The Death of Kaplan's-Ben Hur's in Houston

The blog Big Cities Big Boxes reports on the closing of a neighborhood department store in Houston. What makes it particularly interesting is that the owners of the store, Kaplan's-BenHur, produced a 10+ page document discussing the changes in the retail industry and how that impacted their store and their decision to close.

I do think they missed some key points. If you look at photos of the store on maps.a9.com it's clear that it is very much an automobile-oriented store, the walls on the street are blank--anti-pedestrian, and it sure looks like the surrounding commercial district needs a lot of help--they need a Main Street program.

They made the point that traditional stores are location dependent and discount stores are not. I think the real point is that certain store types and formats are pedestrian and district dependent, while big box and power center stores are dependent on automobile traffic and road and freeway connections, and they don't need to be surrounded necessarily by other stores in order to thrive.

The Galleria in Houston is the first mixed-use mall, one of the first that connected office buildings and a hotel to the complex, with a skating rink (in Texas!) and other entertainment attractions. How does the "Heights" commercial district in Houston compare to other destinations in the area?

Not all independent stores targeting middle-income consumers are closing.

Yesterday, Bon-Ton Department Stores just announced the acquisition of the midwest department store chains being sold by the old Proffitt's Company (now Saks Fifth Avenue). And I happen to believe (although I don't have $10 million to try it) that department stores can thrive in downtowns and larger neighborhood commercial districts that have larger retail trade areas (cities like Birmingham, Michigan had thriving department stores for 100 years even in the face of vicious competition from traditional shopping malls). In fact, downtowns with pedestrian traffic and department stores are made for each other.