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Rumors abound, but no firm retail plans for Canal Street
http://neworleanscitybusiness.com/bl...-canal-street/
Someone recently floated a rumor that popular retailer H&M was interested in opening a location on Canal Street, sparking excitement among local shoppers. The Swedish company, known for its trendy but affordable clothing, operates nearly 2,200 stores in 40 countries. Retail experts said the arrival of a store like H&M would bring immediate attention to the ...
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Rumors abound, but no firm retail plans for Canal Street
Challenges for the corridor include contiguous properties with different owners, locked into a variety of leases
POSTED: 11:34 AM Tuesday, May 17, 2011
BY: Richard A. Webster, Staff Writer
TAGS: Downtown Development District, downtown shopping, H&M, Hammy Halum, Kurt Weigle, New Orleans Canal Street, Nicole Christie, Paul Hensel, Shelly Wills, University of New Orleans College of Business
Developers and city officials say contiguous properties with different owners presents a challenge to recruiting retailers to Canal Street. (Photo by Frank Aymami)
Someone recently floated a rumor that popular retailer H&M was interested in opening a location on Canal Street, sparking excitement among local shoppers.
The Swedish company, known for its trendy but affordable clothing, operates nearly 2,200 stores in 40 countries. Retail experts said the arrival of a store like H&M would bring immediate attention to the long-troubled downtown retail corridor and spark an economic resurgence.
There’s only one problem: H&M spokesperson Nicole Christie said they do “not have current plans to open a location in New Orleans.”
Of course, that doesn’t mean the rumor isn’t true or that the possibility is dead. National retailers are notoriously secretive when it comes to the release of information, said Shelly Wills, president of Shelly Wills and Associates, a retail consulting group contracted with the local Downtown Development District.
“They don’t want to be quoted that they’re interested,” Wills said. “They want to be quoted after they make the legal commitment and they’re ready to start marketing that they’re coming.”
In the past 15 months, nearly 20 national retailers have toured New Orleans. When asked if H&M was one of them, Wills said, “Please don’t put me under the microscope. What I can say is that we have five deals in place with significant brands (for Canal Street).”
Kurt Weigle, DDD president and CEO, responded to questions about H&M in equally cloudy terms.
“I’m not at liberty to talk about prospects in terms of retail,” he said, “but I can say we would be happy to welcome H&M to Canal Street and we’d do whatever we could to attract them here.”
The future of retail on Canal Street depends on a national brand like H&M taking that first leap of faith, said Paul Hensel, associate dean and professor of marketing at the University of New Orleans College of Business Administration. Once one major chain takes a risk, others will follow, creating a mass of customer traffic.
That’s Canal Street’s problem, he said. No one has been willing to be the pioneer and commit to a street that fell into decline two decades ago and is now lined with liquor stores and T-shirt shops with limited parking.
“A major retailer doesn’t want to move in somewhere with knockoff camera stores on either side. And you can’t
solve that problem until you really clean house down there, which isn’t going to happen,” Hensel said. “So I don’t see H&M going in without some other stuff there as well.
The decline of Canal Street took forever and it will take awhile to get it back, he said.
“I’ve heard Canal Street has coming back for 20 years, and I don’t see a lot of coming back,” Hensel said.
The tides are changing, said Weigle, who expects to make a major announcement within the year regarding national brands coming to Canal Street. Retailers have shied away from aggressive expansion throughout the country but are bullish on New Orleans, he said.
“They recognize central cities and downtowns are their next growth frontiers,” he said. “And out of all those opportunities across the U.S., I think New Orleans, because of the strength of our economy over last three years, puts us at the top of the list.”
In 60 days, Hammy Halum expects to make an announcement proving Weigle’s point. A national retailer signed a letter of intent to lease the upper and lower floors of four buildings Halum owns in the 1000 block of Canal Street.
“It’s very hush hush and confidential, but as soon as I have a signed lease I’m going to let the entire world know,” said Halum, adding that he worked with the DDD on the deal. “What Canal Street has become isn’t very inviting, but I’m excited about the future with the new hospital coming, the Bioinnovation Center and the Saenger Theater.”
It is rare for one person to own four contiguous buildings on Canal Street, making Halum’s deal unique and easier to work than most. Unlike a suburban shopping mall where one landlord owns everything, it’s a struggle in an urban environment to get neighboring property owners to agree on anything, much less a joint lease with a national retailer.
The DDD is working closely with landlords along Canal Street to identify when the leases of their current tenants expire, and the agency is preparing them to negotiate with national brands and cooperate with each other to get the best deal.
People, however, need to temper their expectations, Wills said, as it’s not the DDD’s desire to turn Canal Street into an upscale shopping corridor.
“I don’t care what brand is. We’ll take inexpensive clothing or home accessories and the luxury ones as well,” he said. “Today’s world is not about chichi Rodeo Drive. It’s about the Saks Fifth Avenue customer shopping for the value-oriented merchandise as well. We’re not going after luxury or upscale. We’re going with what people want.”
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