  Detroitman Member Username: Detroitman Post Number: 1058 Registered: 06-2004 |
Detroit mall may get J.C. Penney Store would anchor Shoppes at Gateway Park By Sheena Harrison 6:00 am, March 18, 2007 http://www.crainsdetroit.com/a pps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2007 0318/SUB/703160310/-1/toc | ||
Genesyxx Member Username: Genesyxx Post Number: 691 Registered: 02-2004 |
"Schrott said Penney's plans to open a Detroit store bode well for the future of Gateway Park, which is planned to open in March 2009." I haven't seen any progress on this land aside from the earth-moving. They must be waiting for the bridgework to continue. In any instance, this is good news! Now all they gotta do is keep away the Happy's Pizza and Family Dollar chains, and we're good to go. | ||
Urbanize Member Username: Urbanize Post Number: 247 Registered: 02-2007 |
WE don't need a J.C. Penny's, we need a Value City or Sears. None the less, the idea of a major department store considering the city is great. That plan has been in the works for years. | ||
Urbanize Member Username: Urbanize Post Number: 248 Registered: 02-2007 |
"I haven't seen any progress on this land aside from the earth-moving. They must be waiting for the bridgework to continue. In any instance, this is good news! Now all they gotta do is keep away the Happy's Pizza and Family Dollar chains, and we're good to go" You know some type of Beauty Supply or Dollar Store will be the first ones to move in. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 8575 Registered: 10-2003 |
WE need any respectable retailer that will allow Detroiters to spend money in Detroit. | ||
Royce Member Username: Royce Post Number: 2124 Registered: 07-2004 |
A JCPenney in that location would be great since the nearest two are in Oakland and Fairlane malls. The departure of JCPenney from Eastland and Northland has left a great void for north-end Detroiters. I just hopes it will happen because I will shop there. | ||
Thejesus Member Username: Thejesus Post Number: 748 Registered: 06-2006 |
I guess this is good news...I'm just surprised that any of these large department stores are still building...in recent years the trend has been away from these larger department stores and more towards smaller specialty stores...the days of stores such as Sears, JC Penny, Macy's, etc. are a phenomenon of the 1980s.... | ||
Stephenvb Member Username: Stephenvb Post Number: 19 Registered: 02-2006 |
JCPenny just built (or is still building?) a new store in Green Oak Township (think Brighton) in the Green Oak Village Place. This store seems more like an anchor of a strip mall rather than a traditional mall anchor or big-box store. | ||
Crew Member Username: Crew Post Number: 1143 Registered: 02-2004 |
JC Penny has ben building smaller non-mall based stores the last few years. I think they are going for a format similiar to Kohl's. may be what they are proposing for this location. It may not be a typical large department store like they had at Northland or Eastland. | ||
Thejesus Member Username: Thejesus Post Number: 750 Registered: 06-2006 |
ah that makes more sense...ty | ||
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk Post Number: 443 Registered: 11-2005 |
<i>WE don't need a J.C. Penny's, we need a Value City or Sears. None the less, the idea of a major department store considering the city is great. That plan has been in the works for years.<.i> What we REALLY need are more reputable grocery store chains. | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 904 Registered: 11-2003 |
Urbanize wrote, "WE don't need a J.C. Penny's, we need a Value City or Sears." It's amazing how some people always find something to bitch about when there's good news. | ||
6nois Member Username: 6nois Post Number: 113 Registered: 11-2006 |
I am happy with a J.C. Penny. I don't care for Sears and Value City is odd I never shop there. Its way better than nothing. | ||
Toog05 Member Username: Toog05 Post Number: 121 Registered: 03-2006 |
I am also happy with J.C. Penny, I rather have that than Value City and Sears, it is a pretty good location as well, it can serve Detroit residents as well the northern suburbs, such as Royal Oak and Ferndale and more. | ||
Royce Member Username: Royce Post Number: 2125 Registered: 07-2004 |
Thejesus, you mean the 1880s. My theory as to why these stores aren't as popular as they used to be is because they're too big. We Americans don't have the energy (out of shape) or the patience to stay in a store with "departments" spread across three or four floors. Give Americans a shopping cart and one floor on ground-level and we are happy and content. Hell, when I do go to Penney's or Marshall Field's I go to the men's department and then I'm gone. | ||
Dougw Member Username: Dougw Post Number: 1616 Registered: 11-2003 |
"WE don't need a J.C. Penny's, we need a Value City or Sears." I don't even understand this comment. How is JC Penney's drastically different from Sears? Their clothing retail is pretty similar. I guess Sears has additional non-clothing retail such as hardware if that's what you're getting at. | ||
