We already know our neighborhood is the first place national retailers look when in expansion mode, thanks in large part to NorthPark Center — “the poster child for great retail,” says Robert Young, Managing Director of the Weitzman Group. “Anywhere around that particular area is attractive because you have high incomes and high density.”
But it’s not just the big guys sniffing around. Local mom-and-pops often have used our neighborhood as their launch pad.
“The ultimate one — and it’s gone big time — is Mi Cocina,” Young says. “They’re as desirable in any project as anyone else, but think how they first started — at Preston and Forest, and the local neighborhood generated a following. It just takes some time for those things to happen.”
Young cites Gazebo Burgers at Preston and Royal as another good example.
“They get more and more traction, and then they go into a deal into a suburban market because their brand has some traction. That’s what everybody wants,” he says.
