Bartering for business

Warehouse Furniture at 2775 N. Milwaukee Avenue is engaging in some creative retailing.  They will change/trade your gold for furniture, electronics or mattresses.

Re-investment and reasonable rents

More with Dulce Ramos

I have more to share of my interview with Dulce Ramos, owner of The Pump Room Boutique, a shoe store located on Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square from 2003 to 2007. I lost recording of a part of the interview, so Dulce’s words are interspersed below in my own recap and commentary on some of the things we talked about earlier this month.

Building conditions

In addition to outgrowing the space at the original location of the The Pump Room Boutique at 2727 N. Milwaukee Avenue (see An interview with Dulce Ramos), a pipe had burst in the building, warping and damaging the painted floor that had contributed to the unique feel of the store. The building owner was supposed to pay for repair of the floor, but never did. The floor was never repaired, the painting never restored, the feeling never regained. As bad luck would have it, not even a new location at 2630 N. Milwaukee Avenue cured water problems for the store.

Looking back: The Pump Room Boutique (Part I)

An interview with Dulce Ramos

Earlier this month I sat down with Dulce Ramos, owner of The Pump Room Boutique, a shoe store located on Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square from 2003 to 2007.

The Pump Room Boutique began in a small space at 2727 N. Milwaukee Avenue in late 2003. Two years later it moved to a larger space at 2630 N. Milwaukee Avenue, only to close down in early 2007. I thought it would be interesting looking back on Dulce’s experience with The Pump Room Boutique and Milwaukee Avenue.

Glueing places back together, connecting people with place (Part II)

Connecting people with place: Logan Square

Previously, in Glueing places back together (Part I), I wrote about my frustration with the lack of retail development in my Chicago neighborhood of Logan Square. The unwelcoming appearance of the prominent Milwaukee Avenue retail corridor north of Logan Square proper must discourage potential retailers from locating there.

Even if I can be the impetus behind small changes that alter the perception retailers may have of Milwaukee Avenue, there’s a Catch 22. What comes first: the people or the stores? In typical greenfield development, rooftops precede retail development. Logan Square, however, is a well-established dense urban community annexed to the City of Chicago in the late 19th century. The people are already here in the neighborhood, but not on the streets.

While Logan Square’s average household income is lower than that of neighborhoods to the east like Lincoln Park, it surprisingly (to me) exceeds that of the West Town community to the south, home of the Wicker Park neighborhood and its lively commercial district of stores and restaurants and bars. The Chicago Department of Planning and Development’s Retail Chicago* program calculates that Logan Square residents spend $192 million (2006? data) per year outside our community. How many retailers would $192 million support inside the community?

Retailers don’t often subscribe to the “Field of Dreams” approach: if you build it, they will come. So how do you bring people to Milwaukee Avenue when the shops aren’t enticing them? or when they’ve given up on the corridor and don’t stay tuned for changes?

Addressing those questions is the other part of why I started this blog.

While I don’t own property on Milwaukee Avenue, and I don’t own a business on Milwaukee Avenue, there are things that can be done to attract more people to the retail corridor, to connect people to this place. Similar things can be done to attract people to other places in other communities.

*Retail Chicago touts “one-stop shopping” for retail development. I encourage potential retailers to call for more information about Logan Square. Go ahead:  call them. Today.