BLOGOFF: NEIGHBORHOOD RETAIL
I'll soon return to the analysis of Sedalia, Missouri as promised, but today I'd like to continue the Blogoff started by Steve Mouzon at Original Green. The topic is Neighborhood Retail. Actually, the points made in the Sedalia posts apply to this topic, because the T5 Urban Center Zone (e.g., Main Street) should be the neighborhood retail of the neighborhood including it. Yes, I know, that's a circular argument, but hey, that's why ped sheds are circular.
Pedestrian shed centered on Ridge Avenue near Dupont, Central Roxborough neighborhood, Philadelphia. Approximately within this 1/4 mile radius, a 5-7 minute walk, residents are likely to walk for most errands.
Steve wrote last week,
Today, some really smart people... have put together guidelines and rules of thumb which poison the transition from sprawl to sustainable places because they make it appear that most places have no hope of succeeding with their transformation.
The classic example of a poison guideline is the "corner store requirement." The best experts say that you can't even support a corner store with less than 1,000 homes and for pretty much every other type of retail establishment, you need even more "rooftops."
...But there have always been other ways of doing business and building places. There's more than one dial to turn, in other words. If you don't have 1,000 homes in your neighborhood, there are many other ways to make businesses work. For example, are you actually embedded in sprawl, or are you out in the country with a captive audience of neighbors that are more likely to do business with your corner store because everything else is too far away? If you're remote, you can make it on far less than 1,000 homes.
Do you have unusually cool shops...? Are you the only nearby place that sells the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal? Does your corner store have the best espresso for miles around? How about the ice cream shop can you build your own sundae? Does your grocer actually know you, and will she order the peach salsa you request, trusting that if you like it, others might do so as well?
Steve's point is for retailers to "Be Remarkable" and then you can break the retail "rules" and thrive.
He's right, those scenarios would be helpful. However, in this time of living simpler (let's hope for that), my exhortation would be, instead, "Be Quotidian." Let's have more neighborhood stores that supply actual daily needs. (Sorry, ice cream is a weekly need.) How about some lettuce, apples, tofu, plain yogurt, locally-produced deli meats and cheeses, fresh seafood, neighborhood-baked breads, a nice selection of herbs, Cheerios, and toilet paper?
I don't know about you, but when I go into our mega-store, a SuperFresh, immediately I get a headache and FSAD (Food Shopping Anxiety Disorder) from the enormity of the space, the frigidity of the temperature, the outlandish excess of the choices, and the incomprehensible layout. What about Our Seniors? They have to use a motorized cart to make it from end to the other, and they become hopelessly confused. Not to mention Our Boomers, and probably even Our Millennials.
Wouldn't you rather go somewhere less overwhelming and leave with a bounce in your step like this woman?
Be Quotidian. Shop daily and local, within your pedestrian shed so you can walk. Make sure the walking and biking routes to your neighborhood stores are safe and interesting. If they aren't, get on your councilperson.
