KCRag Forum

earthling wrote:^Agree. And for the most part downtown has eats covered with few exceptions. What retail outside food is desired? Many have been mentioned earlier in thread and downtown has gained many since then, except a bookstore. Is a bookstore still desirable? Broader clothing? General internal doctors? Are there enough dentists? Is there even a key duplication kiosk downtown?

What amenity is missing downtown at this point that requires a trip to the burbs or Midtown?

Bookstore seems to be coming with Afterword, but they may not have very much. Another bookstore may be desired. Clothing definitely, have to go to the Plaza or burbs for that now, although when streetcar comes that will be less of an issue. A larger/better stocked bike shop maybe? Really only have that small one in quality hill now. A small Target would still be desirable. They plan to open 75 new small format stores by 2019, no reason why we can't get one.

a bookstore headed to Delaware...as well as 4 other un-announced goodies this Spring!

Great news! Look forward to the other announcements.

tower wrote:

earthling wrote:^Agree. And for the most part downtown has eats covered with few exceptions. What retail outside food is desired? Many have been mentioned earlier in thread and downtown has gained many since then, except a bookstore. Is a bookstore still desirable? Broader clothing? General internal doctors? Are there enough dentists? Is there even a key duplication kiosk downtown?

What amenity is missing downtown at this point that requires a trip to the burbs or Midtown?

Bookstore seems to be coming with Afterword, but they may not have very much. Another bookstore may be desired. Clothing definitely, have to go to the Plaza or burbs for that now, although when streetcar comes that will be less of an issue. A larger/better stocked bike shop maybe? Really only have that small one in quality hill now. A small Target would still be desirable. They plan to open 75 new small format stores by 2019, no reason why we can't get one.

I get the sense Afterword is not happening. There has been zero movement in their space for some time now and there is a leasing sign up. Hope I'm wrong.

ToDactivist wrote:a bookstore headed to Delaware...as well as 4 other un-announced goodies this Spring!

Do tell. The new Denver-based owner did mention turning some of the other DE buildings into more streetfront retail. Are there actual tenants signed up?

earthling wrote:

ToDactivist wrote:a bookstore headed to Delaware...as well as 4 other un-announced goodies this Spring!

Do tell. The new Denver-based owner did mention turning some of the other DE buildings into more streetfront retail. Are there actual tenants signed up?

ToDactivist is the "Denver-based owner". He has said so previously.

smh wrote:

tower wrote:

earthling wrote:^Agree. And for the most part downtown has eats covered with few exceptions. What retail outside food is desired? Many have been mentioned earlier in thread and downtown has gained many since then, except a bookstore. Is a bookstore still desirable? Broader clothing? General internal doctors? Are there enough dentists? Is there even a key duplication kiosk downtown?

What amenity is missing downtown at this point that requires a trip to the burbs or Midtown?

Bookstore seems to be coming with Afterword, but they may not have very much. Another bookstore may be desired. Clothing definitely, have to go to the Plaza or burbs for that now, although when streetcar comes that will be less of an issue. A larger/better stocked bike shop maybe? Really only have that small one in quality hill now. A small Target would still be desirable. They plan to open 75 new small format stores by 2019, no reason why we can't get one.

I get the sense Afterword is not happening. There has been zero movement in their space for some time now and there is a leasing sign up. Hope I'm wrong.

I also noticed that leasing sign. I took that as a bad indicator for the project.

kboish wrote:

earthling wrote:

ToDactivist wrote:a bookstore headed to Delaware...as well as 4 other un-announced goodies this Spring!

Do tell. The new Denver-based owner did mention turning some of the other DE buildings into more streetfront retail. Are there actual tenants signed up?

ToDactivist is the "Denver-based owner". He has said so previously.

Ah nice, didn't catch that. Looking forward to what goodies are lined up.

tower wrote: A small Target would still be desirable. They plan to open 75 new small format stores by 2019, no reason why we can't get one.

Maybe Cordish could pursue a small urban Target for base of Three or Four Light now that downtown is on a realistic path to 35K population (a downtown Target requirement if I recall, and it would get Midtown biz). A Trader Joe's in Xroads would be a nice addition too but other retail probably more important (and TJ's might hurt Consentino's). Apple Store was mentioned in another thread. Downtown has well above avg median income so might be able to attract an Apple store at some point, but Denver and Minneapolis don't have downtown stores.

What about services desired? Doctors, dentists to key replication to shoe repair. Is that covered?

Would be an interesting test if many of us put in a request to Consentino's to install a key replication kiosk. Would imagine if a dozen of us did it they'd actually do it. I'll submit request next time in store, let's experiment with Rag influence. I once suggested having umbrellas near doors at cash register, and they eventually did it. Is surprising more downtown retailers don't have cheap umbrellas for sale at door for rainy days - is common in pedestrian oriented cities for many retailers, it brings people in when raining.

Urban Target would be cool, although I wonder if there is enough space to build one. An Apple Store is highly unlikely.

