As for Myklebust's, it may be that there is not a big enough market here for
the kind of clothing they sell. Eddie Bauer or the Gap might be good
choices. But it also seems to me that Moscow has a lot of creative people
and we might do better to have a downtown with more local crafts and arts.
It seems NW Showcase and Inner Vision are doing well. When people come to
Moscow for Mom's Weekend or Jazz Festival or Rendezvous, wouldn't it be nice
to have a downtown where there are antiques, local arts and crafts, etc?
Lois
At 08:31 AM 3/4/96 PST, Kenton wrote:
>Some of you may have seen signs over the weekend or received an advertising
>letter that Myklebust's clothing store is closing. Coming on the heels of
>Jackle Jewelry's closing after Christmas, this will leave two big gaps in
>the retail fabric of downtown Moscow.
>Are these developments inevitable, given the trend toward concentration of
>retail in malls, or could we have done anything to help these two businesses
>stay downtown? And who is doing recruitment for businesses to replace
>them? The Moscow Downtown Association is practically defunct, the Chamber
>of Commerce doesn't seem to see this as part of its mission, and the
>EDC seems focused on creating a business park.
>A strong, healthy downtown shows up repeatedly in surveys and discussions
>of what people like about Moscow, yet collectively we don't seem to be
>doing anything to protect and enhance that asset.
>Joel posted an article several weeks ago about national chains that are
>seeking downtown locations... What are the chances of luring someone
>like Eddie Bauer or the Gap to downtown Moscow as an "anchor tenant"?
>I'd like to hear reactions from other subscribers to this list.
>Kenton
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