From The Editor
he time has come to start thinking seriously about positioning Downtown Tucson as a retail destination. I feel strongly that Downtown won’t live up to its potential as a shopping destination until some key infrastructure issues are addressed. These include constructing the 4th Avenue underpass, extending the trolley, converting the one-way streets to two-way, and developing a more pedestrian-friendly environment. Some well-placed parking facilities wouldn’t hurt (the Pennington Street Garage and its 750 spaces will be open in one year); design of a more people-friendly streetscape on Congress is in the works this year; and the long-awaited Downtown Destination signage program will be installed this year, helping motorists and pedestrians find their . . . well, Downtown destinations. I mean it this time, the signs are coming.
The table is being set. But we need to be ready to welcome new guests.
We must be ready with a plan for pulling businesses in to this more hospitable, welcoming environment.
Downtown retail tends to fall into two categories: those stores and restaurants that serve a local market—primarily daytime employees—and those that attract local and out-of-town visitors. While we need more businesses that can serve a growing residential base and serve Downtown’s 15,000 or so daily employees, Downtown revitalization as most of us think of it means the growth of businesses that bring in visitors who live in Tucson as well as travelers. We must break out of our “market box” and serve a regional market, not just a local trade area.
Other downtowns and old shopping districts have been successful by identifying and developing specialty retail niches. Home furnishings, antiques, apparel, arts and crafts, galleries: these are but a few of the types of niches that have been established in other cities. Tucson’s Lost Barrio has established a niche for itself as a cluster of warehouse stores with imported furniture, home accessories and crafts.
Like most older retail districts, Downtown Tucson needs to reinvent itself. The old department stores are never coming back. Downtown will never be the primary shopping destination for a majority of Tucson’s residents, but it can be successful as a boutique area that generates specialized shopping trips. We have the building blocks of established niches in art galleries (distributed throughout the area, but mainly in the Congress Street District), arts and crafts (concentrated in the Presidio District, with Old Town Artisans at ground zero), specialty apparel (Hydra Leather and More, Wig O Rama, the new Deonogies and Graph X Apparel, etc.), restaurants, and nightclubs. We can build around, and expand upon these existing niches. A more difficult order would be to create a niche from scratch in a category that is currently unrepresented. We also have small shops that have potential to be destinations, but by themselves lack the quantity or selection of offerings to really attract from a larger trade area (or the resources to do significant marketing) and would benefit by being part of a district of businesses that can draw a similar demographic.
Experts argue that for a niche to take hold, you need at least 7-10 shops within a merchandise category, of which a few need to be significantly successful and serve as anchors. In order to establish some “retail gravity” and reach critical mass, these shops need to be in relatively close proximity. If they are widely scattered, the niche effect is dissipated.
It stands to reason that we should diversify our assets as we develop them; a district needs multiple successful niches (perhaps concentrated in their own sub-districts) in order to emerge as a shopping district. You wouldn’t want to be dependent on one niche, and then see that niche fall prey to some external market forces (say, consumer habits changed with respect to the type of merchandise in a particular niche, such as on-line purchasing).
So there needs to be some planning, decision-making, and commitment. There needs to be recruitment of businesses that can be successful in the context of Downtown and within a specified niche. There needs to be a program of business retention to keep the existing businesses here and make them more successful. There needs to be a campaign of marketing and public relations to develop the image of such a district and introduce the area to new consumers.
The Tucson Downtown Alliance Business Attraction & Retention Committee is addressing these issues, and working towards the implementation of a niche strategy for Downtown retail revitalization. I just wanted to keep you posted.
Donovan Durband
Executive Director, Tucson Downtown Alliance
