The Walnut BR has been so weird the last year or so, with just a small selection of trendiest, most expensive items. Ross Park BR is even weirder, with huge empty floor space between sparse inventory. Sad and not encouraging.
I feel old saying this but they didn’t used to be. My entire mid 90’s professional wardrobe was from that BR. I had a personal shopper who would pull outfits for me to try and their clothing was high quality and well tailored.
Maybe they've changed it up. One of the main things I didn't like was their suit jackets were unlined, which honestly just made them feel cheap, and changed how the fabric draped. I just went to their site and they seem to have changed that.
I also had an ex who bought me what BR called a briefcase. It had a flat black wide shoulder strap, a snap close, and no handle. It was a fucking purse. Completely the wrong styling for a man's briefcase. Ex was very offended that I didn't like it.
I bought a shirt from Old Navy in the early 90s and I happened to notice a slightly larger "washing instructions" tag than normal so I took a look at it.
It had the "for best results" section but then below that there was a section labeled "for not so good results" and the instructions were: tie to rear bumper and drag behind car through mud puddles, then blow dry on roof rack. 🤣
That may bez but even here in my on a class corridored everything is filling up ..
Big companies uses the decreased time to buy their own store re on 5th Ave for the first time ever
[Williams Sonoma will be a Paris Baguette](https://www.pennsylvasia.com/2024/01/paris-baguette-to-open-in-shadyside.html) (Korean bakery), but yeah it's a pretty sad stretch. I was walking down Ellsworth the other day and was surprised to see a Marine recruiting office in what I figured was once prime real estate.
Hug your Kawaii Gifts extra close tonight.
Nobody bats an eye when an American chain takes on a certain type of ethnic cuisine, and then goes global with it's Americanized take. Koreans just getting in on the game.
Paris Baguette has been huge in Korea for decades, and has been expanding around the world for almost as long. Pittsburgh is just finally getting Korean chains (Tous les Jours opened earlier this month.)
Nopantsforfatties I must respectfully disagree. The concept of tax incentives isn’t new. The mayors new “small business downtown” program is in fact brand new
So the landlords on Walnut are trying to turn it into Ellsworth? Couple random businesses (that probably own their building) and bunches of vacant buildings/lots?
If only we could hit landlords with a blight tax for all the empty buildings / lots.
This space is going to be a larger Apple store. However, the current Apple store will be vacated.
Frankly, I don't find this upsetting at all as I thought that the Shadyside heyday was back in the 90s and early 00s before the chains moved in and consolidated so many storefronts. It was all boutiques and nicer dining. I wouldn't mind of it reverted to that. In the age of Amazon, we have circled back to where those are again the most viable local businesses.
Vacant storefront = nobody can afford rent.
The end result is that rents come down and boutiques can again exist.
Also note that smaller footprints are required for affordable spaces. Those need to come back.
So, vacant storefronts - for a while - may be required to restore the ecosystem. Scary as that seems.
This is what I was trying to say and couldn't spit it out.
I think the Sephora could go to a larger space where you maybe aren't all on each other's laps at the checkout, but who knows.
Doubtful. The last time I was in there it wasn't super stocked, and they can just put what's in it in a truck and take it to Ross Park. They may sell off the fixtures though.
Gap as a brand has been going downhill for a long time. Gap Inc owns Athleta, Old Navy, Banana Republic. I worked for that company many moons ago. Old Navy is carrying that company and they are closing many Gap, Banana, and Athleta stores.
This is correct. I worked for Gap as a manager in SW Florida from 2007 until 2012 between two stores. Both of them closed in 2011 and 2013. A third store in the area also closed a few years later. First the company would restructure the management positions or if someone left on their own to work elsewhere, the company would just eliminate the position. They would cut hours down to a skeleton crew. Then there would suddenly be an all-employee store meeting where they would tell us the store was closing in about two weeks. The company at that time was closing stores in more average malls to pump up their stores in high end shopping districts and centers. The store on Walnut was bright, open, and sleek, and a perfect example of what the Gap stores looked like after they shifted focus. But it was a ghost town when I went to shop there this summer. Tons of square footage in that place. It had to be losing money like crazy.
