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« IFYI | Main | Hagan on SOPA »

Jan 13, 2012

Comments

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Fec

That location suffers from being adjacent to the primary entrance to the shopping center. Going for a cup of Joe often means taking your life in your hands. A more bucolic setting would be the ill-fated coffee shop on State, where there is plenty of parking.

Ken Hill

Businesses tend to go where they are appreciated. So do employees.

Billy Jones

You know the more I think about it, that part of town really needs a well stocked junk yard.

Brian

No, it's not good for the neighborhood. It may just very well join a host of other empty shopping centers across America that are the result of overbuilding of commercial space. One of the best future hopes for Golden Gate would be that it gets purchased and redeveloped as a mixed-use development that reduces the commercial footprint in favor of a residential mix of apts/townhouses/brownstones. In the meantime, we're probably seeing the beginning of the end for that shopping center as existing tenants increasingly find it hard to stay. How long can Staples hold out?

Sue

My Starbucks consumption has significantly decreased over the past 2 years. (Getting a Keurig is part of the reason.) I've always found the Golden Gate Starbucks busy when I have been there (which is rarely normal commuting times; mostly for meetings). It is a treacherous place to get in and out of (making a left just sucks) and it's a noisy, few-seated place so that meetings are more difficult. Starbucks at Quaker Village, even if its equally treacherous left turn thing, is busy all the time and has well-used outdoor tables. It helps being near a college and on Friendly, I guess (see "Trader Joe's"). I won't miss the GG Starbucks but it's a shame for that never-met-its-potential little shopping center with the horrid concrete monster across the street.

Sue

I hate mis-use of apostrophes. I wrote, "even if its" and meant "even with its" so as an old English teacher, I felt the need to defend my fingers from accusations :)

Billy Jones

As the economy continues to tank, the folks around Golden Gate are going to need a place to buy used auto parts and sell their junk.

And there is a company here in town that has learned it can buy commercial properties then tear down said properties at a profit before they hire our Mayor's company to sell the empty lot.

Ed Cone

Starbucks definitely has an unlovely and hard-to-reach location, but it didn't seem to want for business.

GG has issues in terms of aesthetics and ease of use. But it should be salvageable.

I liked the HT there for the same reason the company closed it -- because it was relatively small.

I shop at the Staples just to do my small part toward keeping it in business.

Triadwatch

For a big box to go into gg one of the main issues in delivery in back where there is no docks for trucks on a down hill slope . It was a nightmare for deliveries into Harris teeter at gg with no room in back of building.

bubba

"And there is a company here in town that has learned it can buy commercial properties then tear down said properties at a profit before they hire our Mayor's company to sell the empty lot."

Hence the NAI Piedmont Triad signs that proliferate at said locations.

Also, it's amazing how some new developments primed by the Mayor's company have empty spots like Golden Gate has. I've got one just down the street in my neighborhood.

Fec

There are not NAI Piedmont Triad signs at GG.

TW's point about the lack of a loading dock seems important.

Th "horrid concrete monster" across the street stays full with thriving businesses and terraced walkways providing access. The be hip or die crowd are welcome to shop at cutter cutter monstrosities like the Shoppes at Friendly.

For some reason, mixed use hasn't worked out so well in GSO. Many retail locations at the Village at North Elm have never been filled after nearly ten years.

Hugh

Had the Village at North Elm been built at Friendly 10+ years ago it would be thriving today.

North Elm Village is a high dollar project in a demographic transition zone between the 1% and the other 99. For the Lake Jeanette and New Irving Park debutante, blue hair and tennis crowds that is a bit too close for comfort in being exposed to undesirable elements.

Ed Cone

I'm guessing that social construct is almost entirely irrelevant to NEV's lack of success, Hugh, it certainly feels upscale and safe.

More likely culprits include a lack of anchor tenants, a crappy economy, and general oversupply of retail space.

Billy Jones

Most of the horrible concrete monster used to be a Lincoln-Mercury dealership.

