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Consultant pleased with King Street progress
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
An urban retail consultant who in 2003 presented the city of Charleston with a 10-year plan to improve its central business district recently returned to check on the city’s progress.
He liked what he saw.
Cleaner sidewalks, less graffiti, well-lit parking garages and blocks of new streetscape were positive signs for Robert Gibbs, a specialist in the urban retail component
and president of Gibbs Planning Group of Birmingham, Mich.
Gibbs conducted a market study for the city and a strategy designed to help retailers improve sales. Gibbes said that in less than five years, 70% to 80% of his plan has been implemented.
“At the time I was there five years ago, the maintenance of the sidewalks and the alleys wasn’t all it could have been and the city embraced very effective measures to clean up the sidewalks,” Gibbs said. “The graffiti has all been removed, the street signs have all been improved and everything is much cleaner than it was five years ago.”
Gibbs now ranks Charleston’s central business district among some of the most high-profile shopping districts in the nation, including Beverly Hills, Calif., Naples, Fla., and West Palm Beach, Fla.
“It’s easily among the top five in the country,” Gibbs said of the downtown area. “It was just sort of average before, and now it’s much better.”
One of the primary issues Gibbs had with the area initially was that the downtown needed more retail anchors, he said.
Gibbs mentioned the opening of Joseph A. Banks, Brooks Brothers, Pottery Barn, Waterworks and a Ralph Lauren Polo store as examples that the city can successfully attract strong national retailers.
“It’s unheard of for Brooks Brothers to open a store in a city center, because they get really great offers from malls,” Gibbs said. “I think it’s a real credit to the downtown.”
At the same time, Gibbs said his plan recommends that the city retain the type of retailers that make it unique, such as antiques shops and galleries on King Street and in the French Quarter.
“We were concerned that with higher rents and pressures on space that the antiques district may disperse,” Gibbs said. “Some antiques dealers have gone, but I think most antiques dealers have stayed there and that’s been a real success for the city.”
Some King Street merchants are complaining that a tug-of-war has developed between locally owned stores and national chains, raising rents along Charleston’s bluestone sidewalks.
“We are being pushed out by higher rents and so forth,” said Lowell Epstein, owner of Affordables, a ladies specialty clothing retailer at 305 King St. “I’m determined as long as it’s profitable we’ll stay, but it’s not getting any easier.”
Affordables also has locations in South Windermere, Mount Pleasant and Pawleys Island. Epstein said his rent in the suburbs is at least 30% less than on King Street, where his lease has gone up 50% in the past five years.
Merchants who own their buildings are having better luck downtown.
“That’s my ace in the hole,” said Jerrie Brittain, who recently retired and leased the space of her former fine china shop, Brittain’s, to another King Street merchant, Vieuxtemps.
Brittain had operated her store on King Street since 1979.
“If I went into it today from scratch, it would be difficult to manage the rent,” Brittain said. “The rents are astronomical and I’m the first to tell you that.”
Last year, two longstanding King Street restaurants, Bakers Café and Bookstore Café, moved to the suburbs. Owned by members of the Clarke family, Bookstore Café is now called Charleston’s Café and is located in Mount Pleasant’s Anna Knapp Plaza. Bakers Café has moved to Daniel Island.
“You don’t have the foot traffic here, there’s no doubt about it, but the rent is half and this area is so up-and-coming,” said Kimberly Clarke, owner of Baker’s Café. “The rent was too high on King Street. If you don’t own the building, you’re out of luck because these national chains come in and can pay these higher rents.”
Sermet Aslan, who opened Sermet’s Corner on King Street after first establishing the restaurant in West Ashley, said his rent began to rise after national chains located nearby.
“It’s difficult for me to stay in business and still serve under-$20 entrees,” Aslan said.
Gibbs said rents are going to go up in a revitalized shopping district, but sales theoretically should rise along with them.
“Rents should be about 8 percent of the gross sales of a store,” he said. “Some of the independent retailers are not keeping evening hours, which is hurting their sales. We found that 70 percent of the shoppers in Charleston shop after 5:30 (p.m.) and on Sundays. If you have independent retailers that are struggling, we would recommend they extend their hours.”
Gibbs admitted that staying open later might be harder for independent retailers than for national chains because of the need for extra employees and managers.
“It’s a very complicated issue, but we feel that in Charleston overall, the national chains should be limited to about one-third of the business,” Gibbs said. “The second third should be local, one-of-a-kind stores and the balance should be regional.”
Sharon Brennan, the city’s director of economic development, said 85% of stores on King Street are locally owned. King Street is the heart of the city’s central business district, which extends east to Meeting Street, west to St. Phillip Street, south to Broad Street and north to Line Street.
“We want to be sure to maintain a healthy mix of national vs. local and regional businesses and we want to be sure to have businesses on the street that appeal to not only the tourists but the residential base that we have here,” Brennan said.
Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., said the shops in the central business district are overwhelmingly local but that the presence of national retailers is also good for the city’s main streets.
“The goal of a main street is to have people shopping there and national retailers attract customers as do local retailers,” Riley said. “We think the mix is very healthy.”
Trisha Gustafson, an employee at Croghan’s Jewel Box at 308 King St., said national chains have always come and gone on King Street.
“When I was in high school we had (J.C.) Penney and Sears and Woolworth,” Gustafson said. “It’s changed with new, different stores, but we’ve always had chains on King Street.”
Gibbs likes what he sees on upper King Street, which he feels has been emerging into a distinctive neighborhood geared to locals. The city recently completed a streetscape project which improved parking, landscaping, sidewalks and other elements of the area from Calhoun Street north to Carolina Street.
“We were hoping the city could continue the streetscape of upper King,” Gibbs said. “At the time of our survey, we felt that upper King was emerging as South Carolina’s Soho district, with a collection of one-of-a-kind restaurants and home design stores that mostly appeal to residents of the region.
“We felt the residents were getting a little squeezed out of the historic district because of all the tourists, and it was important to provide a place where the locals could fairly easily get a table at a restaurant and park. We also did not want it to become overly gentrified.”
Some of the things that remain for the city to accomplish, Gibbs said, are improvements in trash handling and the visibility of retailers in the old City Market.
Currently, much of the city’s trash must be set out on the sidewalks, he said, as there are few alleys or cavities for storing trash. In the City Market, ease of shopping and vitality are lacking, he said.
“Right now, it’s hard to approach,” Gibbs said. “It’s inwardly oriented and the retailers have no exposure. As you’re walking by, you can’t see the shops.”
Finally, the city needs to attract at least one major department store, Gibbs said. He believes such retailers already have their eyes on Charleston.
“Your demographics strongly support another two or three department store chains in another two years,” Gibbs said. “Having a full fashion department store would probably increase sales 15 to 20 percent across the board downtown. In some cities, I’ve seen it increase sales 30 percent.”
Gibbs’ study revealed that Charleston has a large retail trade district of more than 400 miles, drawing regular visitors from as far away as Jacksonville, Fla., and Cincinnati, Ohio.
“People are driving from Cincinnati and going past 30 or 40 shopping centers to come to Charleston because of your history and antiques district,” Gibbs said. “The good news is, the market potential is there to support the higher rents, which is better than most cities. Most cities have lost their market potential.”
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