Amenities missing from downtown

Issues concerning Downtown as described by the Downtown Council. River to 31st Street, I-35 to Bruce R. Watkins.
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DaveKCMO
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Re: Amenities missing from downtown

Post by DaveKCMO »

KCPowercat wrote:There are other options like Walmart Express.....but what is everybody wanting out of a Target store that a better cvs/walgreens wouldn't provide?
their home goods are shite. target has high quality home goods for the price point. often better than IKEA.
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KCPowercat
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Re: Amenities missing from downtown

Post by KCPowercat »

I'm an idiot...what are home goods? Like furniture? Lamps?
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Re: Amenities missing from downtown

Post by mykn »

KCPowercat wrote:I'm an idiot...what are home goods? Like furniture? Lamps?
Decorations, pillows, candles, dishes and utensils, etc

Target has really got that down for a good price (although now that they showed Nate Berkus the door for Chip and Joanna I’m reconsidering my praise for them...). They did partner with Dwell magazine for some furniture and objects and did a great job.
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beautyfromashes
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Re: Amenities missing from downtown

Post by beautyfromashes »

^ I was actually going to suggest a Magnolia Market store for DT. They’ve expressed a love for KC and said they would live here if they ever left Texas. I’m sure Target lawyers have them wrapped up tight though.
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Re: Amenities missing from downtown

Post by KCPowercat »

Thanks.
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GRID
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Re: Amenities missing from downtown

Post by GRID »

I don't understand why Target is not looking at KCMO. It's like Downtown KC is not even on their radar and yet they are opening dozens of new stores and have been doing so for years. KC can't be that far down the list. We have an urban Target in the suburb I live in. (two stories, on top of garage).

The only thing I can think of is that KC doesn't have the urban fabric of high density buying power neighborhoods surrounding downtown that many large cities have. Downtown is growing fast, but the area within a couple of miles of downtown just doesn't have the numbers to support major retail like that.

For that reason, I would imagine that KCMO is likely to see an urban Target in a Midtown location before a Downtown location. Midtown KCMO is gentrifying and if that continues and the streetcar goes in, then I think you will see significant retail added to new midtown projects that could serve the entire urban corridor from the Plaza to River Market. Hopefully they are true urban projects though and not big boxes and parking lots like Home Depot/Costco.
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Re: Amenities missing from downtown

Post by flyingember »

beautyfromashes wrote:^ I was actually going to suggest a Magnolia Market store for DT. They’ve expressed a love for KC and said they would live here if they ever left Texas. I’m sure Target lawyers have them wrapped up tight though.
There already is/was one. It's a mini store in one of the bottoms markets. Saw it this past spring or summer
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KCPowercat
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Re: Amenities missing from downtown

Post by KCPowercat »

Was in midtown today and saw a middle eastern place opening next to Taco Bell on linwood.....with walk up windows....why isn't something like this locating in the crossroads or river market where there is a ton more foot traffic than on 31st?

Zaina for example should open a walk up window.

edit...fixed street
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Re: Amenities missing from downtown

Post by JBmidtown »

Do you mean Linwood?
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Re: Amenities missing from downtown

Post by wahoowa »

that's the old popeyes building, right? gotta try that. guessing the reason it's popping up there is that multiple popeyes locations on the MO side went vacant at the same time so the opportunity was right. can't think of any similarly turnkey opportunities to do the same in crossroads or river market. did see that the corporate twitter account said picklemans is actually going to open in the old zaina space in 2018. i'm so tired of them doing nothing in that spot i'm probably going to refuse to eat there out of principle. they built two light in the time it's taking them to convert a food place to a damn sandwich place.....

when we moved downtown i thought a city target would be a huge get and that we would spend a lot of time driving out to the suburbs until it showed up, but honestly in the past couple years we've averaged less than one trip every 6 months to target or a similar store. give CVS user friendly hours and between that, cosentinos, and amazon, i'm pretty set. target would be welcome if it showed up, but i don't miss having it at all, and don't mind if we're not on their radar.
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Re: Amenities missing from downtown

Post by KCPowercat »

Seems they did extensive remodeling (not open yet). seems there are a ton of ground floor retail still open downtown that could easily be turned into a window quick serve restaurant.
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Re: Amenities missing from downtown

Post by KCPowercat »

Amazon go store?
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Re: Amenities missing from downtown

Post by aknowledgeableperson »

Don't forget the rumors of Amazon buying Target. One of many with this prediction.

http://www.kare11.com/article/news/anal ... -509275842
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Re: Amenities missing from downtown

Post by tower »

I don't think anyone else has brought this up yet, but Dollar General has a new(ish) concept, DGX. They have one in Raleigh, Nashville and Philly. It's small, almost more of a convenience store than a dollar general. A lot of these needs are probably filled by CVS or or Market3, but I could see it doing well in a place where CVS might be a bit of a trek. Maybe in a future East Village development or Quality Hill. Possibly even riverfront park area

https://www.moderncities.com/article/20 ... gx-concept

Does a store like this have a place downtown? Discuss!
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Re: Amenities missing from downtown

Post by earthling »

Thought I'd revive this. Outside a couple new bookstores opening and a CVS renovation, restaurants/bars seem to still dominate new openings downtown. There doesn't appear to be any momentum for a Target type store or any major retail at this point. Should pursuing broader range of retail become a high priority for downtown orgs like DNA? Who is or what is the best mechanism to attract retail/services?

At this point for those who live downtown, what amenity do you want most? Are there any services missing/lacking like enough dentists to general care type services?
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normalthings
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Re: Amenities missing from downtown

Post by normalthings »

earthling wrote:Thought I'd revive this. Outside a couple new bookstores opening and a CVS renovation, restaurants/bars seem to still dominate new openings downtown. There doesn't appear to be any momentum for a Target type store or any major retail at this point. Should pursuing broader range of retail become a high priority for downtown orgs like DNA? Who is or what is the best mechanism to attract retail/services?

At this point for those who live downtown, what amenity do you want most? Are there any services missing/lacking like enough dentists to general care type services?
Generally, a Bodega is what I want most.
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KCPowercat
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Re: Amenities missing from downtown

Post by KCPowercat »

Yup...2 or 3 bodegas would be very nice.
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Re: Amenities missing from downtown

Post by dnweava »

KCPowercat wrote:Yup...2 or 3 bodegas would be very nice.
I'd take a dollar tree/dollar general over a overpriced "bodegas" we already have like the quality hill supermarket or the multiple town news locations any day.
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Re: Amenities missing from downtown

Post by anonkcmo »

GRID wrote:I don't understand why Target is not looking at KCMO. It's like Downtown KC is not even on their radar and yet they are opening dozens of new stores and have been doing so for years. KC can't be that far down the list. We have an urban Target in the suburb I live in. (two stories, on top of garage).
The difference is it takes someone living downtown the same amount of time or less to drive/park/shop at Target stores in Roeland Park, Mission, Chouteau, etc than it does for you to snail through 5+ miles in the DC Metro. So why should target build a store downtown when it's a hassle-free cakewalk 10 minute drive to Chouteau or Mission?
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Re: Amenities missing from downtown

Post by mean »

Yeah, when even your "suburbs" are paragons of urban design by comparison, there is obviously a density scale issue to take into consideration.
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