New Retail Store Opening Downtown

FangKC · Post by **FangKC** » Sat Aug 30, 2003 10:26 am

There appears to be a new retail store opening downtown on the SE corner of 11th and Main in the first floor of the Harzfelds Building. The name is "Curves" and it looks like it's going to be women's apparel. You can see them setting up the shelving racks and cabinets through the window. I guess women will be able once again to buy dresses on Petticoat Lane.

Midtownkid · Post by **Midtownkid** » Sat Aug 30, 2003 2:27 pm

Humm...I thought that sign was part of the urban culture project art thing...It would be alot cooler if it was a new store though...

trailerkid · Post by **trailerkid** » Sat Aug 30, 2003 4:36 pm

Sometimes small efforts, a store here and a new restaurant there, can snowball. Downtown needs retail...and unique retail at that. As the Plaza has sqeezed out a lot of shops and restaurants with local flavor, maybe downtown can emerge as a purveyor of Kansas City origininality.

Electric_Cactus · Post by **Electric_Cactus** » Sat Aug 30, 2003 5:35 pm

I've talked to people who are disappointed that there isn't more shopping and things "to do" downtown, but they say with the right mix of stores and restaurants this might change. Of course, as it's been stated before, the perceptions that there are no parking, and that crime is rampant downtown, will need to be changed before people will return. The crime part may be more perception than reality, but there is a very real need for inexpensive, accessible parking downtown. People know this is lacking, and it frustrates them. The powers that be need to make downtown feel accesible, friendly, and inviting. I don't see any reason why downtown KCMO couldn't compete with the Plaza and Crown Center. Look at Chicago...the day after Thanksgiving and all through the holiday season, people flock downtown for shopping, food, street fairs, and great music by the city's choirs and orchestras, regardless of the fact that there are hundreds of other suburban shopping centers they could pick in their own boroughs. I think KC has a lot of the artsy type, like me, who dig "downtown stuff." I'd shop downtown, and I'd walk the streets with the crowd if there were actually things to do there.

kc_devotee · Post by **kc_devotee** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 1:14 pm

Curves? Its not one of those women's health clubs such as the one in Waldo is it?

Post by **dangerboy** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 1:43 pm

Downtown had 20,000 parking spaces in garages, lots, and streets. There is no parking shortage, and it is very accessible. People are just lazy to figure out the park-and-pay system in surface lots or the streets signs explaining parking zones and meters. It is much easier to figure out parking in Downtown KC than in Chicago, and it's much cheaper. They also have an unrealistic expectation that parking will be right in front of the entrance like on Barry Road or somewhere. Walking 3-4 blocks from a parking spot to a store really isn't any worse than walking across the giant parking lot at Independence Center.

KCDowntown · Post by **KCDowntown** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 3:51 pm

I think kc_devotee is right, I drove past a Curves store on Gregory. It looked like a cross b/t a weight-loss clinic and a fitness place.

KCDowntown

Post by **dangerboy** » Tue Sep 02, 2003 4:02 pm

I know someone that owns a Curves in an outlying town. It's a decent business. While it's an international chain, the stores are mostly franchised. So this probably represents an entrepeneur or small business person setting up shop Downtown. I bet there is a lot of potential for this business in the Loop. Since Gold's Gym left a few years ago, the only public fitness center left in the loop is the always-overflowing Quality Hill YMCA.