And no one said there were NAI Piedmont Triad signs at GG.

michele

Hugh: "North Elm Village is a high dollar project in a demographic transition zone... that is a bit too close for comfort in being exposed to undesirable elements."

Ed: "...it certainly feels upscale and safe."

Stats say that it's in a high crime area.

MojoNixon

Turn it back into a 1st Home Federal branch.

Ed Cone

And reopen Good Time Charlie's behind it.

Fec

I spent part of the day putzing around the Wife's store, where this was a big topic among the customers. I'm going to get serious about the city underwriting the cost of new construction. A finger to the wind says the Friendly-Hobbs project is in for a lot of righteous opposition.

Sue

Fec wrote, "Th "horrid concrete monster" across the street stays full with thriving businesses and terraced walkways providing access."

I used to shop on State Street a lot. I liked parking and walking the street, nice shops. A few I really patronized. Then for a long few years, it was wanting in anything except nail salons. I'm glad it's coming back. But the concrete building from behind is uninviting and the stairs are pretty steep. Yes, I could walk to a ramp, but it's completely on the other side of the building. It's not an easy "just stop in" center.

I like Fec's wife's store. Glad she's found a great home and wish her the best - she's worked hard on making a small biz successful and deserves her success.

I'm having trouble figuring out why shopping centers closer to the N. Elm / Irving Park hoods are in such distress. Could be that the physically local aren't patronizing them but in the case of Golden Gate, there's a great Italian restaurant there and no other reason for me to go there. I've NEVER seen it busy at Staples (heck, not even at Wendover) - they shot themselves in the foot with great online service and free delivery for relatively small orders.

But that building behind State Street is daunting, unfriendly to the old or infirm or lazy, and you get rained on when walking the stairs.

Brian

"For some reason, mixed use hasn't worked out so well in GSO. Many retail locations at the Village at North Elm have never been filled after nearly ten years."

Mainly because the developers aren't doing it properly and picking bad locations. Mixed use, at its best is done as infill, as redevelopment - not as greenfield development or on the fringe. I think the small-scale mixed-use at Pisgah Church and Lawndale is hideous, but here they are getting ready to build the next phase.

Village at North Elm would be better if instead of the big boxes, they included more residential diversity and downscaled the size of the commercial. It'll be a long time before there is enough adjacent residential to that site to truly make it hum.

Fec

The evil Jewess is welcome to patronize those establishments so unfortunate as to deserve her.

When are you Richard Florida-enamized knuckleheads going to realize that America is not SoHo, gay Paris or Amsterdam?

We have a preternatural need for a bit of yard. Those who would be happy ensconced above a sad retail establishment do not comprehend the inevitability of the seasons, nor the ever-present call of the gardening merchandiser.

Indeed, those who would be happy in a condo have set themselves apart from the rest of us, the real Americans, who luxuriate in the possibility of Spring and are ultimately consigned to the inevitability of Fall.

Yes, I am drunk on gin and yet victualized with homemade Vietnamese Rolls and the love of a very good woman.

Fec

BTW, the Italian restaurant at Golden Gate is loathsome and only a complete culinary moron would mistake it as being otherwise.

Fec

However, while I am yet drunk and the ameliorating effects of the apple spice cake have yet to take effect, I wish to point out that though I may stoop to the more pedestrian pursuits of denigrating low hanging fruit like Guarino and Grenier, Greensboro's real problem lies with those whose only criticism is that bigotry and racism are presented in more puerile forms than considered palatable and of course, effectual.

Fec

Let us never assume that those who patronize the Country Clubs are any wiser than those who have no such ambitions.

Craftyboro

Bring back Silver Dollar Beach Club?

Ishmael

As much as I would like to see TJ move to Golden Gate, I believe it will never happen.
These types of stores like to "cluster" with similar stores who draw in customers who haven't exhausted their urge to shop at the other store. Being able to walk to the similar store is a plus.
I think they will keep pushing for the Hobbs/Friendly location.

David Wharton

Ed, what is your source for this? The employees at the Golden Gate Starbucks I talked to this morning had heard nothing about it, and looked stricken when I asked about it.

