THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 15, 1996 TAG: 9604130235
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: Ted Evanoff
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Where the hungry bank teller on lunch break sees vacant storefronts, Kym Halstead sees opportunity. Sell the teller a taco, shoes, stockings. Make the experience free of stress and high prices. And make it fast.
Halstead, a leasing agent for the real estate firm Robinson Sigma of Norfolk, presides over the empty expanse of Selden Arcade, a Norfolk landmark built downtown in 1931.
Selden is to Tidewater's nine regional malls what the Elizabeth River ferry is to the aircraft carriers at Sewells Point: Quaint. Insignificant. The arcade runs a single block, a wide hall lined by big windows and doors giving way to small stores.
Built a generation before Pembroke Mall opened in 1965 as Tidewater's first suburban mall, the arcade tells something of the changes under way in the nation's retail trade.
America is awash in stores. Pembroke Mall dates to when the United States had 4 square feet of retail space for every person. Today's national average is 19 square feet per person. Hampton Roads soon will surpass the average.
Tidewater's retail shops, stores and restaurants cover 29.96 million square feet, estimates retail expert Sharon Ryals-Taylor of the real estate firm Goodman Segar Hogan Hoffler of Norfolk.
By year's end, another 3 million square feet of retail will be built, she said. That'll put Tidewater at almost 21 square feet per person.
Windows are vacant in the Selden Arcade. At least six merchants have left. Halstead takes this in stride.
Last April, Robinson Sigma succeeded Goodman Segar as arcade manager after Tidewater investors sold the building to an Iowa financial company.
Halstead knows the arcade - all 46,000-square feet of it, including 12,200 square feet upstairs occupied mainly by the Virginia Club - must compete with the regional centers, which offer convenient shopping in a single place.
The largest is Lynnhaven Mall with 1.3 million square feet under roof in Virginia Beach, followed by 1.2-million-square-foot Coliseum Mall in Hampton. Third largest would be a few blocks away, the planned 1.1-million-square-foot MacArthur Center in downtown Norfolk.
What's more, the arcade must confront the sheer proliferation of Tidewater merchants. About 7,500 retail shops, stores and restaurants are open in the metro area, compared to about 4,400 a decade ago, according to Virginia Employment Commission surveys.
With the retail sprawl has come shopper fatigue. Yankelovich Monitor found 36 percent of the people polled in a 1994 national consumer survey reported shopping less, compared to 27 percent in 1991.
``People want to run in, grab what they need, and run out,'' Halstead said. ``Back in the '80s, people had more time to shop. They don't have the time anymore.''
How'll the arcade survive? With a new mission.
The old mission: Service the 26,000 people who work within a mile of the arcade. The new mission: Blend old and new.
She said the arcade can still draw office workers, as well as the convention goers nearby in the Waterside Marriott.
Brighter lights recently were placed in the corridor, part of $20,000 worth of electrical system improvements. Flags went up. So did new paint.
The arcade cut retail lease rates to $11 a square foot from as high as $13.50.
Efforts are afoot to lure a few mid-priced apparel stores. Selden's new owner will help finance solid companies that want to enter the arcade with their second or third outlet.
But the mission has shifted. Apparel won't underpin the arcade. The new owners recently approved the new drawings. They're for a food court. Food is the key.
Serving office workers and convention goers lunch may seem unlikely for the old arcade.
The restaurant business is tough. Tidewater's volume of eating and drinking places soared 79 percent in the last decade to more than 2,200 establishments, although the civilian workforce increased only 23 percent.
It's especially tough downtown a few blocks from Waterside, an emporium packed with restaurants and its own food court.
But Halstead sounds confident. Arcade plans call for three or four new restaurants, including a cafe with computers available for on-line chats. ``Something like that would work well,'' she said.
Why the confidence? Tidewater Community College. It's 5,000-student downtown campus will open a few blocks from Selden.
``We're in a good location,'' she said. by CNB