Ive been running this one in my head since it published on Saturday... you should be thankful I waited to post about it till now, the previous ones would have been angry and flame-worthy.
But here goes something...
Whose wish list is this? No public polls were done, no mention of anyone personally mentioning they would like to see "_____" come to Roanoke. I have my own wish list, but no one asked me about it.
This seems more like reasons NOT to open a business here, rather than reasons businesses should open here. And for the median household income in the Roanoke MSA to be $39,000 in 1999 - well, can we not get more recent figures than that? The Roanokegov.com website has the figures listed at Household Median for 1999 at $39,288 and the Family Median at $48,206 for the same period. And which MSA includes the Franklin County side of the Lake? Because that alone should cause the numbers to skew higher, and Roanoke recieves a large share of the Lake traffic coming into town for whatever they come into town for.
The 2003 adjusted per capita income level is $32, 107, with a lower cost of living than most of Virginia (with the exception of Lynchburg). Believe me, companies take C-O-L into account when determining wether to open a location.
So even if you look at the overall $32,000 as 100%, and the C-O-L comes in at 92.8% (bad math, but the point is made the same with good math) that still leaves 7.2% of the income as "free" in the sense that it is gravy. It can be saved, spent, or invested. And you might not personally see it, but with careful budgeting - you do actually have money to burn at the end of the month. That money to burn is the biggest lure any business can have.
If you spend 10% of your monthy salary on food - and 7% of that goes to groceries, then that leaves 3% open for dining options like eating out, take out, and the like. Might not seem like much, but it makes a huge difference when you have local businesses competing with national franchises for your dining dollar.
But examine the companies on the alleged "wish list": Nordstrom, Chili's, The Melting Pot, Panera Bread, Kohl's, Crate & Barrel, & Chico's. These are not businesses one would visit on a regular basis. With the exception of Kohl's, which is just another version of Target/Walmart, none of the above listed are going to consume a chunk of your retail dollar.
Nordstrom is a novelty, with clothes more expensive, but quality no different than you can get in existing stores here in Roanoke. And style-wise - no different either. Drop the grand illusion that its some sort of shopping mecca, its another department store.
Chili's would be a repeat of the franchise places we allready have, with a slightly different menu. Panera bread is being trumped by the Atlanta Bread Co. which is opening in the spring/summer of 06 over by the new Finks on 419. We will not need Panera, considering theres On the Rise, Wildflour, Heartland bread, and others in the area that are pre-existing and well recieved.
And as for the Melting Pot, I find it hard to believe that a fondue place can really exist as a single-concept restaurant. I will have to defer to Chef K on this one, but I can see maybe going once or twice in a lifetime to a Fondue Restaurant, but Im not that into the 70's or Fondue.
What Roanoke needs can be done locally, with little effort really. There is a company called Eatzi's, which is essentially a prepared gourmet food supermarket. From fresh baked goods to wines to entrees and sides - all under one roof and prepared by actual chefs daily. They opened one in NY close to my home, and it was nice enough - but in a market saturated with ready-to-go meal options, it had a hard time catching on. It was also in a less-than-desireable location traffic and parking-wise.
From what I understand, even though they closed the one in NY, the company itself is still thriving in other locations. That would be a interesting addition to Roanoke, something you could return to time and time again, wether for a whole meal - or just a loaf of bread and a bottle of wine. Oh, and dessert.
As for the development at Tanglewood and Valley View - there are no straight stories. Everyone I ask has a different version, and if you think back to last year - the fall I believe is when the rumor of Kohl's coming to Tanglewood began to surface. Now the rumor is TJ Maxx is moving down to the Brendle's end of Tanglewood to take over that end, merging itself onto just one floor. 6 months ago it was Kroger that was alleged to be taking over the former Brendle's and moving the entire store down to the other end of the mall. And with all this speculation about Valley View and Tanglewood - what about Crossroads and Towers - still plenty of land to work with, as well as the Williamson Road corridor. Something food-oriented, be it supermarket or similar will need to locate itself near downtown to serve the incoming familys who will be living there by years end.
Personally I have one wish to see here - a supermarket known as Pathmark. A company both my wife and I worked for at one time, where the current CEO is a woman who started as a Part-time bookkeeper. Not unlike Food Lion in some regards - but more midscale between Food Lion and Kroger. Possibly closer to Ukrop's, but that remains to be seen. Part of me would like an A&P (now known as Waldbaums) to return to the Roanoke area.
But thats the short list, I will wait before going into detail.
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