Roomseller Member Username: Roomseller Post Number: 16 Registered: 03-2007 |
dougw i don't understand that comment either. The Value City stores I've seen here in the South are rather trashy...probably good values but as an anchor to a shopping center or mall...Value City just isn't going to attract other businesses that build up around. Even a Wal Mart Super Center (I'll catch flack for that I'm sure) or a Meijers. Someone commented about a "reputable grocery store". I'll second that. | ||
_sj_ Member Username: _sj_ Post Number: 1763 Registered: 12-2003 |
quote: Stop robbing them blind and maybe they will stay. | ||
Waxx Member Username: Waxx Post Number: 91 Registered: 09-2006 |
Urbanize wrote, "WE don't need a J.C. Penny's, we need a Value City or Sears." It's amazing how some people always find something to bitch about when there's good news -Burnsie Hey, Burnsie, as if we don't have enough problems about Detroit not being what it used to be. A J.C. Penney might just be the thing TO help Detroit out. I would love to see Detroit back in the 'Top 10'-Detroit hasn't been in the top ten in the better part of over a decade-and to have a Penney's actually IN the city as opposed to outside would be the fist step in my opinion. And to the person who said we need a Sears in the city, there WERE some Sears stores in/around the city. Case in point: Gratiot and Van Dyke (before my time) Woodward and Sears (H.P.) Plymouth and Burt Rd. (surplus store) Mack and Moross (surplus store outside Mack-7-now Pointe Plaza in G.P.) And the nearest Penney's to the city was Mack-7, Eastland, and Northland. They converted the Penney's at Eastland into a Sears in recent years. And there was a Value City in the New Center Area. It was Crowley's until they 'folded' and became Value City. And it stayed there until DPS moved in. And I agree with Dougw, I HAVEN'T THE SLIGHTEST IDEA what that comment was suppossed to mean about 'we don't need a J.C. Penney's.....' As far as I know, we NEVER had one to begin with as it was. And me personally, I'd like to see a Penney's in the city. Sure beats driving to Gratiot and 13, Fairlane Town Center, or Lakeside for that matter. | ||
Bobj Member Username: Bobj Post Number: 1831 Registered: 11-2003 |
A Penney's would be a nice addition, although a Sears with the tools and garden stuff would be great as well | ||
Peter Member Username: Peter Post Number: 13 Registered: 02-2007 |
To those who say "we don't need these stores... we NEED these ones" -- Detroit needs anything they can get. If J.C. Penny has done their homework and feel that location is the right spot then it probably is. With the current state of the economy in Detroit and Michigan we should feel grateful that any big stores are looking to move into the City anywhere outside of the Downtown and Midtown areas. Development is development, begger's can't be choosers. This is good news. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 1100 Registered: 04-2006 |
Waxx, not to disappoint, as a boy I shopped at the JC Penney at Grand River and Greenfield. This is the store that was closed when the Northland Store opened. Jjabba can attest to the location. In fact, as a teen my mom worked in that store. I'm impressed you remember the Sears surplus store at Plymouth and Evergreen! I can recall shopping there when it was a Federals, and located next to the Wrigleys, Sanders, Winklemans, Kressege's Kline's, Buster Brown's, Cunninghams... | ||
Roomseller Member Username: Roomseller Post Number: 17 Registered: 03-2007 |
Also the Sears in Lincoln Park, a classic store...rest of the shopping center has seen better days but Sears has put alot of money in that store. i hope they don't decide to close it....there is a new Krogers across the street (Dix and Southfield) and a renovated Farmer Jacks right behind the Sears store... | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 269 Registered: 12-2006 |
Thejesus said "in recent years the trend has been away from these larger department stores and more towards smaller specialty stores...the days of stores such as Sears, JC Penny, Macy's, etc. are a phenomenon of the 1980s...." Actually I read an article a very short time ago, within the past month, which said that in the last couple years the old-fashioned department stores have been making a comeback and that the specialty stores were having trouble. In general I agree with the various posters who've said we can use any such kind of thing we can get. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 2575 Registered: 02-2005 |
I guess it's good news. I'd rather see retail focused downtown; a mall on 8 mile is equally bad for downtown as a mall on 16 mile. Obviously, this will be new retail in the city limits so there is a tax-related benefit. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 8578 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: A JC Penney is not a destination type store and will serve Detroiters better where it is. There are hundreds of thousands of people in the city that need retail that do not live around or go to the CBD often. This is good for Detroit and the Detroiters it will serve. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 2577 Registered: 02-2005 |
