needs to be cooked, the wife is edgy and needs "a break", the grass is growing, the PTA is meeting, you need to get the car washed, oil changed .... "Oh honey, I need to drop $600 on a new suit you don't mind picking up the kids, cooking dinner and mowing the lawn while I go shopping, do you?" After work is tough for those who want to stay married. Weekends? Ok, you've just spent 5 days commuting and the first thing you want to do is go downtown again? jeeze. People buy most of their stuff within 20 minutes of where they live and the idea of driving all the way downtown is not appealing when the Mall is just down the street. In school I worked in a men's clothing store. Most men will not buy a suit without their wife, girlfriend or mother in tow. They will buy a pair of pants, a tie, a extra shirt; but if you want a man to really pony up and buy you sell the suit to his wife. She's the one who dresses the household. It was that way in the cave, "You're not going out in that bear skin are you?" and it is that way today. You can disagree, but it's true. Fuse together a casual dress enviroment, a time-crunched work force, no wives in tow, high prices and you get Brooks Brothers closing their doors. | ||
Viziondetroit Member Username: Viziondetroit Post Number: 1360 Registered: 11-2003 |
^ nuff said | ||
Taj920 Member Username: Taj920 Post Number: 275 Registered: 01-2004 |
Maybe they will reopen in the new Cadillac Centre development. | ||
Craig Member Username: Craig Post Number: 628 Registered: 02-2007 |
A friend who works at Ren Cen -a woman- put it to me this way: "no way I will shop for clothes 'here;' odds are too high that I'll see someone else wearing what I bought." |
