NYC rent is too damn high for Geoffrey

GAP and Old Navy are moving in to part of the space. Times Square isn't even a quality outlet center

 

Perhaps careless writing. But a lot of tourists travel to New York in a large part to shop. Macy's sales are down this fiscal year in part because the stronger dollar is keeping tourists away in a couple of locations in tourist destinations.

 

Macy's used to seem vaguely exotic and glamorous growing up in flyover country. Now it is everywhere and feels like an overpriced Penneys. Wonder if that hasn't cut into tourist shopping sales too.

 

Bottom rung: Kmart, Walmart

Lower middle rung: JC Penney, Kohl's, Sears, Target

Upper-middle rung: Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Lord& Taylor

Upper: Sak's, Nieman-Marcus, Nordstrom

 

You forgot Jewel:

 

The various Dollar Stores are a rung still below Walmart.

 

Macy's does about $900 a square foot in the Herald Square store. That is great. The store is 1.1 million square feet so I think that is a tourist attraction just because of the scale. Macy's is having lots of problems in the rest of the country. I think that it is because of the middle class being squeezed. Macy's has only begun to open off price stores such as Nordstrom's Rack. The internet is also hurting. I think Macy's will be closing lots of stores as more and more malls close.

 

My daughter has no reason to go Times Square anymore.

Are they making Gap and Old Navy pay $2,000 a square foot?

 

How much do the Naked Cowboy and that mega-creepy Times Square Baby pay?

 

I have always hate- HATED - Times Square. Its the absolute worst thing about NYC.

 

I'm sorry for your loss?

You think they got a discount?

 

These deals don't happen overnight.

This news broke over the summer, and the landlord is getting market rent:

Rates for ground-floor retail space in the area averaged $2,413 a square foot in spring 2015, higher than anywhere in Manhattan except for Fifth Avenue between 49th and 59th streets, according to a report by the Real Estate Board of New York. Three years earlier, the average was $1,433 a square foot.

Gap, Old Navy Brands to Take Over Toys ‘R’ Us Times Square Store

We're talking about what is a legendary NYC building, owned by the same family since they built it in the 1930's.

It has a huge footprint, but it's only four stories tall. What it has going for it is ground floor retail space, and space for neon signage.

This building is the former home to Bond Clothing Store:



The space later became Bond International Casino, most famous for the Clash's 1981 series of shows. (One of my older brothers was lucky enough to attend one of these shows.)

The Clash at Bond's Casino - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The space where Toys R Us is was a movie theater for over 60 years.

I'm not sure why anyone would begrudge the owners of this building for charging market rent. They owned the building when Times Square was a shit hole, and they still own it now.

The other option would be to tear down the building, and build a skyscraper. The owners have turned down offers to buy the building for this purpose.