I don't go to this store much, but is this a bad spot considering it's focus clientele? I used to go to the one at Eastland with my mother and it was mostly middle-class white people. Now, if this gets people from Ferndale and Centerline and Southfield to spend money in Detroit, then it's a success. But can we be sure this takes off among Detroiters? Will the richer folk nearby in Palmer Woods go here, or head up to Oakland/Somerset for someplace classier like Nordstrom/Macy's? And is JC Penny's still just a bit pricy for more average Detroiters in other neighborhoods? I hate generalities as much as the next person, but they do matter when considering likely consumers. | ||
Bob Member Username: Bob Post Number: 1412 Registered: 11-2003 |
This is great news because a national company sees a future in Detroit by building a store there. | ||
Michmeister Member Username: Michmeister Post Number: 140 Registered: 10-2006 |
That is right on! These are people who do their homework, and if they think it`s going to fly, just sit back and watch, just like the development downtown- with these price tags, they are not going to gamble. | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 517 Registered: 04-2006 |
"And is JC Penny's still just a bit pricy for more average Detroiters in other neighborhoods?" I think Detroiter's kept/keep the JC Penny in Fairlane in business... | ||
1805 Member Username: 1805 Post Number: 14 Registered: 03-2007 |
Too bad Ikea already made its move to Canton. | ||
Peter Member Username: Peter Post Number: 15 Registered: 02-2007 |
Wasn't there talk of Ikea opening another store somewhere in Michigan? | ||
Scottr Member Username: Scottr Post Number: 435 Registered: 07-2006 |
i remember hearing speculation that they may open one near Grand Rapids, but there was nothing to back it up. | ||
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk Post Number: 458 Registered: 11-2005 |
Stop robbing them blind and maybe they will stay. B'scuse me? What the hell you talkin' about? | ||
Spiritofdetroit Member Username: Spiritofdetroit Post Number: 364 Registered: 11-2006 |
probably the fact that any store in detroit has to hire an army to protect its goods, put bulletproof gas at the cashier stations, barbed wire around the property, etc. | ||
Downtown_remix Member Username: Downtown_remix Post Number: 33 Registered: 03-2007 |
I PERSONALY WAS HOPING FOR A JC PENNEY AT THE MAMMOTH FLEE MARKET ON GRAND RIVER AN GREENFIELD,SINCE THAT AREA IS ONE OF THE 6 NEIGHTBORHOODS GETTING RE DEVELOPED.BUT IM GLAD FOR WHERE ITS GOING | ||
Waxx Member Username: Waxx Post Number: 92 Registered: 09-2006 |
Detroitplanner, I do stand corrected (lol), like I said, 'as far as I know' now I know (lmao). Question. Was the JC Penney on Greenfield and Gd. River the same store that eventually became Federal's and later Mammoth's? Or was it attached to Cunningham's, or was it attached to Meyer Jewelers? Just Curious. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3854 Registered: 08-2004 |
OK, I'm going to ask the question... why will this mall succeed, while the Belle Air Mall on 8 Mile between Van Dyke and Hoover appears to be failing? If you draw a 5 mile circle around both malls, I doubt you will come up with much of a difference in population count. Granted the disposable income around this mall will be higher, but is that enough to sustain it? As has already been stated will the upscale residents visit the Woodward Mall in favor of other more upscale ones? Just wondering... | ||
Rjk Member Username: Rjk Post Number: 647 Registered: 11-2003 |
I'm scratching my head over this one myself. Are people just north of 8 mile going to shop there when the Oakland Mall is just a short trip up John R or I-75? Over the past 20 years Universal Mall in Warren couldn't compete with the Oakland Mall, I don't see how a shopping center at 8 mile is going to do any better. | ||
Quinn Member Username: Quinn Post Number: 1204 Registered: 01-2005 |
Well...good? Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy to have the interest! But...I remember Penny's in Eastland. Didn't do very well at all. In general, I don't see Penny's doing well. But maybe that's my own bad impression. I think a sears or even target would do better. RJK...I thought the same thing. | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 5624 Registered: 02-2004 |
YAY!! Detroit is getting J.C.Penney Department Store. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 1104 Registered: 04-2006 |
Waxx, nope the store was not really located on the corner. It was on the NW quadrant of the intersection by the Crowley's and A & P (corner of Sussex?). We all have different points of reference, thats what I find amazing about this forum. I can recall my first Urban Studies class at WSU and learning about the Grosse Pointe/Detroit border and all the mansions along Lakeshore. I literally thought the professor was pulling my leg until I went over there to drive around. Like Jjabba I never went that far East. | ||
