How many cities still have downtown department stores?

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by JManc

There's no reason Austin should be that expensive. It's still Austin. I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. Texas has an ever increasingly property tax unlike California so if someone from the Bay Area and Austin bought their houses for $500k and they're now worth 3x that now, Californians pay tax on the $500k while Texans pay based on the current $1.5 million value.

Houston has plenty of high paying jobs and wealth too but housing market still less than half what it is in Austin. However, million dollar houses in Houston are typically furnished with high end appliances and furniture.

Yeah, a million dollar house in Austin is a whole lot different than one in Houston. There are lots of more expensive ones here, though, in the range of $1.5M and up, and of course they're furnished with high end stuff. A lot of those are new construction in inner city areas where tear downs are occurring all over the place.

There were media reports today about how our housing market here is cooling off a lot. Due to high interest rates, a lot of buyers are sitting things out, so our inventory is increasing rapidly. That puts a damper on the growth in prices we were experiencing. There are still a lot of cash buyers as well as those who can get a mortgage, so it's not like a housing crash. It's just not crazy like it was. Zillow is showing my home's estimate to have leveled off, compared to the enormous growth over the last couple of years. I think things will accelerate again at some point, but not for a while.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by austlar1

I'd be curious to know how many times in the past 12 months SSP forumers have actually shopped in a department store. I'm not talking about shopping at Target, but rather a real traditional department store. Doesn't matter whether the store is a downtown store or in a mall. I bought (and returned) a chair from Macy's here in Austin at a suburban mall. That's the extent of my department store purchases in the past 12 months. Almost everything else that I've purchased has been through Amazon or some other online shopping option.

I haven't been in a true department store, either in a downtown or suburb, in probably five years. I was given a Dillard's card for Christmas that year and went there to buy some new shoes. I'm like you, I buy just about everything online, even if it's Walmart.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by austlar1

I'd be curious to know how many times in the past 12 months SSP forumers have actually shopped in a department store. I'm not talking about shopping at Target, but rather a real traditional department store. Doesn't matter whether the store is a downtown store or in a mall. I bought (and returned) a chair from Macy's here in Austin at a suburban mall. That's the extent of my department store purchases in the past 12 months. Almost everything else that I've purchased has been through Amazon or some other online shopping option.

I just bought a toy for my daughter from Macy's the other day. I also have bought gifts from there and... candy from their candy shop in the basement. My wife goes to the Starbucks inside Macy's pretty often because it's the least crowded of the like 5 starbucks stores within a 2 block radius...

[ocman]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

I shop at nordstrom / nordstrom rack pretty regularly, around once every couple of months.

Dept stores in DTLA currently

Macys

Do these count?

Target
Nordstrom Rack
Burlington

No. But you’re forgetting Dover Street Market in Arts District LA which would qualify even though it’s very niche.

When I go to departments stores here in the bay, the cosmetic counters are still crowded and vital, along with the shoe department. If you’re looking for makeup, fragrances, or non-athletic shoes, department stores are still the popular go-to.

[mhays]

I wouldn't count the Nordstrom Rack, Ross, or anything else short of maybe 100,000 sf really. If you did, Seattle would add those.

[summersm343]

Philadelphia does have Macy's, which is in a very beautiful building that happens to be the old Wanamaker's department store.

However, I'm surprised no one from Philadelphia has mentioned Boyds yet. Boyds has to be one of the last remaining independent luxury department stores in the country. Their selection is pretty impressive:
https://www.google.com/search?q=boyds+ph...ceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&safe=active&ssui=on

[DCReid]

Another small department store chain that must be doing well is Von Maur. I've never been in one but was aware that one is Columbus Ohio:

https://www.vonmaur.com/

[Steely Dan]

^ isn't Von Maur just one of those suburban shopping mall brands?

I don't think they have an actual downtown department store anywhere.

[austlar1]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ isn't Von Maur just one of those suburban shopping mall brands?

I don't think they have an actual downtown department store anywhere.

