"Major retailer" signs up for Market Street Project

[antipop]

Originally Posted by City Champ

is it a stereotype or do you think the BPS is going to be a mecca for the pseudo intellectual and culturally affluent?



Louisiana is the sportsman's paradise, not NOLA. NOLA is the Cultural/Cuisine/Music epicenter of the State/South.

I am not going to argue whether this is a good utilization of space because its a fruitless argument. If BPS throws out the money to make it happen, then it will happen. Hell, maybe it will start a trend of big box stores all over the area. If you think that is good for the long term preservation for NOLA, then I respectfully disagree. I do not want this store at that 100+ year old building and would much prefer a venue that hosts things much more culturally diverse and interesting.

eat your cake...

maybe a better idea would be to wait around for another 10, 15, or 20 years to see if something "better" will present itself

[St.Ryan]

This should be interesting. I haven't lived in New Orleans for almost 2 years now, but that area was pretty much desolate. The only time I crossed market street was to get to downtown via tchoup. Putting anything there would be a positive for the city and it should do fine with the uptown clientele being so close.

Some other thoughts:

Many north shorers will go to this bps, but I'd imagine a massive amount will go to denham springs for the simple fact that it's an easier drive. Driving on a stretch of empty highway is almost always preferable to driving where you have to cross a bridge which puts you on causeway, which you then have to merge onto the I-10, which you then have to figure out which is the best exit to take to get to the bps.

I don't know of any retail districts that anchor with a mostly male customer base. I wouldn't get my hopes up thinking this will revive that part of the city into a new 'valuable' piece of New Orleans. It's a good business, which therefore, makes it good for the city.

New Orleans has its quirks, but one of the less talked about quirks is that New Orleans is a city where public transportation blows .... and yet big retail chains are looked down upon. Usually places where everyone has to drive is accompanied by big retail chains(i.e. houston)

[City Champ]

Originally Posted by Brennan77

I wouldn't be so quick to judge whether the people that shop at BPS are intellectual or lacking in culture. My godfather, for example, is a huge fan of BPS. He's a successful guy who has a household income in six figures. No, he doesn't live in the city. But he's a season ticket holder who comes to NOLA for leisure. He's currently on his way to Mexico for bass fishing and he wins nearly every fishing tournament he enters. He owns an expensive bass boat and a nice truck to pull it. His garage is full of hunting and fishing gear. His oldest son just made a 32 on his ACT after travelling through Europe for choir. Does he and his family fit your 'bubba' ideal?

I grew up riding dirt bikes and fishing whenever I could. If I didn't live in the city, I would still do those things. I graduated from college, love good food, and sell fine wine for a living. I still love to fish though I don't keep up with the hobby. Am I bubba?

As for box stores, I wish we had a few of them in the city. I wouldn't mind a target on Claiborne, for example. I don't think BPS fits that description though, especially since they are remodelling an existing structure.

EDIT: In full disclosure, my siblings do in fact refer to me as 'bubba', being the oldest of the three.

There are always a few well dressed folks in Walmart and behaved Falcon fans. What is your point? I made a generalization and in order to defeat that generalization, you focused on specifics. Congrats.

Originally Posted by LogeEndZone

This is a link to an excel file from the state department of wildlife and fisheries:

http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/sites/d...h_combined.xls

If you look at column DT, you will see that Jefferson Parish leads the state in the number of fishing licenses sold. St. Tammany is #4, Orleans #15, etc. I would be willing to bet that Orleans number would be even higher if there were more retailers in the parish selling fishing licenses. I think that shows that a large portion of the population of the metro area parishes would disagree with you. I don't understand why Culture/Cuisine/Music and Fishing/Hunting have to be mutually exclusive.

Of course, that is where the majority of the State's population resides. Do it per capita if you wanna impress...

Originally Posted by antipop

maybe a better idea would be to wait around for another 10, 15, or 20 years to see if something "better" will present itself

The entire tract of land was not available for development until recently. It was the subject of a bitter fight between the city, USACE, and various River Authority entities.

This subject came up during a conversation last night, and someone in the know mentioned that there were other possibilities, all of which would have been a better fit and made money, but those entities did not offer as much as BPS. Take it for what it is worth.

At the end of the day, you are not going to get me to agree that this is a good idea. It will make money, and I suppose that's good, but those crappy T-shirt shops along Canal and throughout the Quarter make money too. I would much rather a development along the lines of Canal Place but with a walking mall feel and a state of the art Amphitheater and Cinema complex (and something akin to this was on the table, but the developer would have walked away with less money).