Genesyxx Member Username: Genesyxx Post Number: 695 Registered: 02-2004 |
I had to go back and check out the design, and I can see this working. I guess it would be a stretch to have other high-end stores there (I would absolutely love an Apple Store). This is probably the best chance to entice a Gameworks/D&B/Lucky's to the area. Oh how joyful we'd be! | ||
1805 Member Username: 1805 Post Number: 17 Registered: 03-2007 |
I notice the design team, RLK Inc., specializes in upper-midwest sprawl projects. | ||
Fury13 Member Username: Fury13 Post Number: 1448 Registered: 10-2003 |
JC Penney, Value City, Target... all the same when it comes to clothing. Junk. | ||
Pffft Member Username: Pffft Post Number: 1231 Registered: 12-2003 |
I agree with you 90%, Fury, but actually Penney's has upgraded its merchandise in the last year, there's really no quality difference between its stuff and Macy's. It's a lot better than Target etc. | ||
Urbanize Member Username: Urbanize Post Number: 257 Registered: 02-2007 |
They made the project official. The work should be done by March 2009. "I'm scratching my head over this one myself. Are people just north of 8 mile going to shop there when the Oakland Mall is just a short trip up John R or I-75? Over the past 20 years Universal Mall in Warren couldn't compete with the Oakland Mall, I don't see how a shopping center at 8 mile is going to do any better." Only way people will shop there is if they don't open your typical strip mall shops in the place. We need stores, at least Toys R Us level. Then again, Bel-Air proved that this project will be a total waste. | ||
Urbanize Member Username: Urbanize Post Number: 285 Registered: 02-2007 |
One thing I want to add, wouldn't this mall if it came to parr and got the expected customers and shops suck the life out of the Avenue of Fashions? | ||
B24liberator Member Username: B24liberator Post Number: 66 Registered: 01-2007 |
I may be guilty of wearing "pink-tinged" glasses, but I hope this gamble works out for Penney's-- And the area, overall. Being across from "happening Ferndale" has to be a factor as well as these facts-- Posted in the Detroit News today: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb cs.dll/article?AID=/20070321/B IZ/703210 | ||
Urbanize Member Username: Urbanize Post Number: 300 Registered: 02-2007 |
Bad Link. | ||
Leoqueen Member Username: Leoqueen Post Number: 1530 Registered: 07-2004 |
I wish they were building it in the Old Tiger Stadium area | ||
B24liberator Member Username: B24liberator Post Number: 67 Registered: 01-2007 |
Whoops. Crap link, apparently. I was trying to link to the sidebar info containing the area's "facts". Oh well. It's in today's edition. | ||
Urbanize Member Username: Urbanize Post Number: 301 Registered: 02-2007 |
That's not too hot of an area in my opinion. There's already many other shopping destinations in the surrounding areas already cannibalizing each other. As I said before, they can't even advertise the malls that are already in the city like Bel-Air or Merchants. So what makes them think differently? Penny's can't hold up the shopping mall alone. | ||
B24liberator Member Username: B24liberator Post Number: 68 Registered: 01-2007 |
thanx Urbanize.  | ||
Scottr Member Username: Scottr Post Number: 440 Registered: 07-2006 |
Urbanize - you may be surprised, Courtland Center in Burton, next to Flint, has been carried by JCPenney for years. (i used to work there) Other anchors - The Fair, Mervyn's, Woolco, Crowley's - have come and gone, often leaving the space vacant for years. Even old navy couldn't keep the store they originally had, and moved to a smaller space. I often found the other large anchors to be relatively devoid of customers compared to Penney's - Mervyn's felt like a ghost town much of the time. Meanwhile, Penney's has had surprisingly good sales/sq foot, and in the nineties expanded into two separate mall stores, and I've heard it may now move all that into an even larger space (the space vacated by Mervyn's, combined with some of the mall stores). The population and average household income are pretty close to those in the Detroit News - population is a bit higher, but median income is lower. (the source i found for that listed it as a 7-mile radius, not quite the same as the 8-minute drive used by the Detroit News, but I think a direct comparison would only make the Burton store look worse) Of course, I'm not sure how the shopping options compare down there, but at a first glance, I think it would do fine. the correct link for the News' article: http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.d ll/article?AID=/20070321/BIZ/7 03210369 | ||
Urbanize Member Username: Urbanize Post Number: 302 Registered: 02-2007 |
Scottr, If that's the case, then why not jjust BUILD a JCPenny's instead of building a 40 store retail mall. That's like Jumping off of a cliff and hoping you'll live to tell it to me. |