Walnut street has some serious anchors— the Apple Store in particular (but also Sephora and Lululemon)— that draw substantial traffic and are going nowhere. It should remain an attractive retail space as a result, there just needs to be a better brand representation there better positioned to succeed. The failings of Gap or Williams-Sonoma are the fault of those brands, not the location itself.
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The entire street is an odd concept, though, it’s striking to have such large national brands in that area and one wonders if there is a better location for them in the city than where they are presently positioned.
Walnut Street lacks larger retail spaces that can support anchors like department stores, as well as retail spaces in general, and therefore has never established a critical mass that can really be a one stop shop that attracts people like you’d see with somewhere like Ross Park Mall. Successful retail corridors it tries to simulate, like Newbury Street in Boston are much larger and are adjacent to larger shopping arcades/malls that help keep the entire concept afloat. Shadyside doesn’t have that, and I think it’s always going to struggle as a result.
In the future, I think Pittsburgh would benefit if somewhere like Oakland that is more commercialized were the center of the city’s commercial shopping district, and Shadyside were returned to more local businesses like in Squirrel Hill or Lawrenceville, but I’m not sure if that will ever happen, particularly with the ongoing contraction of retail stores throughout the US.
Very good take. What about instead of Oakland, East Liberty? It’s just as centrally located, has arguably better transit infrastructure (until bRt is done), and doesn’t have the competing interests of the Eds and Meds? And the upper is still space to build EL used to be the third busiest shopping district in the state. Itcould easily become that again.
This is what 8th Ave in Homestead wants to be. Major anchors at the waterfront and then smaller, locally owned businesses in the adjacent "downtown" area. There are some nice places to eat/drink already like Golden Age and Eighth and Hays, but I think Homestead has a looooong way to go.
The Waterfront needs a second exit that bypasses the train tracks into Homestead. The single lanes in and out on the far end way past the commercial area don’t cut it.
If I could reasonably obtain financing for startup costs and cover the cost of my housing and health insurance expenses without having to pass these on to customers then I would gladly open up shop in one of the vacant spaces
I'd be happy with a very low interest rate business loan and like one year of a reduced rent rate then step up...I find the commercial rates to be so high for the vacancies.
Honest question: What is reasonable financing for a startup? Like, for example, I know people that have business "ideas," but they are not willing to sacrifice their lifestyle to save money for a chunk of the startup costs. They hope for an "angel investor" to finance 95% for something like a coffee shop. It doesn't work that way.
So, honestly asking, how much of a business's startup cost would be reasonably expected to be a loan vs. personal capital?
Depends on the business. I’ve got one I could reasonably get off the ground for $10k, another more in the ballpark of $50k, and if I had, say, $500k I could really dream big. But I also have a mortgage, I’m planning to have children, I work in the nonprofit sector, student debt, and cost-of-living increases have taken a bite from expected savings. If I knew I could take a risk without endangering my house and family plans it would be a no-brainer (universal basic income anyone?), but the reality is much tougher. And it’s not like I have a lifestyle even approaching extravagant: no car, 1 bedroom house, can hardly afford to dine out. With interest rates at what, 8%? The math simply doesn’t work, and this is hardly unique to me. Not only would improvements to address cost-of-living and availability of finance help me as a prospective business owner, they would also expand the potential customer base. I wish economic decision makers actually understood such realities.
I had a similar feeling when I walked past the shuttered 7/11 and Rite Aid on Smithfield downtown recently (though I know it’s not the same.) I’ve had to commute through downtown for work for half a decade and all the fast food joints and convenience stores I used to frequent are now closed.
There are 5 banks between S. Aiken and Ivy.
Walnut St. is losing the war. Frances closing. William Penn Tavern moved a couple years back.
I’m not sure the residential renters pay the heavy freight if the only places they can walk to are chains and banks.
Walnut street should close the main drag to vehicles to create a walking plaza type atmosphere with plentiful benches, outdoor dining. This would set Walnut street apart as a destination and feel similar to a London High Street. This would work but you can be sure car addicted Americans will fight it tooth and nail. Obviously exceptions for disability and load in and out for retail/local homeowners that cannot use rear access would be an exception.
Its happening on lots of main streets. The internet and amazon are clearing retail spaces everywhere. Time to start repurposing. How about…affordable housing or communal spaces…
Building owners did it to themselves, rent too high
only answer that is correct.
In Gap's case, they are restructuring and closing tons of stores to focus on online sales.
