Brooks Brothers Cleveland: Nobody's Talkin'....

[Lafont]

Trying to sort out what will happen here with Brooks Brothers situation in Greater Cleveland. Studying locations of BB's in other metro areas interesting but far from conclusive. For about 25 years we've had BB downtown; it is currently in magnificent former banking space in our main commercial hub - Tower City. They've given up boy's dept. and almost gave up women's - on balcony and I never see anyone shopping there. That BB now closed Sundays and has cut back in evening hrs., like many stores in that concourse. Other BB in Beachwood Place - in the burbs & our most upscale mall. Open regular mall hrs. & includes women's & boys depts. There are a few categories only one BB has, like shoes downtown (one time it was vice versa); generally similar merchandise. (We also have a BB factory store in outlet complex about 25 miles from conservative business dress.)

Now BB officially to open spring '10 in our most upscale strip/mall, Eton Chagrin Blvd. - in Woodmere and perhaps two miles from Beachwood Place (both in our main "high-end corridor").

What do you guys think will be scenario? Closing Beachwood so there will be only one BB in our suburbs? Closing Tower City because it's already open fewer hours and generally that vicinity already has few upscale shops left? Keep Tower City because there is so little tasteful, better quality menswear available in all of downtown? Close both downtown and Beachood so we have only one non-outlet BB in all Greater Cleveland? Eton will be a good-sized space but in a strip, near where North Face and Orvis just opened.
So based on other cities what do you envision BB doing with Greater Cleveland?

 

[binge]

They're fucked.

Sad to say, but I find it hard to imagine any sort of retail resurgence happening in downtown Cleveland. I was there in August for a wedding and was shocked at the decline of Tower City and surrounds. Sure I had read about it, but it was still very sobering to see it: street after street of empty storefronts. It was like the late 70s all over again.

The fact is, anyone with money to spend on medium-to-high-end retail lives out in the suburbs. So, that's where the stores go.

The BB store is the lone gem left remaining in the desert. The store is quite large, probably twice the size of the BB here in San Francisco, and I was impressed with their selection. Lots of Golden Fleece. I don't remember seeing much Black Fleece, but I may have missed it.

 

[Lafont]

I was in the downtown SF BB in 2003 and recall it roomy on several floors. Our downtown BB is particularly beautiful - due to what it was original built for.
I work and follow about everything downtown and can safely say it still has a lot going for it, including a whole new area of restaurants and nightlife, lhundreds of of new condos and apartements, the newer museums and stadiums, and the entirely rebuilt Euclid Corridor. However, upscale retail has continued to dwindle. So the question is how BB would interpret it - go with the flow or hold out with little competition. There are still thousands of executive types working downtown every weekday, besides all the new residents with disposable income.

 

[allreds]

The store and Tower City are beautiful, abandoned places where the ghetto rats run wild. Eton is beautiful, safe, has free parking, and is free of panhandlers and downtown traffic. People move through Tower City because they have to - it's where they work, eat lunch, or catch the rapid. They go to Eton because they want to.

The revitalization is a joke. $1mil+ condos in Tremont and Downtown are a joke, as is the new bus line, the flats, and all 6 or 7 restaurants in the warehouse district. Downtown to the theaters is 20 blocks of nothing, and the theaters to the museums/Little Italy/Coventry is 15 miles of desolation.

Money and business are on the east side or the far west (Crocker Park/Bay/Avon). That's where BB belongs.

 

[Dewey]

Are they still planning to opening a string of JAB-like "346" stores?

 

[Lafont]

Well, allreds, I sure don't agree with much of your summation of downtown Cleveland but I could see a BB doing fairly well around Crocker Park, if not Rocky River or Bay. Nevertheless, metropolitan areas the size of Greater Cleveland don't have three Brooks Brothers. I'm anxious to know where the shakeout will be, and go to all BB's here frequently and in other cities as well. BB does tend to be in fairly congested commercial districts, and in this case the most congested would be Crocker.

 

[ThinkDerm]

just send to lebron to ny and you can keep the brooks brothers downtown

 

[Lafont]

Yes, I'd far rather keep the Brooks Brothers.