With the recent arrival of chain stores downtown, it makes one (and the SMN) think – is Broughton Street morphing from charm to chain? An article in the Savannah Morning News highlights the merging of these two retail types.
When tourists board a trolley in Savannah to drink in the sights, they ask to be taken to the Historic District’s well-known byways: “Take me to Broughton Street, take me to River Street,” they say. When they re-board after a few hours, their shopping bags mark where they’ve been. Some of the bags sport national brand names such as Banana Republic and Marc by Marc Jacobs, but still others bear the logos of local shops such as BleuBelle Boutique and Copper Penny Shooz.
Now Broughton is no stranger to nationwide restaurants and retail shops, we have a Panera, Starbucks, Quizno’s, Subway, Lenny’s (I ‘heart’ the Chicken Philly Salad!) AND a Blimpie located within blocks from each other. Combine those with The Gap, Banana Republic and Marc Jacobs and you have a wide selection of main stream shopping.
On the plus side, Broughton Street’s growth is aided by these popular shops and restaurants. For example, we are one of only a handful of cities to have a Marc by Marc Jacobs store; that’s a great asset and it’s very cool to have our name next to such swanky cities as New York and Hong Kong (go us!).
Main stream folks as The Gap, Banana, Panera and Starbucks also give an option to visitors (and locals) that just want their tried-and-true plain front chinos or are jonesing for their daily Venti Caramel Mocha Frapp. In comparison, Charleston’s King Street is also lined with both chain shops and locally owned businesses, and because of that, it is a busy and successful shopping district.
Then again, if people have all the choices of your run-of-the-mill strip mall, they may not feel like taking a chance on local vendors. Local business store owners have to rely on the fact that people come here to see Savannah – not to see the stores and restaurants they can find in their own hometown.
As with everything, moderation and balance are key.
“I think they [tourists] come to Savannah for a glimpse at our beautiful city, our unique nature, the history, and part of that is shopping and dining here,” said Charlie Brazil, general manager of Old Town Trolley Tours Savannah. “I think diversity is good. I think the more we can attract to Savannah, the better.”
I concur. Savannah has such a great selection of locally owned businesses, combine these great shops with other popular chain stores and we’re bound to see success. Don’t you think?
When I think of some of my favorite downtown areas, Savannah is right up there. (If only we could get the shop owners to stay open a bit later!) The most successful and attractive areas I have visited are always a balance between local and national/international chains. There is always going to be a GAP and a Starbucks – and hopefully there will always be unique spots nestled next door, like Paris Market and @Home.
In Burlington, VT (a bash-the-chains kind of town) even their main street offers national retail stores like Urban Outfitters and The Limited – with local bars, restaurants and shops mixed in that are homespun goodness. Charleston, Charlotte, Jacksonville, – even NYC and Atlanta’s hip neighborhoods – they all must work to find a balance that appeals to a wide range of tourists and locals, alike. Not an easy job, but necessary to keep a good mix and a healthy flow of folks in and out of the doors.
I’m with you on the ‘if only we could get the shop owners to stay open a bit later!’ sentiment. I sure there is a lot of money being lost by not staying open past 6pm or so. We like to go walk around downtown after work and are unable to purchase anything at our favorite shops, it’s frustrating.
I LOVE the Paris Market. I LOVE it. Did I mention I love it?
Urban Outfitters would be a good fit in Savannah too I think.
I love your term ‘homespun goodness’ – perhaps we can create a new category for those finds!
I think that having the chain stores on Broughton only helps. People who are only going to drink Starbucks coffee (or are only used to drinking Starbucks coffee) will come to broughton strictly for that purpose, and then once they are there, maybe browse around a bit and see that there are other local shops that are worth investigating.
And I can’t get my plain front chinos at the Gap downtown anymore.
I work at a retail shop on Bull St and it’s nice to have a mixture of local shops and chains. I think tourists appreciate the diversity also. As far as staying open later, we’re there most of the day as it is! But I understand that locals work during the day and are out after that.
Btw, stop by Moss across from Wachovia if you haven’t already. We’re open 7 days a week!
If you want to break out of the Broughton Street blues, check out Mint Boutique on the corner of Abercorn and Liberty.
A healthy mix of local and national retaliers and resturants on B Street is ideal. The nationals offer credibilty, marketing $’s and stabilty. The locals lend diversity, unique opportunities and a sense of local/regional identity.
The challenge downtown Savannah has now is to become a retail destination. We still lose big local and tourist $’s that leave our market for other more notable shopping destinations (see NY, Atlanta, Charleston etc).
Generally people do not come to Savannah with the intent of shopping. That has been changing over the last 2 or so years and we have several fantastic home grown retailers with a healthy pipeline to boot. B Street has its challenges- there are a variety of issues holding it back (I lll save for another post). The good – most of the challenges are fixable- the Con – they are not beeing addressed for various reasons.
The ingredients for a fantastic retail future are in Savannah- We just need to incorporate our own retial identity- B Street is not nor will it become King St (that seems to be the conventional wisdom- that B st is King st just 5 years behind in development). B street will evelove but with itss own identity- I see it being an edgier place than King st- not better or worse- just different-
Right now- the successful retailers on B st are succeeding despite the challenges that a B St location present- not becuase of them. Once those challenges are mitigated then watch out- We will have a strong core of battle tested retailers ready to take off in many of us can t imagine today.
As a somewhat frequent visitor from San Francisco, CA, I always hit Broughton Street, and I like the diversity of the national and local retailers. And everytime I visit, Broughton Street and Savannah get better. I remember my first visit to Savannah in the mid-late 90′s – Broughton Street looked like Europe at the conclusion of WWII. You could see signs of its former glory through all the rubble and the beginning of its recovery, and I was determined to come back to see how the city would pull it together. Since then, it has slowly risen from the ashes to what it is today. To me, Savannah conjurs images of exquisite beauty, good taste, regional and historic design, arts and crafts influence, wonderful flavors, and an easy pace. For the most part, Broughton Street encompasses those qualities (the mix of food establishments is somewhat weak). As long as the city relies on tourism as a means of revenue, it will need to delicately balance the national chains with the local merchants. And remember, just because it’s local, doesn’t always mean it’s better. Think quality at all times.