They have expanded fairly rapidly, moving into vacated department stores (including former Lord and Taylor, Nordstrom, Sears, and other big name department store locations) in large malls in located mostly in Flyover Country, They also expanded aggressively in suburban Atlanta, Mpls/St.Paul, and suburban Chicago in the past decade or so. Suburban Pittsburgh is their next expansion. I suspect they get some very good deals from mall owners anxious to have anchor tenants in highly visible locations. They are privately owned, so their finances are somewhat opaque. Forbes did a recent favorable article about their business, so maybe they are onto something. I think their long term prospects are the same as those faced by other department store chains.

[mousquet]

You've heard of this thing in Milan...









https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galleria_Vittorio_Emanuele_II

It is small, not large at all compared to a contemporary suburban mall, but I think that's simply the most impressive indoor luxury retail gallery I've ever seen in my lifetime.
There are indoor classy retail galleries that feel more intimate both in Paris and London, but they just don't feel as big or grand as this thing, even though it's kinda small. This is something different.
It is definitely one of the craziest old downtown little malls you could think of. The most pop Italian and French brands have to be there, to sell their things to tourists.

[Wigs]

Did Bari ever recover from the retail crisis of the late 2000s?

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by Wigs

Did Bari ever recover from the retail crisis of the late 2000s?

I don't know. It's something else in southern Italy.
Your note was a bit cruel anyway.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by mousquet

I don't know. It's something else in southern Italy.
Your note was a bit cruel anyway.

But mousquet, where will all of the artisanal Olive Oil and Cheese shops go!?

WiLl SoMeOnE tHInK oF tHe WeAlThY?
_____________________

Jokes aside, that Galleria in Milan looks quite impressive

[mousquet]

^ They sell olive oil and cheese anywhere in Italy, just as they do here in France.
You get a whole range of them, plenty of items in any decent grocery store.
It's in our common culture and goes to our ordinary dishes.

I think France is the craziest specialist in cheese, though. There are literally dozens and dozens (maybe hundreds) of various sorts all over the country like it's weird. There are underground "local productions" that I couldn't even swallow cause they're so strange, fermented or brewed and strong. You got to visit the countryside to really be aware.

Anyway, the Italians famously make great food too. Pizza is not even as pop in Italy as it is in the US (#1 pizza consumer, by far) or France (#2). It's a bit of a tourist thing over there, even though they eat some, huh.
But they've got plenty of other things and eat a lot of pasta, that I love. I am good at making pasta myself. I can cook plenty of various sauces and veggies to get along with it.

Pasta is brilliant, yet underrated here in France because people lack imagination. They find it boring while anything is possible with it.
It's just like any starchy food, you may do lots of things of it.

[Wigs]

My inside-SSP joke unfortunately went right over your head.
That's okay, it happens

[mousquet]

^ No, there's nothing unfortunate. Don't worry.
But I think I may be going "right over your head".
I got to stop it. It's getting late over here anyway.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

I just bought a toy for my daughter from Macy's the other day. I also have bought gifts from there and... candy from their candy shop in the basement. My wife goes to the Starbucks inside Macy's pretty often because it's the least crowded of the like 5 starbucks stores within a 2 block radius...

You reminded me of something I haven't thought about probably since I was a kid. That is, the candy bins in department stores had a magical smell that drew kids to them. When we would go to Foleys or Sears or wherever, I had to have a bag of malt balls.

Anyone else remember that?

[JManc]

Originally Posted by mousquet

You've heard of this thing in Milan...









https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galleria_Vittorio_Emanuele_II

It is small, not large at all compared to a contemporary suburban mall, but I think that's simply the most impressive indoor luxury retail gallery I've ever seen in my lifetime.
There are indoor classy retail galleries that feel more intimate both in Paris and London, but they just don't feel as big or grand as this thing, even though it's kinda small. This is something different.
It is definitely one of the craziest old downtown little malls you could think of. The most pop Italian and French brands have to be there, to sell their things to tourists.

Come on...that place is lame. Where is the food court with Chick-fil-A and Dippin' Dots Ice Cream? No Spencer's Gifts?

[Altoic]

Originally Posted by JManc

Come on...that place is lame. Where is the food court with Chick-fil-A and Dippin' Dots Ice Cream? No Spencer's Gifts?

A Walmart and a Costco with a 1,000-car parking lot would fit better there. Don't forget the billboard for some random law firm and a car dealership.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Wigs

Did Bari ever recover from the retail crisis of the late 2000s?

Nope. These guys took over the scene and shoppers fled en masse to the big box barf.