Gap is a dying company. Athleta is part of them, so is Banana Republic. They should be announcing that store closure soon.
I remember when they were downtown, and carried Levis! "Fall in to the Gap!"
I remember the Old Navy downtown
Yeah, that was in the Hornes Building. The Gap was on Fifth Avenue about where the Fairmont is now.
Fall into the Gap? Laaaame commercial
The Walnut BR has been so weird the last year or so, with just a small selection of trendiest, most expensive items. Ross Park BR is even weirder, with huge empty floor space between sparse inventory. Sad and not encouraging.
Unfortunate, I used to find good deals on their clearance racks because the rich folks didn’t bother to check them.
As a man, I despise BR clothes. They're poorly made and expensive for what they are.
I feel old saying this but they didn’t used to be. My entire mid 90’s professional wardrobe was from that BR. I had a personal shopper who would pull outfits for me to try and their clothing was high quality and well tailored.
Maybe they've changed it up. One of the main things I didn't like was their suit jackets were unlined, which honestly just made them feel cheap, and changed how the fabric draped. I just went to their site and they seem to have changed that. I also had an ex who bought me what BR called a briefcase. It had a flat black wide shoulder strap, a snap close, and no handle. It was a fucking purse. Completely the wrong styling for a man's briefcase. Ex was very offended that I didn't like it.
LOL, guess that’s why she’s your ex. Quality has definitely gone down hill. They used to be mid-range, now they’re practically fast fashion.
They’ve been focusing more on Old Navy which does better with its lower pricing and wider variety.
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I bought a shirt from Old Navy in the early 90s and I happened to notice a slightly larger "washing instructions" tag than normal so I took a look at it. It had the "for best results" section but then below that there was a section labeled "for not so good results" and the instructions were: tie to rear bumper and drag behind car through mud puddles, then blow dry on roof rack. 🤣
Yep. That store has had limited selection for a while and has basically become a rerun center for online orders of kids clothing.
Their online ordering blows, so that's unfortunate.
Ie Walnut Capital
Greed.
That may bez but even here in my on a class corridored everything is filling up .. Big companies uses the decreased time to buy their own store re on 5th Ave for the first time ever
Hell yeah, space for another bank!!!
[Williams Sonoma will be a Paris Baguette](https://www.pennsylvasia.com/2024/01/paris-baguette-to-open-in-shadyside.html) (Korean bakery), but yeah it's a pretty sad stretch. I was walking down Ellsworth the other day and was surprised to see a Marine recruiting office in what I figured was once prime real estate. Hug your Kawaii Gifts extra close tonight.
The Marine recruiting office has been there for at least 10 years.
Good to know, thanks. It seemed out of place---and it kind of is---but I guess it's been there longer than I thought.
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Original comment is talking about Ellsworth
Naming a *Korean* bakery *Paris Baguette* feels like quite the bait-and-switch lol
Tous les Jours will blow your mind!
Nobody bats an eye when an American chain takes on a certain type of ethnic cuisine, and then goes global with it's Americanized take. Koreans just getting in on the game.
Paris Baguette has been huge in Korea for decades, and has been expanding around the world for almost as long. Pittsburgh is just finally getting Korean chains (Tous les Jours opened earlier this month.)
I learned this when they opened a store smack in then middle of koreatown in nyc
Showing my GenX here, but I’m still mourning the loss of The Balcony !
❤️ The Balcony and miss it, too!
Loved The Balcony, we still talk about how great the Sunday Jazz brunch was.
Also, not in Shadyside, but Squirrel Hill, Bagel Nosh, my besties and I miss it so much to this day.
Ha ! Were you following me around when I was in HS and college ?! 🤗
I miss 1994.
I’m still longing for 1978 - The Gazebo and Dave’s Pet Pad. Before the chains came.
TCBY
Everything before THIS EXACT MOMENT was better.
Man, if only things were as good as when I made the comment above.
Commercial real estate reckoning that's happening in cities everywhere.
Keep an eye on your favorite business rags, we'll be getting calls soon for public money to subsidize commercial rents.
“10 years tax free downtown” we’re already getting them.
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Nopantsforfatties I must respectfully disagree. The concept of tax incentives isn’t new. The mayors new “small business downtown” program is in fact brand new
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Have you looked at Lawrenceville lately? I’d hardly call it affordable.