If it's true, how awful of the company to announce it publicly without telling the employees first!

Joe Killian

I also made that mistake yesterday, David.

I thought they'd know.

I felt kind of like a jerk, but I'm sure they felt worse.

Ed Cone

DW, I got a tip from a good source that the Golden Gate Starbucks was going to be closed, so I contacted corporate media relations and received this email:

Subject: RE: Greensboro Starbucks Closure Rumor
Date: Jan 13, 2012 6:34 PM

Hi Ed,

As a standard course of business, we continually evaluate our store portfolio, using various criteria to ensure we are meeting the needs of our customers. Our Starbucks store located at 2204 Golden Drive will close in late February. All Starbucks partners working at that store will be transferring to one of our other Greensboro locations. We look forward to continuing to serve the Greensboro community that we’re proud to have been a part of for over a decade.

Please let me know if you need anything else.

Best,

Dave

Starbucks Media Relations Team

Ed Cone

Fec, whatever your beef with Sue, or any specific argument you have with her comments here, introducing her as a "Jewess" makes you look like an anti-Semitic asshole and undercuts whatever points you were trying to make.

Also, I have no idea whether she's a member of a country club or not, but I can promise you that a lot of the people trying to save Golden Gate (and State Street) are, so that part doesn't even make sense.

David Wharton

Thanks, Ed. I had thought pretty well of Starbucks' corporate culture until now, but the fact that they didn't tell their employees about this before they told you really sucks.

Fec

If tarring me as an anti-Semitic asshole helps to stop Hobbs Marketplace and save GG, it shall have been worth it.

Account Deleted

I've written and deleted this comment five times, but Jeff I think Sue deserves a lot better than that and grace and dignity await an apology. That was an incredibly bad choice of words and I can't just pretend otherwise.

Ed Cone

Introducing ethnicity and/or religion into the thread as a way of demeaning another commenter does nothing to advance an argument over real estate development.

For that matter, I haven't seen Sue voice support for the development at Hobbs and Friendly, and her question about the lack of success of various retail centers on the GG side of town is well worth asking.

Fec

Very well, I apologize for referring to the enthnicity and/or religion of that despicable creature. However, anyone who fails to see the truth of my comments is not paying very close attention. And this is far from my last word on the subject. But I will confine my future comments to my infamous blog, where I am free to say what I please.

And for those who are not satisfied by these words, let it be known that I have always despised The Evil Dr. Polinsky and see no reason to change my mind.

Ed Cone

I haven't seen anyone begrudge you the right to opinions or personal likes and dislikes, Fec, just the use of religion/tribe as a slur.

Also, your dislike for the person in question seems to have led you to make assumptions about her positions on this issue that her actual comments don't bear out.

Fec

Whatever. But let's not ignore that your toes got stepped on, too. The country clubs will rightly be held accountable, whether you agree, like it or not.

Andrew Brod

The oddest thing about the "evil Jewess" remark was that Sue had just said she liked Fec's wife's store.

Maybe that was the evil part. Fec hates those who like his wife's store.

Fec

I realize we're just pretending to be journalists, but the next time one of your chums gives you a heads up, what say we ask if the help has been informed before we break the news? Really bad form, old chap.

Andrew Brod

Now you're assuming that the use of first names implies chums. Perhaps that used to be the case, but not now.

Ed, is "Dave" from Starbucks actually a friend of yours?

Fec

Dr. Bros, in her case that is the case. Try dealing with her sometime.

Andrew Brod

I know Sue pretty well. Not evil.

Andrew Brod

But then again, I'm Jewish too, so perhaps I'm evil as well.

Fec

Not that I'm aware.

Fec

But the next time you're sitting in her lap, ask her about the origins of Convergesouth.

Billy Jones

Ed wrote, "Fec, whatever your beef with Sue, or any specific argument you have with her comments here, introducing her as a "Jewess" makes you look like an anti-Semitic asshole and undercuts whatever points you were trying to make."

I can't vouch for Fec being anti-Semitic but somehow I don't believe his status as an asshole is in question.

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