Eddie Bauer and the old Saks Men's store are two big prime spots available. If Uniqlo doesn't move on one of these I'm going to scream.

Another option would be a store within a mall moving to street level space. I would think a retailer like J. Crew would be itching to make such a move.

I think J Crew is swapping spots where the old Williams Sonoma used to be. At least their window advertising will face Michigan Ave.

Only space I'm really concerned about is the old Filene's basement. It's big and on high up floors.

Block 37 owner switches leasing brokershttp://www.chicagorealestatedaily.co...easing-brokers

Note that Crain's is now saying the AMC movie theater and Xsports is done deal. Is that right?

Uniqlo isn't coming to Chicago for a long time. They new guy running it is one of those "lifelong new yorker" transplants who considers everything between jersey city and San Francisco to be all hicks and pastures.

http://mobile.businessweek.com/artic...-the-heartland

Foreign retailers, in general, don't really get Chicago mostly due to a total lack of knowledge. They still think we are a bunch of al capone gangsters (not joking). As tourism continues to pick up, so will international brands and retail.

Uniqlo needs to move here. I have no doubts that they'd be very successful. I shopped at one in Kuala Lumpur and thought they had some good stuff there for not that expensive. Their stuff would definitely sell here though - like a better quality version of H&M.

Unfortunately, this is true. That's what my ex girlfriend's dad from Malaysia thought about Chicago still. He's into old gangster movies and still thought the mob was a big thing in town until he visited. You are correct about the Uniqlo guy too - he isn't very educated about Chicago. I do see more international brands coming here though - although they are more boutiques. I think there are 2 or 3 small, expensive French brands about to open on Oak St (Sandro and Maje, and of course Saint Laurent reopened near Oak recently).

^ I don't disagree with what you're saying, but if you read the article you linked, it says nothing of the sort

So the guy doesn't think he can have a competent staff or brand awareness in Chicago? What an idiot. Neither one of those would be a problem here.

Multi-billion dollar international retailers have teams dedicated to researching and selecting potential markets for expansion. I don't think they become mult-billion retailers if their market research team's presentation on Chicago only included Al Capone and Michael Jordon. If they looked at the statistics for Michigan Ave. and the other stores with a presence on Michigan Ave., I think Uniqlo and other foreign retailers would think a store there just might work.

I get Uniqlo's strategy. They want to take one market at a time. I still think its doable here, right now though. They can have a Michigan Ave store, a North and Clyborne store, and a State street store today. And I assume space isn't hard to find in the burbs.

I guess I just didn't interpret his comments the same way. Sounds more like a business decision: in other locations there are several stores, so there is synergy in marketing as well as training employees in a region to work for their brand. Perhaps they aren't at the point where they can break into the Chicago market yet, but some day they will be. That's at least my take

Why? I've never even heard of that brand. Sounds trendy and expensive. The less New York/San Fran we can remain, the better, IMO. :cool:

So the IMD is seeking a new developer for its massive near west side project.

While I"m happy to see that they have such massive plans for the site, I'm disappointed that the building at 1910 W Harrison will be demo'd. That's probably the last old school Chicago building in the area. Bye bye last remnants of character...

Then you probably don't know much about fashion period and aren't part of their target anyway. No, it's not expensive. It's between H&M and TopShop prices but better quality (in my opinion). If you think that's expensive, then you can end the conversation right here. Many people have heard of this brand. They have tens of thousands of employees, almost 1300 stores worldwide, are in 15 countries, and are publicly traded in Japan (over $300/share).

Gotcha. Yeah, I have been in H+M a few times with girlfriends in the past. Never heard of TopShop until they opened that store on Michigan and have never been there. I shop at Gap and Sports Authority almost exclusively. So yeah, I don't know anything about fashion. I was simply making a comment about ostentatious coastal types acting as if New York Shitty and its younger cousin San Fran are the sole possessors of class and culture in the country. I personally think their attitude towards the rest of the country is funny. I hate that fucking pretentious, haute couture-minded coastal mentality, and if it means we don't get their trendy shops, so be it. I would prefer we remain as gritty and raw as possible. The Gold Coast is fine as is; it need not expand.

EDIT... Ah, I see your addition to that post. Well, if it helps boost our consumer economy, great! I was simply saying, we don't need their trendy coastal influence here...

Trendy coastal influence? I guess you missed the part where I said it's publicly traded in Japan. It's headquartered in Tokyo. They have 17 stores in the US, as opposed to something like 1200 in Asia.

If you honestly think that this store is "Gold Coast-y" then you need to again stop acting as if you know anything about this company because it's obvious you don't. It's not even close to high fashion or expensive.

Fair enough. I was responding to the attitude in that article, was not intentionally insulting the company directly. My bad.

The company seems to quote the guy in charge of the Americas thing, but he's not the head of the company. This brand/company is quite Asian centric. This company is closer to Zara, TopShop, and H&M in their stuff. They would have no trouble doing well right now on Michigan Avenue in the least. I'd put money on that.

Sears is closing its State Street store:
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...351H5815023C7T

Not really that surprised. The writing was on the wall.

Hey, hey, hey, the guy just started there, moving to Uniqlo from Forever 21 which, if you haven't noticed, has a strong presence in Chicago. So I'm sure he's well aware that Chicago can perform well.

They probably just want to roll out slowly, and build on groups they already have good brand awareness with, which would be primarily Asian populations. Both New York and San Francisco have much larger Asian populations than Chicago does.