[livefromDC]

Originally Posted by City Champ

At the end of the day, you are not going to get me to agree that this is a good idea. It will make money, and I suppose that's good, but those crappy T-shirt shops along Canal and throughout the Quarter make money too. I would much rather a development along the lines of Canal Place but with a walking mall feel and a state of the art Amphitheater and Cinema complex (and something akin to this was on the table, but the developer would have walked away with less money).

Again, what incentive does a high end retailer have to redevelop a desolate part of New Orleans when New Orleans has no proven track record of being able to support more high end retail to begin with?

This is not New York and the LGD is not adjacent to any type of major retail that would suggest that anything would survive in that area. Like you said in your posts, there may have been other interested parties. I don't doubt that at all. But by your own admission, they weren't interest in making the type of investment that would make the project work. I'm guessing they wanted the city to assume more of the risk. HARDLY the type of thing New York City would have to do to fill land so close to Madison Ave., lol. You're confusing the idea that that land is commercially valuable with the fact that it is in an optimal location. The fact that it is a tract of land with a great location does not automatically make it appealing. It's a combination of factors that make land valuable not one thing alone.The fact of the matter is New Orleans does not have enough of a retail history to be appealing to larger businesses.

In a sense, New Orleans needs to build credit. This will help. New Orleans can be an appealing destination for larger retailers, but we have to start somewhere. And for heaven's sake, stop sending businesses and money to Metairie!

[City Champ]

Originally Posted by livefromDC

Again, what incentive does a high end retailer have to redevelop a desolate part of New Orleans when New Orleans has no proven track record of being able to support more high end retail to begin with?

This is not New York and the LGD is not adjacent to any type of major retail that would suggest that anything would survive in that area. Like you said in your posts, there may have been other interested parties. I don't doubt that at all. But by your own admission, they weren't interest in making the type of investment that would make the project work. I'm guessing they wanted the city to assume more of the risk. HARDLY the type of thing New York City would have to do to fill land so close to Madison Ave., lol. You're confusing the idea that that land is commercially valuable with the fact that it is in an optimal location. The fact that it is a tract of land with a great location does not automatically make it appealing. It's a combination of factors that make land valuable not one thing alone.The fact of the matter is New Orleans does not have enough of a retail history to be appealing to larger businesses.

In a sense, New Orleans needs to build credit. This will help. New Orleans can be an appealing destination for larger retailers, but we have to start somewhere. And for heaven's sake, stop sending businesses and money to Metairie!

there was something on the table, but they wanted to negotiate as a whole and the developer preferred to negotiate each thing as a separate entity so that they could make more money. There was something pretty cool on the table, something that was going to design itself like the old wonderwall (Use that design as inspiration).

At the end of the day, I hope this BPS shop spurs tons of businesses to pop up, businesses that are more in line with the city and are not big box crap. I will not go there, but I am sure weekend warriors and hunters from the city will, and tons of tourists will as well. I just hope the HDLC forbids them from hanging that ridiculous fish onto the beautiful building.

[MickelMouse87]

Originally Posted by Brennan77

I wouldn't be so quick to judge whether the people that shop at BPS are intellectual or lacking in culture. My godfather, for example, is a huge fan of BPS. He's a successful guy who has a household income in six figures. No, he doesn't live in the city. But he's a season ticket holder who comes to NOLA for leisure. He's currently on his way to Mexico for bass fishing and he wins nearly every fishing tournament he enters. He owns an expensive bass boat and a nice truck to pull it. His garage is full of hunting and fishing gear. His oldest son just made a 32 on his ACT after travelling through Europe for choir. Does he and his family fit your 'bubba' ideal?

I grew up riding dirt bikes and fishing whenever I could. If I didn't live in the city, I would still do those things. I graduated from college, love good food, and sell fine wine for a living. I still love to fish though I don't keep up with the hobby. Am I bubba?

As for box stores, I wish we had a few of them in the city. I wouldn't mind a target on Claiborne, for example. I don't think BPS fits that description though, especially since they are remodelling an existing structure.

EDIT: In full disclosure, my siblings do in fact refer to me as 'bubba', being the oldest of the three.

To support your argument. I'm in law school at Loyola, vote as an Independent, love the culture of NOLA, and plan on working in New Orleans, yet I love to hunt and fish. Yes City Champ, we do exist.