Looked it up... Urban Target stores can be as low as 12K sqft and up to 80K. I think Consentino's is over 30K sqft. Some urban Target stores are 2-3 floors with escalator that can handle carts. Could work in one of the Cordish residential buildings if even one of the smallest ones on one floor.

earthling wrote: What about services desired? Doctors, dentists to key replication to shoe repair. Is that covered?

i don't track doctors offices, but there are several tucked away in various buildings. are we counting clinics like the one inside sprint center and concentra on sw blvd?

there is one dentist in the crossroads, at least two in the loop, zero in river market.

there's one remaining shoe repair in the commerce arcade.

you can get keys made at kenton in the crossroads, and strasser isn't that far away.

Check, check, check and check. Nice.

Anything else lacking in services? It's the small services that complete an urban neighborhood, and free streetcar ties it all together making things as accessible as if in your hood.

DaveKCMO wrote:

earthling wrote: What about services desired? Doctors, dentists to key replication to shoe repair. Is that covered?

i don't track doctors offices, but there are several tucked away in various buildings. are we counting clinics like the one inside sprint center and concentra on sw blvd?

there is one dentist in the crossroads, at least two in the loop, zero in river market.

there's one remaining shoe repair in the commerce arcade.

you can get keys made at kenton in the crossroads, and strasser isn't that far away.

A lot of these basics are covered already, I thought a list would be useful to get a feel for how many places are needed for a community. This is just a starting point

Doctor
Dentist
Chiropractor
Orthodontist
Pediatrician
Urgent Care
Lawyers (one each divorce, contract, employment, medical malpractice, etc)
Churches
Community Center
Library
Book store
Bank with Saturday hours
Car Repair
Sporting goods
Cell phone store (within reach)
computer repair
Car repair generic
Car transmission
DMV office
Quick lube
Fill up stations
Electric car chargers
Employment services (short term staffing)
Barber
Beauty Salon
Daycare
Self storage
Rental cars
Rental moving vans
Realtor
Men's clothing
Women's clothing
Kid's clothing
Work clothing
Shoe store
Hardware store
Grocery store
Gym
Dance studio
Karate/Yoga/similar space
Swimming Pool
Massage Therapy
Insurance Agent
Coffee Shop
Fast food
sit down restaurant
Pet supplies
Animal hospital
Arts and Crafts
Office supplies
Print shop (paper supplies)
Sign shop
Music supplies store (instruments)
Jewelry store
party supplies

I think that downtown has almost all of those, and the things that it doesn't have will eventually be just a streetcar ride away. What we need is more selection of the things we already have, so that people can find what suits them, and more of the places that a person would go to often, i.e. Gyms.

Also, this may be the most important thread on the forum, and none of us are really qualified to answer it because almost all of us probably live either downtown or in midtown, and are mostly okay with what we have and don't have. We need to get the opinions of people from other cities and the suburbs, to see what would attract them.

The one thing that does stand out as lacking is a DMV office. I think we do have one, but with limited hours, so I usually go to the Raytown DMV.

Not sure about the hours, I usually just check-in with QLess and go when it says I can over "lunch". Don't have to do it often, but I'm pretty sure it works on both sides of the building. Can anyone confirm or deny? Been a couple years.

I think the DMV runs pretty regular hours and their Qless system helps cut down your wait time.

Yeah there is DMV in MO building at 13th/Holmes, but closes at 5.30pm.

Downtown does seem to have services and eats covered pretty well now. Outside maybe more clothing retailers, bookstore, Target, next natural step is more specialty services and broader sidewalk counter eats.

Downtown is dramatically under covered with retail and service offices (think strip mall businesses)

Looking around my house in Briarcliff there's less density than downtown but I count 9 places to get groceries within a 5 minute drive of me. Six of those are reachable via bus in case anyone was wondering. I counted no less than 43 places to get a hot meal without going past those 9 stores.

Look like 15,000 live in the 64116 zip code and what I describe is only a minority of what retail/service office space is available. Imagine what the total space numbers look like when your category list is 50x longer.

Oh, downtown probably can't support more than a couple florists, but there's room for a lot more space. I would bet the saturation point is 2-5x larger than today.

Half the stuff you can buy at Wal-Mart is unavailable downtown....

Need some socks, an extension cord, duct tape, spray paint, etc and you are out of luck downtown. I wouldn't know where to buy any of these type things without leaving downtown. Maybe these things are available at some niche store but im not getting in google to do all that research when im already needing to go to the burbs for other stuff anyways. The nearest dollar General is in NKC which is the closest general store to downtown...

Even things as simple as breakfast cereal that is available downtown is double what it costs at hyvee or dollar General (Plus costintinos doesn't carry generic brands on most stuff)

I've lived downtown for nearly a decade and I have just gotten used to driving to the suburbs EVERY weekend to get basics... Actually I'm about to move to a suburban part of the city and I'm looking forward to actually living near stuff...

I'm currently on vacation in Brazil and they have tons of urban stores including Walmart, home stores, clothing, etc. You could literally do all your shopping and never leave the urban core here, unlike US cities, especially cities like KC. If walmart can pull of small footprint stores without surface parking in other counties, im sure they could pull it off in the US but our horrible zoning rules like parking minimums encourage sprawl and our horrible car dependent lifestyles...