North Grand Mall
- Thread starter cyclone87
- Start date
What the hell guys? Where did I complain about the amenities?
I complained about how it looks--concrete sprawl, bad traffic, building in flood storage areas.
You guys come up with some great straw man arguments though!
I am not against growth. And I never said these stores coming in is all bad. I am just concerned that bringing in low price point stores to a run down mall will not really help the surrounding community in the long run.
Somebody with a finance degree should understand my argument well enough not to just respond by calling me an idiot.
Somebody with a finance degree should understand my argument well enough not to just respond by calling me an idiot.
Can't be any worse than having a bunch of run down abandon buildings and infrastructure there.
What?
And I have a finance degree which helps me understand that putting in Macy's and Dillards probably isn't a good move when 1/2 of Ames' population is college students. Kohls and TJ Maxx are both very good fits in that respect (location being a completely separate issue to combat). I know nothing about the other two stores but Ames doesn't have anything that really fit the niche Kohls or TJ Maxx fit. JCP and Younkers aren't exactly college age kid friendly.
And nothing is going to help the North Grand area in the long run. The mall is in a brutal location. When you can get stores which will pay property taxes and sales tax in those areas you do it, especially when they fill an unclaimed niche in the Ames marketplace.
Living in North Ames, I personally love the location of the mall. I would love for more restaurants in the area--I mentioned something to the owner of Papa Murphy's one time and he said he's been hearing that for a long time. With the growth in this area, the mall could be an asset. Just look at how well the new Fareway and Casey's have done. More and more people are moving/building north partly because of the Gilbert school district. The town has a population of 1200 and the school population is 1300 kids--which means there are a lot of families in proximity to north Ames. I do the majority of my kids' clothes shopping online because our mall doesn't cater to kids clothes and I don't have the time to drive 45 min each way to go to a mall in Des Moines. This town may be 1/2 college students 8-9 mo of the year, but don't forget about young families that live here all year. I know my friends (all young professionals with families) probably go to DSM to shop 1-3x a month. That is a lot of money Ames misses out on.
Do you even know what a low price point store is? Those would be Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Dollar General, Dollar Tree.
Kohl's is not / has never been a low price store. Why do you think they are low price because they run ads or have sales? Guess what, so does Younkers, JCP, Macy's, Dillards, etc.
Shoe Carnival is not a low price store. Do they offer a wide range of prices, absolutely because they are a family shoe store and kids shoes are inexpensive. Do they carry some inexpensive women's shoes sure, but they also carry more expensive shoes too. They carry Nike, Asics, Saucony that are $150, I don't call that low end, but they must be for you.
Rue 21 is a store for teens and young adults that sells disposable clothing to that age group. They have a market that is appealing to 16-24 year olds - perfect for a college town.
TJ Maxx is far from the low price junk store you think it is. I work with a lot of women who have $$$ and shop at TJ Maxx. It will do very well in Ames.
If these are such bad stores, then who are you going to get in Ames? You have to start somewhere and these are a decent start in Ames.
You're right - having vacant buildings and a mall full of empty stores is sure to drive up surrounding property values :SLEEP: