We have a new owner, and a new opportunity at hand!
The question I have is what would we all like to see go into the new Crestwood Court center?
Let's all come up with some ideas we can forward to the City Fathers for their consideration. Please make your suggestions nice and to the point, and within the realm of reality.
I will pass them on to the City for transferal to the new owners when we have a few.
I know we can't expect our wishes to happen as we want them to, but at least we can show the new owners we are behind them all the way!
Tom Ford
NO. 488
posted by Crestwood Independent at 19:59
30 Comments:
1 A "Trader Joes"
2 Keep the Disney Store, Macy's and Sears and anyone else who will stay
3 Keep some covered parking
4 An outdoor venue for live (free) music? And/or a live theater indoors. OR a place for "street entertainers" like Pier 39 in San Fran.
5 A way to get between stores and stay inside in cold/hot/bad weather - maybe a smaller "hallway" for this
6 Nice trees and other landscaping in the open air part, with places to sit inside and outside with WIFI
7 Nice resturaunts, an ice cream place, some outdoor dining
8 Get the carousel back!Or an even cooler one.
9. Maybe a gallery area for art displays
customers
If you build it they will come.
How about keeping & remodeling both ends of the mall & tearing down the middle section for a huge courtyard with lake with access to storefronts from the courtyard.
Also changing the Dillards into a mini mall that could hold multiple boutiques.
Something like this. Lush landscaping, kind of a "main street" sort of feel with communal outdoor space. WIFI. I agree - bring back the carousel.
A SCHEELS or REI. Trader Joe's. An IKEA!!!!
Also, since the space backs up to Grant's Trail, it would be nice if the new design acknowledged this and was more pedestrian-friendly.
Landscape the trail behind the mall, add some benches, maybe a fountain, and have pedestrian pathways leading up to the mall. Space to secure a bicycle. A playground for the kiddos.
I just wonder if anyone has noticed that the marquee at the new Crestwood Court has the same logo as "Coco Channel". My daughter passed the plaza on her way to see a customer the other day and told me that. Does anybody know if it is true?
Coco Chanel logo. It's true - someone needs to fire that graphic designer.
I smell lawsuit!
What a heck of a way to start! Not only is the product for sale in two or three stores, it's on the marquee as well!
That was a very good observation by that young lady. Old goats like me would have never made the connection!
Interesting to say the least, an "issue" (wow I hate that word,) at worst, what now bat man?
Tom Ford
IKEA is a great idea - I think the closest one is in the so. suburbs of Chicago-I have been to that one - it would be something new & unique that is no where else in St. Louis.
i love that we dont have the OTHER company but to keep the store in there will be impossible, the revenue they have lost is EXTREME < but there is hope for future.
7:37 AM blogger: Yes they did leave a lot of revenue on the table thanks to Westfield not up-grading the Mall, but that's water over the dam.
From now on if we support the new owners, and their project I think the retailers will see the opportunity here and stay.
I doubt that Macy's or Sears will be pulling out, and while we may lose some of the smaller stores, they will be replaced.
Retail is a very fluid thing, location, location, location is what drives it along with roof tops. Once the retailers see the new proposal, and realize that this will be the "new" spot in the county we will have occupancy, believe me.
Until that time, let's all shop at Crestwood Court and show them were behind their efforts 100%
Tom Ford
IKEA is a great idea -
No way... not on an Interstate. "Crestwood Court" will be an open air "Life Style" Center that will target local customers from surrounding areas.
Will it be nicer than what we have now? Yes Will it be the cash cow that Crestwood Plaza was during the "Ultra Mall Has It All" days, no way. Retailing has changed too much. Getting the mall rebuilt will be just one piece in Crestwood future... not the future.
I smell lawsuit!
Good thing we have so many lawers around.... JIMBO, TOMMY F. are you listening?
10:36 AM blogger: I really doubt that there will be a law suit over this unless the new owners refuse to change the logo.
Who knows Channel may like the idea of advertising their brands on those signs, I doubt it, but stranger things have happened.
If and when it becomes an "issue" I am betting the sign will change.
10:33 AM blogger: I think your right on the money here, but I will wait to see what it looks like on paper before I opine on the store types.
At any rate the "good old days of revenue" from that or any other center are well behind us. Crestwood will have to look at varied sources of revenue to stay the course, and that may very well include a tax increase on residential as well as business.
Tom Ford
This is from the British newspaper, "The Times." reference Ikea. It's an interesting read.
Tom Ford
Ikea already feels pinch from housing slowdown Steve Hawkes in Barcelona
"A trip around the sofas and wardrobes at Ikea has become as much a part of British domestic life as watching Wimbledon or getting stuck on the Tube.
Yet the Swedish furniture giant revealed yesterday that our love affair with the big and brash god of the flat-pack could be the latest victim of the credit crunch.
Anders Dahlvig, Ikea chief executive, said that the slowdown in the housing market was causing sales growth to fall across its main markets. “The downturn is affecting us quite a lot,” he said. “In totality sales are slowing. We see it not only in markets such as the US and UK...we see it in Spain, we see it in Italy, we it in Germany. Of course it will spill over to other European markets as well.”