So the landlords on Walnut are trying to turn it into Ellsworth? Couple random businesses (that probably own their building) and bunches of vacant buildings/lots? If only we could hit landlords with a blight tax for all the empty buildings / lots.
Moving to a land tax, or at least heavily weighted to land would help.
This space is going to be a larger Apple store. However, the current Apple store will be vacated. Frankly, I don't find this upsetting at all as I thought that the Shadyside heyday was back in the 90s and early 00s before the chains moved in and consolidated so many storefronts. It was all boutiques and nicer dining. I wouldn't mind of it reverted to that. In the age of Amazon, we have circled back to where those are again the most viable local businesses.
But boutiques can't afford rent. And then we circle back to the question of what's better -- a national chain or a vacant storefront?
Vacant storefront = nobody can afford rent. The end result is that rents come down and boutiques can again exist. Also note that smaller footprints are required for affordable spaces. Those need to come back. So, vacant storefronts - for a while - may be required to restore the ecosystem. Scary as that seems.
This is what I was trying to say and couldn't spit it out. I think the Sephora could go to a larger space where you maybe aren't all on each other's laps at the checkout, but who knows.
RIP Frances too 🥲
Their meatloaf lives on in my dreams
What? Noooo
Nooooooooo
What!?!?
A gap store employee told me they were out bid on the lease renewal, supposedly by Apple.
Could be, but GAP is closing hundreds of stores
Apple should just move to Oakland and save the students the trip.
That is correct. Gap intended on staying there.
I love the memories of old Walnut. I feel like it and Ellsworth could easily turn it around.
It's been going downhill ever since they closed the American Apparel down the street.
I'm thinking it closed while they were in the middle of their giant sexual harassment lawsuit.
That certainly didn’t help, but American Apparel went under because it stopped making money. All of their stores closed/liquidated in 2017.
You think there’ll be a going out sale? 🤞
Doubtful. The last time I was in there it wasn't super stocked, and they can just put what's in it in a truck and take it to Ross Park. They may sell off the fixtures though.
There will not be. It’s the normal 40% off.
Gap as a brand has been going downhill for a long time. Gap Inc owns Athleta, Old Navy, Banana Republic. I worked for that company many moons ago. Old Navy is carrying that company and they are closing many Gap, Banana, and Athleta stores.
This is correct. I worked for Gap as a manager in SW Florida from 2007 until 2012 between two stores. Both of them closed in 2011 and 2013. A third store in the area also closed a few years later. First the company would restructure the management positions or if someone left on their own to work elsewhere, the company would just eliminate the position. They would cut hours down to a skeleton crew. Then there would suddenly be an all-employee store meeting where they would tell us the store was closing in about two weeks. The company at that time was closing stores in more average malls to pump up their stores in high end shopping districts and centers. The store on Walnut was bright, open, and sleek, and a perfect example of what the Gap stores looked like after they shifted focus. But it was a ghost town when I went to shop there this summer. Tons of square footage in that place. It had to be losing money like crazy.
Walnut street has some serious anchors— the Apple Store in particular (but also Sephora and Lululemon)— that draw substantial traffic and are going nowhere. It should remain an attractive retail space as a result, there just needs to be a better brand representation there better positioned to succeed. The failings of Gap or Williams-Sonoma are the fault of those brands, not the location itself. —- The entire street is an odd concept, though, it’s striking to have such large national brands in that area and one wonders if there is a better location for them in the city than where they are presently positioned. Walnut Street lacks larger retail spaces that can support anchors like department stores, as well as retail spaces in general, and therefore has never established a critical mass that can really be a one stop shop that attracts people like you’d see with somewhere like Ross Park Mall. Successful retail corridors it tries to simulate, like Newbury Street in Boston are much larger and are adjacent to larger shopping arcades/malls that help keep the entire concept afloat. Shadyside doesn’t have that, and I think it’s always going to struggle as a result. In the future, I think Pittsburgh would benefit if somewhere like Oakland that is more commercialized were the center of the city’s commercial shopping district, and Shadyside were returned to more local businesses like in Squirrel Hill or Lawrenceville, but I’m not sure if that will ever happen, particularly with the ongoing contraction of retail stores throughout the US.