And Bass Pro is far from being a big box store. They are works of art. I'm very excited to see what they do with the historic building to work with. I expect a very New Orleans experience within the store. I'm jealous that our friend JohnnyRockets probably has seen mock-ups.

[City Champ]

Originally Posted by MickelMouse87

To support your argument. I'm in law school at Loyola, vote as an Independent, and plan on working in New Orleans, yet I love to hunt and fish. Yes City Champ, we do exist.

And Bass Pro is far from being a big box store. They are works of art. I'm very excited to see what they do with the historic building to work with. I expect a very New Orleans experience within the store. I'm jealous that our friend JohnnyRockets probably has seen mock-ups.

And do you consider yourself and Brennen to be the exception or the rule? BPS as a work of art is laughable...

[MickelMouse87]

Originally Posted by City Champ

And do you consider yourself and Brennen to be the exception or the rule? BPS as a work of art is laughable...

I'm beginning to wonder if you've ever seen one in real life. The level of detail and care put into nearly every square inch of a BPS is very much in the vein of a Disney attraction. Support beams are themed to look like trees, there are wood floors, the fish tanks are incredible, and there are nature sounds pumping through the speakers. This is a far cry from your local Academy.

I imagine that this location will surpass what has previously been done. Their designers must be having a field day with this property.

BTW, the Bass Masters Classic is coming to New Orleans this Spring. It's a big event, and it has been very popular here in the past. I could imagine some future BMC's bringing in tons of business and event opportunities for our NOLA BPS.

Edit: I recognize the fact that there are hardcore rednecks that give sportsmen a bad name and perpetuate a negative stereotype, but obviously, there are many of us who are the complete opposite. The hunting and fishing industry wouldn't survive without us.

[mb504]

We're talking about an abandoned former electrical plant with graffiti running up the smokestacks in a blighted area home to empty warehouses, a former housing project, and a Wal Mart. Oh, and it will take at least $100 million to put into reuse. Just how "cultural" or funky could any kind of project that costs that much money be?

This is the same mentality that sends all New Orleans residents to Jefferson to do any kind of retail shopping while the city can't come up with the sales tax revenue to pay police officers or fix streets.

[FLIPPY]

For all those who don't know....BPS doesn't just carry hunting and fishing equipment...they also carry a large stock of golf and tennis equipment along with a fine assortment of clothing and camping gear...They also carry high end bass and pleasure boats, that range in price from $8000 to $70,000.....

[MickelMouse87]

Originally Posted by FLIPPY

For all those who don't know....BPS doesn't just carry hunting and fishing equipment...they also carry a large stock of golf and tennis equipment along with a fine assortment of clothing and camping gear...They also carry high end bass and pleasure boats, that range in price from $8000 to $70,000.....

Really? I've never seen the golf or tennis stuff, but I've also never looked for it either.

[mb504]

Originally Posted by MickelMouse87

Really? I've never seen the golf or tennis stuff, but I've also never looked for it either.

Will the Uptown debutantes whose culture must be protected at all costs shop at the new BPS for tennis stuff? If so, will they go to the store themselves or will they send their servants (for fear of being publicly embarrassed)?

[FLIPPY]

Originally Posted by MickelMouse87

Really? I've never seen the golf or tennis stuff, but I've also never looked for it either.

I've never been to the one in Denham...but the BPS in Grapevine(Dallas) had a huge golf section with an indoor range so you could test clubs....

[Brennan77]

Originally Posted by City Champ

And do you consider yourself and Brennen to be the exception or the rule?

Absolutely not.

I think you have an entirely wrong idea, one that is borderline offensive.

[MickelMouse87]

Originally Posted by mb504

Will the Uptown debutantes whose culture must be protected at all costs shop at the new BPS for tennis stuff? If so, will they go to the store themselves or will they send their servants (for fear of being publicly embarrassed)?

Originally Posted by FLIPPY

I've never been to the one in Denham...but the BPS in Grapevine(Dallas) had a huge golf section with an indoor range so you could test clubs....

Ah, it may be on a store by store basis. They would be wise to implement this in the NOLA location. (Zurich Classic et al)

Originally Posted by Brennan77

Absolutely not.

I think you have an entirely wrong idea, one that is borderline offensive.

Agreed.

I hope this Bass Pro has the fly-tying area. That is a largely untapped market in SE Louisiana.