He also hit out at the Government for anti-competitive planning legislation, which he said had put the brakes on Ikea's expansion drive.
Seeking a cure for the credit crunch
The crunch is the result of a series of global market failures. It is the job of policy to try to offset such failures
Background
G7 to press big banks to reveal losses
Consumers put money away for rainy days
Paulson: US house prices must plunge
Financial workers braced for redundancies
How to survive the credit crunch
Britain is deep in debt. If we're to climb back to a strong position we must change the rules
Background
Credit crisis: Experts assess how bad it is
Who caused this nightmare? The blame spreads
The cracks are opening in UK's debt mountain
Sub-prime mortgages explained
Related Links
Furniture chain targets IKEA in price war
Ikea’s profits fall but group has expansion plan
Furniture has never sat well with Kesa
A day before, Halifax, Britain's biggest mortgage lender, said that house prices were falling by the biggest amount since the property crash in 1992 and they will sound more alarm bells about the state of the high street.
Some of Britain's biggest stores have suffered a dismal start to the year, and furniture chains have been the hardest hit as customers battle falling house prices and the sharp rise in the amount they spend on petrol, gas bills and council tax.
Land of Leather and ScS Upholstery - two of the biggest sofa chains in the UK - have seen their value on the stock market tumble after missing profit targets.
John Lewis, a star of the retail sector, admitted last month that sales of homewares were the weakest for four years. Richard Hyman, a retail analyst, said: “Ikea's comments confirm what we all know - people are under ever more pressure and are having to curtail their spending.”
Ikea has changed the face of the UK's retail sector through a dramatic expansion and became the place for first-time homebuyers to be seen since it opened its first big blue-box store in Warrington, Cheshire, in 1987.
The group now runs 17 across the UK and is the largest furniture retailer in the country, after overtaking rivals such as MFI.
The UK generates nearly 10 per cent of Ikea's €20 billion (£16 billion) annual revenue, making it the group's third-biggest market behind Germany and the United States."
A place for tour buses to park as Grant's farm is one of the areas top 10 tourist attractions. They also get a lot Cardinal's fans from rural areas without major malls.
This would take marketing dollars though.
Maybe a tourist trap like rainforestcafe or something Bud/NASCAR related.
Just thinking of a way to bring a different source of revenue than local dollars. People tend to spend more on vacation.
1:17 PM blogger: That's an excellent idea! I think the Crestwood Court owners could team up with AB to get that ball rolling.
The travel agents, and the tour bus companies could then offer a trip to the ball game, Grant's farm, and Crestwood Court for a complete weekend of entertainment and quality shopping. Now if we only had a good motel, we would have all the bases covered. Well there are several in the area, so.
I do believe you have hit one something here.
Tom Ford
1:17 That's a wonderful suggestion. I hope it is passed on to the new owners of the plaza.
That is probably one of the smartest ideas I have heard. Great thinking!
It would also be nostalgic to bring back some of the good things from this areas past and present.
I could see the movie theater having a 66 drive-in movie night by projecting a movie on the side of the former Dillard's building.
An ice cream place would be good, convincing Ted Drews to open another location at the mall would be great.
Have a 50's main street theme. Something like the what they have going on at New Town with the diner, etc.
Something that's not just another mall, but not a cheesy teenage hangout either.
And the current Mall owners could do some of these things now without much money to help bring people back and show they are serious.
It would also be great to see some flowers planted, weeds pulled and christmas lights and decorations at the holidays.
9:32 and 9:35 - Your suggestions are great! I hope that the owners get this input. You guys are coming up with some fantastic ideas. Makes me want to have faith and hope. Thanks
Well I have just sent the first 22 comments on to the powers that be for their consideration.
Some very good ideas indeed, we shall see.
Tom Ford
You sent the ideas to the new owners, right? Because they are the "powers that be."
6:11 PM blogger: Right you are, however I do not have their E-mail address, so I sent it to the City Fathers for dispersal to the Mall group.
Tom Ford
Tom, personally I would hope these ideas could go straight to the new owners, not to city hall. We don't need any scrubbing. There are many good ideas and they would know how caring and sincere are the residents. I am very serious, lets get them straight to the owners.
2:35 PM blogger: I will do just that along with a cover letter as soon as I have the E-mail addresses!
If anyone has them please send them to me At tford60@earthlink.net, and off they will go the same day I get them.
Tom Ford
I was at the Post Office in the Mall yesterday before it opened and there were about 4 other people waiting for the post office to open at 10 am. The new owners were having a meeting at Chevy's with the various people who operate their business in the Mall.
At the end of the meeting, everyone applauded and came out with smiles on their faces.
The man who was standing next to me was telling us that these new owners grew up here and love this area. He was an "old timer" himself and said that he knew their father who was a very upstanding man.
There were at least 5 people including myself talking about the plaza and I did not hear one negative about these new owners.
Hope springs eternal.
J. Bucks could be a good tourist attraction for the baseball fans. Perhaps that could be the AB/Grants Farm tie in.
OK folks, I found the address for the management company, and sent it on to them with their blessing.
We shall see.
Tom Ford
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