 |
|
|
|
|
News
and Trends
HyettPalma |
Magazine ArticlesWhat Malls Are Learning From Downtowns
David Byrne, the much loved former lead singer of the Talking Heads and now solo artist, quipped during his most recent tour…
Isn’t this an interesting twist? Check it out at www.deadmalls.com. As has been proven during the last couple of decades, people need, desire, and support malls. But, to many, a mall is a mall is a mall. And, as we all know, malls tend to breed malls; each trying to outdo the other. Once a new center comes on-line, it often seems that plans start for the next, newer, bigger venue just at the edge of town. What is happening to malls is not unlike what happened to Downtowns. Once something newer was built — as with malls in the mid- to later-1900s — the big guys left Downtowns in the dust; each seeking the newer, brighter offerings of the new cluster of businesses, with their new “atmosphere controlled” digs. Downtowns, even with their warts and many, many enhancement bumps-in-the-road over the years, are in vogue, again, certainly as a result of their uniqueness and as a result of the sameness and “sanitized” experience found in many strip centers, big box complexes, and traditional shopping malls. But, equally and perhaps more importantly, Downtowns are working again because local leadership has been asking and listening to customers — also read “constituents.” And, in really good Downtowns, enhancement efforts have been directed toward the desires of the people of a given place — meaning the desires of local residents related to the enhancement of “their” Downtown, the heart of “their” community. For years, solid market research has been the cornerstone of good Downtown enhancement programs. This market research has entailed not only the time-tested analysis of demographic and socio-economic data and trends, but also qualitative research characterized as going-to-the-consumer through focus groups, surveys, group discussions, etc. Basically, letting the customer and not the place drive the enhancement effort. Or, stated differently, letting the customer not the computer or some back-office staffer in San Francisco determine what is appropriate for Tin Buck Too. An article in the May 2004 issue of Shopping Centers Today, one of the most respected periodicals covering shopping center and mall development, points out that shopping center developers are trying to re-invent old centers and develop new centers today based not just on “canned” numbers, but through direct questioning of customers; letting the people have a voice in the process of enhancement and, thereby, ownership in the end-product. In the same above noted article, James W. (Wally) Brewster of General Growth Properties of Chicago notes…
Shopping malls are taking to heart a lesson which has been learned in the business of Downtown revitalization over the past half century…
This was always Sam Walton’s mantra. Give the customer what they want, first. And, you don’t see a web site devoted to dead Wall Mart stores. Yet! About the Authors Doyle G. Hyett and Dolores P. Palma are the founders of Hyett Palma, Inc., the only national consulting firm specializing in the economic renaissance of Downtowns. For more information about HyettPalma, please visit www.hyettpalma.com.
|
© HyettPalma 2008
