How is the Grove Arcade faring in this economy?

9 Comments

1. 

   Drifter January 25, 2009

   The worst thing to happen would be the placing of a soulless chain store in the Arcade. Things willl pick up when the economy does.

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2. 

   Seriously January 24, 2009

   Hey, if you want an "Apple Store" or a "CheeseCake Factory" go to the Asheville Mall and lobby for that "chain" junk somewhere else, NOT the Grove Arcade. It won’t help business, all it will do is puke on the uniqueness and special allure of the Grove Arcade, which is the architecture, history and form. I would rather see it boarded up and silent before sold out to the masses. It’s a classy joint that makes Asheville special in its own way and its too bad nothing original can be done to help it.

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3. 

   greenashevilleblogspot.com January 23, 2009

   They ran off the best business in the Arcade – Ali Baba. I used to go there once a week and get food and walk around and shop at the other businesses. I don’t have any reason to go there now and haven’t been there in months!

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4. 

   Connoiseur January 23, 2009

   @Entrepreneur re: slow service – You have clearly never tried to eat lunch or dinner at Westville Pub. 🙂

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5. 

   Jenny Graves January 22, 2009

   Let’s face it, the Grove Arcade is facing hard times. Since the grand redevelopment about 5 years ago, this place has seen businesses come and go with alarming frequency. It is a definite "tourist trap" and is quite unremarkable in terms of the quality and uniqueness of many of the stores. I think a "destination" type restaurant like the Cheesecake Factory may be the only real hope for bringing in greater numbers of customers (locals and visitors alike). Parking is not the real issue here, it is the fact that the Arcade is just not all that unique or special. Wouldn’t it also be cool to have an Apple Store in the Arcade? That is just a pipe dream as Asheville is just way too small to support one.

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6. 

   Entrepreneur January 22, 2009

   Tourism might be down but you can not base your entire business model on one group of people and expect to make rent every month. Things change and a true entrepreneur needs to be ready for it or he/she will fail.

   The Grove Arcade while seemingly a good idea has yet to bring in a large scale franchise to generate traffic. Lets say the Cheese Cake Factory was to move in. People drive to a Cheese Cake Factory know matter where it is. The Grove Arcade would have a waiting list of tenants a mile long and they could justify a rent increase. Note: there are other large chains other then the Cheese Cake Factory that would be a great but you get the picture. Also, Carmel’s does not count because it has the slowest service in all of Asheville during lunch or dinner.

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7. 

   Mike Perazzetti January 22, 2009

   While most of those shops have some pretty nice merchandise, and i wish all of them could stay in business, the whole Grove Arcade idea seems to be a stop for tourists and tourism must be down. Would this be a fair assessment?

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8. 

   Dude January 22, 2009

   I am sure the tenants will blame it on the parking and not the crappy location and poor business plan that they have.

   Just to let you know I always go to the Grove Arcade to find parking because there is always empty spots around the building.

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9. 

   Anon January 22, 2009

   The Arts and Heritage Gallery closed, as well as the corner jewelry shop. The Jazzy Giraffe has a sign up saying they are expanding.

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