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Department Store in Downtown San Jose????

12K views 14 replies 13 participants last post by  pesto 
#1 ·
Does anybody think that San Jose will finally get a retail anchor in Downtown?????? I mean....with the effort they've been putting in to revitalize it with all the new developments.......is it now feasible???? If so, what store would you like to see?
 
#4 ·
I think the plan is to have one go into the development at San Fernando/3rd, but that won't be done for two years. And once all the pending condos are built, we'll get another! But again, that's not for like five years :(
 
#6 · (Edited)
with the large vietnameese population in sj,they should consider a "Little Saigon" or "Vietnam Town" or something along those lines downtown. they are a very influential culture in san jose and should add a significant amount of traffic to the downtown area with markets, restaurants, cultural centers, stores, etc....after that is established, then u bring in the heavy hitting department stores and trendy restaurants to the core. but thats just my 2 pennies. we ll probably see a Bloomingdales downtown before a Vietnameese district.
 
#7 ·
Although San Jose does have a huge Vietnamese population, about 90,000, they have plenty of retail in central and south San Jose. They have Grand Central, Lion Center, entire strip malls along Senter Road, considered by some to be their Little Siagon. No rather than add to their cultural influence, San Jose ought to further pursue redevelopment and restoration of its Japantown, conveniently located near downtown. Japanese architecture would better compliment the redeveloped downtown area, as well bring a unique cultural presence to the area. Vietnamese stores and resturants are no longer new experiences to most people in San Jose.
 
#12 ·
You could talk about retail downtown. But I think that department stores and to a lesser extent big box stores are dying.

http://www.businessinsider.com/morgan-stanley-research-on-retail-2016-3

Eventhough finding parking in VF, or SR is a pain it is still free and people will go there for the draw of gawking at things. People don't want to go downtown because they think parking is hard (eventhough I've only experience that during the day weekdays and on Friday and Saturday nights when there are events). I think their main pet peeve is having to pay for parking, most people grew up in a culture where free parking is perceived as a right.

Even if VTA manages to get BART here in 8-10 years I think to bring in suburbanites that surround us we would need fairly unique experiences that cannot be found in the suburbs, or somehow leverage the fact that you don't have to get into your car to go from the restaurant to the ice cream shop or coffee shop like you do in the suburbs.

I think the way downtown has been going with the increase in smaller or independent restaurants, coffee shops, bars, or other food locations in the last few years has been better for downtown than the RDA style options of pushing in a larger retailer even if there isn't so much demand. The Pavilion (http://goo.gl/5Ev86k) shopping center failed across from Camera 12. Camera 12 itself aiming at slightly market than most movie theaters didn't survive a rental increase, it was never that full. These are similar to what you find in Oakridge or Great Mall, suburbanites love these indoor malls to driving downtown, and so there needs to be something that draws people in.
 
#13 ·
First, we need to stop competing with malls on malls' terms. Going down that road has killed more downtowns than it has helped.

And we need to stop catering to the needs of suburban residents. Yes, we can make DTSJ attractive to suburbanites, but that will only come with time.

Downtowns need (a) residents, (b) workers, (c) a balance between the two, (d) and to be a comfortable place to just be and just go outside for a walk.

Look at many of the great metros of the world. Yeah, there's the given skyscrapers and towering financial districts; they're impressive and look great on a post card or as part of a skyline. But so much life is found in shorter neighborhoods, 3-10 stories intermixed, with narrow streets and pedestrian paseos forming "outdoor rooms."

But SJ political leadership has been so focused on long-term visions that it has generally ignored that great places tend to be built incrementally, made great by generations of buildings and residents and businesses. Yes, those big anchors--think Whole Foods on the Alameda--help, but they're just the inflection point, the signal that it is now safe for bigger investors to come in; they are not the underlying changes that got us to that point.

Once we try to master plan an area or otherwise hold it static, once we prevent adaptation over time, we get places that lose their charm and luster.

Santa Row is a nice simulacra of a european walkable district, sure. But, had it been placed downtown it would have been a walled garden of faux-urbanity, disconnected from the rest of the fabric of downtown. Like a black hole, it would have sucked up a lot of energy and left a no-man's land around it.

If anything, having it down W San Carlos rather than in downtown is better for downtown. It can serve as a secondary node between the two we have an obvious corridor to focus on and develop.
 
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