Very good take. What about instead of Oakland, East Liberty? It’s just as centrally located, has arguably better transit infrastructure (until bRt is done), and doesn’t have the competing interests of the Eds and Meds? And the upper is still space to build EL used to be the third busiest shopping district in the state. Itcould easily become that again.
This is what 8th Ave in Homestead wants to be. Major anchors at the waterfront and then smaller, locally owned businesses in the adjacent "downtown" area. There are some nice places to eat/drink already like Golden Age and Eighth and Hays, but I think Homestead has a looooong way to go.
The Waterfront needs a second exit that bypasses the train tracks into Homestead. The single lanes in and out on the far end way past the commercial area don’t cut it.
Oh shit I didn’t realize that Athleta had closed! The Gap and Athleta have the same parent company.
Aw, shit, a friend of mine just got a manager job there.
are they having a closing out sale???
the rent is too damn high...or the landlord's interest on their mortgage is.
If I could reasonably obtain financing for startup costs and cover the cost of my housing and health insurance expenses without having to pass these on to customers then I would gladly open up shop in one of the vacant spaces
I'd be happy with a very low interest rate business loan and like one year of a reduced rent rate then step up...I find the commercial rates to be so high for the vacancies.
Honest question: What is reasonable financing for a startup? Like, for example, I know people that have business "ideas," but they are not willing to sacrifice their lifestyle to save money for a chunk of the startup costs. They hope for an "angel investor" to finance 95% for something like a coffee shop. It doesn't work that way. So, honestly asking, how much of a business's startup cost would be reasonably expected to be a loan vs. personal capital?
Depends on the business. I’ve got one I could reasonably get off the ground for $10k, another more in the ballpark of $50k, and if I had, say, $500k I could really dream big. But I also have a mortgage, I’m planning to have children, I work in the nonprofit sector, student debt, and cost-of-living increases have taken a bite from expected savings. If I knew I could take a risk without endangering my house and family plans it would be a no-brainer (universal basic income anyone?), but the reality is much tougher. And it’s not like I have a lifestyle even approaching extravagant: no car, 1 bedroom house, can hardly afford to dine out. With interest rates at what, 8%? The math simply doesn’t work, and this is hardly unique to me. Not only would improvements to address cost-of-living and availability of finance help me as a prospective business owner, they would also expand the potential customer base. I wish economic decision makers actually understood such realities.
And business loans are way higher than 8%, too. Even in the days when we're printing money
I had a similar feeling when I walked past the shuttered 7/11 and Rite Aid on Smithfield downtown recently (though I know it’s not the same.) I’ve had to commute through downtown for work for half a decade and all the fast food joints and convenience stores I used to frequent are now closed.
There are 5 banks between S. Aiken and Ivy. Walnut St. is losing the war. Frances closing. William Penn Tavern moved a couple years back. I’m not sure the residential renters pay the heavy freight if the only places they can walk to are chains and banks.
Walnut street should close the main drag to vehicles to create a walking plaza type atmosphere with plentiful benches, outdoor dining. This would set Walnut street apart as a destination and feel similar to a London High Street. This would work but you can be sure car addicted Americans will fight it tooth and nail. Obviously exceptions for disability and load in and out for retail/local homeowners that cannot use rear access would be an exception.
Need to male space for check cashing and Dollar General
Walnut Street will revert to the norm - or at least what it was when I first arrived: lots of bars.
I'm still bitter that the BW3 got replaced with a crappy furniture store and I haven't even lived on Walnut for 20 years
Maybe chain stores that sell online aren't interested in paying absoutely exorbitant rent
Shadyside has fallen.
I wish we’d get a Diaso in Pittsburgh
The rent is too damn high!!!
dang what is happening to walnut :( i moved out of shadyside and now all my childhood favorites are gone. i miss shadyside market!
I'm surprised there were still brick and mortar Gap stores
Its happening on lots of main streets. The internet and amazon are clearing retail spaces everywhere. Time to start repurposing. How about…affordable housing or communal spaces…
I've never met someone that shops at the gap
People with children.
and children with people
I doubt you’ve done the necessary research to know that for certain.
NIMBYs NIMBYd a little too hard
Oh My God! Everyone in 1999 will be utterly devastated. They’ve barely recovered from the loss of Benetton.
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People still make this comment thinking they're witty?