Apr

Great Outdoor Provision Co. To Close in Falls Village

TBJ is reporting that the Great Outdoor Provision Co. will close its Falls Village operation. Apparently they and the center’s owner, Bell Properties (a top-notch REIT out of Greensboro), could not agree to terms on a new lease.

This is a curious situation. I assume that Steve Bell would never explain the real story to me if I asked, but it seems rather odd that a shopping center that has lost its grocery store anchor, its nice restaurant anchor, and a slew of small stores in the back would play hardball in this economy with a high-end tenant who claims that they wish to keep their store open.

Perhaps a partial demolition of the complex is in the works. The 35-year old center’s original section is designed like a hook and has terrible frontage for stores in the rear of the property as well as on the back side of GOPC (near Chick-Fil-a). Also next door is an apartment complex that is pushing 40 years old. All of this is in an affluent area, but the risk of seeing the area slide in the way that North Hills Drive has is very real with aging rental properties (anyone notice the rise in crime, dead bodies found, and graffiti near 440 and Glenwood Ave lately?). Perhaps a reorganization of the shopping center property as well as the adjacent apartment property would be a fantastic injection of new life for the North Ridge area.

MikeB

This is indeed troubling. The Fresh Market move, the O2 Fitness move, and the loss of Stonewood have turned the shopping center into a ghost town. I just fear losing my lunch staples: Chick-fil-A or Red Hot & Blue. We live right around the corner and used to have the super convenience of working out at O2, walking 3 shops down, then picking up groceries for dinner that night. The shopping center was exactly booming then either. You have to think that some of the small shops in Falls Village are eying the vacant properties in the Sutton Square development.
Thomas

This owner sounds like a typical backwoods Greensboro business person (he sounds clueless)! We do not go to this plaza anymore because of the lack of quality shops.
Kathleen

It will be easier to find parking when shopping at the few remaining tenants. Razing the apartments on Sandy Forks would also make a GREAT improvement. They are seedy and crime ridden. The old Fat Daddy’s has been razed and “nothing” looks better then what was there.
It is amazing that townhouses were built behind Chick-Fil-A with access through the shopping center….did anyone actually purchase one of these???
MikeB

The apartments are important to the area though. The large immigrant population in these low-rent apartments supply the restaurants and grocery stores with a dependable workforce and lots of walk-up business. I know half of the staff at the Fresh Market live in the nearby apartments and they are great employees (I shop there 5-6 days a week so I know them well).
JeffS

“Seedy and crime ridden”. What an ignorant remark.

This town is full of run-down shopping centers. It’s unfortunate, but the way things tend to go. I wonder if they go their money back out of the “back side” shops they built.

I have to wonder what the people who bought those condos were thinking. The center was already on the way down (businesses on the back side were leaving quickly) as they were being built.
http://www.danamccall.com Dana

“What an ignorant remark.”

You can explain this maturely or this flame will be deleted.
ken sly

The new facade is very recent (in retail standards) so I don’t see them doing much of anything.

I am seeing this “letting tenants walk” in too many locations. True — Capital City Chophouse (Falls Village) was a tad pricey, but you have to be when the mgt company is shaking you down for rent.
http://www.danamccall.com Dana

While the facade is recent, the land use is not. By tearing down the whole back left portion of the shopping center, the layout could be changed to a grid with new buildings featuring office or condos above. This would generate more revenue in the long run and would remove this property from being one of the many that is addicted to having a grocery store.

At this point there are only 3 names in grocers: Food Lion, HT, and high-end. They lost the high-end and won’t be getting HT, and certainly they don’t want to put in Food Lion.
MikeB

If they are dead set on a grocery store then they could go after the new Food Lion concept store, Bloom ( http://www.shopbloom.com/ ). With a Fresh Market and a recently remodeled Harris Teeter just a block or two away it doesn’t make too much sense. Plus, you have to account for the Whole Foods on Strickland and the Trader Joe’s at Holly Park. I have to agree with Dana: I just don’t see businesses jumping on board with the current poor layout.
James

“At this point there are only 3 names in grocers: Food Lion, HT, and high-end. They lost the high-end and won’t be getting HT, and certainly they don’t want to put in Food Lion.”

What about Kroger?
http://www.danamccall.com Dana

Yeah, I forgot about Kroger – mainly because they don’t fit in the market place, really. They can’t decide if they are a nice store or a discount store, and have hardly opened a new store inside of 540 in years upon years.

That space, mind you, was designed to be a mid-70’s era Big Star, so it is not big enough to handle KRoger’s needs.

As far as Bloom goes, they would be a good fit there, but they are signed to go into the new Strickland Corners shopping center. Bloom has a neat, high-tech concept, however they stock their stores out of Food Lion distribution centers, so you won’t get any stock that rises above standard Food Lion stock.
JJM

I just had a good giggle over the previous comment about Steven Bell being a “typical backwoods Greensboro business person.”

Well, if running a real estate company with more than $5 billion in assets makes you backwoods, I’ll be backwoods any day.
- http://www.danamccall.com Dana
  
  I agree, JJM. We walked through his new beach house this summer and it is awesome.

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Great Outdoor Provision Co. To Close in Falls Village

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