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The Lights Aren't Bright on Broadway
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Business New Haven
9/29/2003
By: BNH
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When a retail business that has been successful at its location for more than 60 years is forced to close its door rather than enter into an unacceptable lease agreement, something is wrong.
In the case of Barrie Ltd. Bootery, a Broadway fixture since the Depression years that earlier this month announced that it would close for good by year's end, there are no winners - just losers.
Barrie's landlord is Yale University Properties, which is no ordinary landlord. Not content simply to collect the rent, YUP has established a number of performance standards for its tenants in the Broadway district. In this instance, the chief stumbling block was a requirement that the store remain open until 9 p.m., and to remain open six nights a week - 361 days a year.
To Barrie proprietor John Isaacs, who says many of his clients go home to the suburbs after 5 p.m., that requirement flew in the face of commercial logic.
Isaacs says he explored the possibility to relocating to a different space, but University Properties refused to grant the store a 15-month lease extension.
To University Properties director David Newton, the issue is enhancing the vitality of the Broadway shopping district by mandating that its stores not go dark after 5 p.m. "It just wouldn't be the kind of area people are attracted to," he said.
What kind of area are people attracted to? Increasingly, YUP's answer is a district anchored by larger chain stores such as J. Crew and Barnes & Noble. Two decades ago Broadway was home to some two dozen locally owned businesses. Now, many of the dollars spent by Broadway shoppers go to faceless out-of-state owners.
In attempting to recast is retail district with comfortable generic run-of-the-mall stores, Yale has spurned an opportunity to set an example of responsible corporate citizenship.
Who wins? As far as we can see, no one. Not shoppers, who will lose the opportunity to shop at one of the few remaining independent shoe retailers downtown. Certainly not Barrie, which will shutter a businesses built on six decades of good will.
Lastly, not even University Properties is a winner here. Beyond losing a stable tenant, YUP reinforces the perception that it is pursuing an arrogant policy that is penny-wise but pound-foolish. The strength of the Broadway shopping district has traditionally been the commitment of its independent retailers - not faceless bean-counters from out of state.
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