Fulton Mall Mallification' Inevitable?
Yesterday the Times had a loving portrait of the Fulton Mall, a chaotic throwback to the era before the sanitization and, yes, mallification of New York City’s retail districts. The article examines how the thoroughfare stays successful (it sees more than 100,000 shoppers each day) by catering to working-class minorities. Despite the fact that retail…
Yesterday the Times had a loving portrait of the Fulton Mall, a chaotic throwback to the era before the sanitization and, yes, mallification of New York City’s retail districts. The article examines how the thoroughfare stays successful (it sees more than 100,000 shoppers each day) by catering to working-class minorities. Despite the fact that retail rents at the Fulton Mall are extremely high, the commercial strip still boasts plenty of mom-and-pop shops and a dearth of big national retailers. That may not be case for much longer, according to Downtown Brooklyn Partnership prez Joseph Chan. With all the housing stock that we have now and the demographics in the communities that surround Downtown Brooklyn, the fact that there’s not a Bed Bath & Beyond, a Pottery Barn, a Pier 1 in the downtown of a city of 2.5 million people is odd, says Chan. He argues that more chain stores won’t necessarily mean the end of the Fulton Mall as we know it: Having greater retail diversity means having more choices. It doesn’t mean eliminating what’s there today. The reality is it’s never going to be all or nothing.
Step Right Up! Brooklyn Mall Is Oasis and Anomaly [NY Times]
Photo by johnkay1.
What “Tear-em Down” Chan doesn’t say is that all of those chain stores can (and to some extent do) exist in Atlantic Terrminal to serve the same population he is trying to attract to Fulton Mall. C’mon Joe! AT (sucky as it is) is three blocks away!
A fond portrait of Fulton Mall–didn’t see that one coming.
I especially liked the part about the hawker guys with rap sheets and multiple teardrop tattoos under their eyes (which, as the story notes, can symbolize a number of things on the street–none of them good.)
One of those things is having whacked somebody. Nice!
Thanks for shopping…
12:14’s spot on.
Fulton Mall, althought not everones cup of tea, is very successful. I think Fulton Mall should remain the way it is and those new not so authentic New York type stores can make a home on Livingston street – it would be a win win… Macy’s fronts both streets and Livingston street is ripe for the pickings.
To hell with the homogenization of things that are unique to New York.
Bring back the Albee Square Mall! I want downtown Brooklyn to be a squalid mess that no one wants to visit!
To the ghetto drivers: I hope this will curb your cruising instincts driving a crowded Fulton Mall in your crackie SUVs. Wait, stop violating the ‘No U-turn” sign please on Flatbush/Willoughby nr the garage where the cops turn a blind eye on.
So glad to see the parking garage come down. It’s all great news for DB. Can’t wait.
12:07, have you been to Europe recently?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUael5U23Ug
12:14, I agre. What the hell is Joe Chan’s problem? The mom-and-pop stores are making money and people like them. For years people have been lamenting the homogenization of the country with Bed Bath and Beyond. Yes it’s odd that there isn’t one already on Fulton Street, but it’s GOOD odd, not bad odd.
Chan is the same one who wants to build large unnecessary parking garages on Duffield Street and next to BAM, inviting thousands of people to drive the streets of Downtown Brooklyn. That should tell you all you need to know about his priorities.
“‘With all the housing stock that we have now and the demographics in the communities that surround Downtown Brooklyn, the fact that there’s not a Bed Bath & Beyond, a Pottery Barn, a Pier 1 in the downtown of a city of 2.5 million people is odd,’ says Chan.”
I think this is a pretty unfortunate thing to say and is teeming with not-so-implicit racism and classism. The three chain stores he mentions are actually pretty shitty, and anything that they sell can be purchased online via their websites. Why these three stores are considered progress, I can’t understand.