Village Pointe Info?

scraper · Post by **scraper** » Thu May 06, 2004 9:49 am

Does anyone have any inside info on additional tenants for Village Pointe? They appear to be only about 1/2 full and open in 3 weeks. I've got to think there are a number of tenants lined up, but not announced.

SychoBC · Post by **SychoBC** » Thu May 06, 2004 11:07 am

They are pretty much all full, from what I've heard lately. Not really much they can keep secret now that all the signs are going up outside the actual stores.

scraper · Post by **scraper** » Thu May 06, 2004 12:15 pm

It was my understanding, based on what I've read, that there would be around 60 tenants. There are only about 30 announed. If they are full, I'm hugely disappointed at their retail tenants, outside of a couple. There is very little for the 25-35 age range, especially clothing.

LarryDavidSon · Post by **LarryDavidSon** » Thu May 06, 2004 8:54 pm

I agree with you...they did some very dubious things with the tenants at VP. Some of the stuff is bottom of the barrel (Pier 1, Cost Plus) mixed with some pretty impressive grabs (Z Gallerie, Kona Grill). It is a mess...

Are there any clothing stores? Talbots and Ann Taylor Loft...yipeee.

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Fri May 07, 2004 9:25 am

I guess these developments can't be all things to all people. Village Pointe is VERY nice... in its unique offerings of atmosphere/entertainment/dining alone. The lifestyle theme alone is entirely unique to the metro. That said... Scheel's is fantastic (just went there last night... it goes beyond sports and appeals to all audiences with unique gift/home decor/clothing items)... the stores being cited as bottom of the barrel remain in very high demand (they wouldn't be expanding otherwise)... and VP further contributes several offerings which are new to the state in general. I have no doubt, the tenants will change/evolve over time as well... no retail development opens and retains the same tenants over the long term... little One Pacific Place being a good example.

scraper · Post by **scraper** » Fri May 07, 2004 10:31 am

I agree that the concept is wonderful and they made it look very nice with the stone, brick and stucco. I am very excited about the restaurants going in there. I just happen to think they blew a great opportunity to bring in good retailers. Christopher and Banks, Coldwater Creek, and Draper's and Damon's all appear to be essentially the same type of store (clothing for the 35+ woman) while there is only 1 clothing store for men and 1 for women that actually has somewhat trendy clothes. Z Gallerie is a huge get, but other than that I am underimpressed. I think it would have been impressive to bring in some of the tenants that are going into the new mall in Des Moines (Coach is a great example). O, well, maybe those tenants will get here eventually. Ranting aside, I am very excited for Omaha to get this project.

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Fri May 07, 2004 10:48 am

We're talking about the drawing power of a 2 million square foot super regional mall in Jordan Creek versus a 600,000 sq ft lifestyle center.

Personally... if had to choose between one overly dominant retail mall with everything under the sun, which totally eliminates the appeal for the other metro area retail centers ... versus waiting longer to get a few more stores that appeal to a few niches... perhaps placed in still another moderately sized center in the metro... I'll take the latter. As we've established, Village Pointe contributes its own unique offering to the metro... the other retail centers continue to remain vibrant with their own unique offerings.

DMRyan · Post by **DMRyan** » Fri May 07, 2004 11:22 am

Maybe the area around VP will fill in with other nearby developments in time and bring in some additional retailers.

And I think some of you may be overreacting to Jordan Creek's impact on Des Moines. I could be wrong, but I'm willing to bet each of the 3 existing malls survives in some fashion into the next decade. No doubt Jordan Creek will have a huge impact on the retail scene and the appeal of such a large development will captivate the masses.
I do think some of the non-quirky neighborhood shopping centers/power centers will suffer by all this development, particularly in existing areas in West Des Moines.

Here's why I think the malls will survive:
-Not everyone has the disposable income to shop at some of the upscale stores at Jordan Creek.

-The entire eastside of Des Moines isn't served by a mall, so Southridge Mall will continue to be somewhat of a destination for these residents.

-If you saw my recent post on SSP regarding suburban development in DM, you might've seen that thousands upon thousands of new homes are planned for areas very near to Southridge Mall. I don't forsee a failing commercial area around the southern side of town anytime soon.

-Rubes from Wahoo, Southern Iowa will not want to fight the West Des Moines traffic for shopping, so many will still continue to shop at the Southridge RCC Western store.

-Valley West mall will remain a less crowded, but somewhat upscale alternative to Jordan Creek

-Valley West mall has pumped almost $18 million into renovations of the mall. Von Maur and Younkers have/will soon expand.

-Merle Hay Mall is the most vulnerable of the malls. They just got done making minor renovations, however they're losing Famous Barr as an anchor. Younkers is taking the Famous Barr location and will be demolishing their existing store. Merle Hay spokespeople have said they "have an unannouced tenant waiting to fill the spot", which I pesonally think is a bluff. However, I think Merle Hay remains 87% occupied at this point. They will have to continue to evolve if they wish to survive.

jimbo · Post by **jimbo** » Sun May 09, 2004 10:07 pm

While browsing the website for Village Pointe (http://www.villagepointeshopping.com) I noticed a store that is not listed at the RED site. It is a home decor shop called Kirkland's. While Kirkland's is standard mall fare in other parts of the country and wouldn't normally be a big deal, I think it's worth mentioning because it is yet another retailer that has chosen to open its first Nebraska location at VP.

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Mon May 10, 2004 10:52 am

Thanks for posting that... I wasn't even aware of the Village Pointe specific website address.

scraper · Post by **scraper** » Tue May 11, 2004 10:21 am

Are the rumors of California Pizza Kitchen and Mimi's Cafe now dead?

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Tue May 11, 2004 10:41 am

Never heard anything about those restaurants.

Personally, I'm getting tired of all the new restaurants... I don't think I could begin to get to them all in my lifetime (not with 3 kids and our rising healthcare costs at least)... they're practically opening weekly now... Camille's (with multiple locations to open throughout the metro)... Burger in Paradise is opening soon... I see the Colton's steak house is opening soon... Ted Turners place not far behind... I mean does anyone sit down to a family dinner any more?

StreetsOfOmaha · Post by **StreetsOfOmaha** » Tue May 11, 2004 12:04 pm

I think every metro probably gets to a point where the chain restaurants hit them really hard. I think Omaha's only beginning to see this as more and more national chains are beginning to take notice.

We're also seeing this with retailers, and hopefully that will REALLY begin to take off soon.

scraper · Post by **scraper** » Tue May 11, 2004 1:01 pm

I agree Streets. I have a friend from Denver and he says Omaha reminds him alot of Denver 10 years ago when all the big chains started coming to town.

Post by **Admin** » Wed May 12, 2004 11:19 pm

<sigh> Well... at least one Z Gallerie store manager seems to think that a Cheesecake Factory is coming to Omaha. Who knows.

scraper · Post by **scraper** » Thu May 13, 2004 10:50 am

Where did you get that info?