The New Retail Thread

[Ron Newman]

I've never thought of the Galleria as a dump. It's only about 20 years old. It has an Apple Store in it, which few other malls do.

When they first built it, they included a storefront on First Street, as did several of the neighboring buildings built at the same time. I think the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority required these storefronts. They did not attract tenants, and the Galleria storefront eventually became the constituent service office of Congressman Mike Capuano. Others became day care centers or office space.

 

[datadyne007]

I've never thought of the Galleria as a dump. It's only about 20 years old. It has an Apple Store in it, which few other malls do.

When they first built it, they included a storefront on First Street, as did several of the neighboring buildings built at the same time. I think the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority required these storefronts. They did not attract tenants, and the Galleria storefront eventually became the constituent service office of Congressman Mike Capuano. Others became day care centers or office space.

That's very true. Those storefronts are still there and are symbolic of the neighborhood's current state.

How much do you remember about the bank in One Canal Park? How long did it last? It looks like not long because it was styled with minimum security and never updated (open teller desks, thin walls, etc). Apparently the CRA has rezoned it for retail. (They had the notice for the meeting in the window for the 2 years I worked at CambridgeSide) Late last year, they installed green neon lights in the recessed ceiling in the loggia that runs along First St (eventually leads to Sears).

 

[CSTH]

..speaking of the neighborhood, there was some major demolition going on last week between 1st, 2nd, Bent and Charles, behind big johns mattress factory (which itself cant be long for this world.

Anyone know whats going in?

 

[Ron Newman]

I remember there was a branch of East Cambridge Savings at One Canal Park, but I don't know how long it was there. There also used to be a bar and restaurant facing the lagoon side. Also on the lagoon, just east of the Galleria entrance, was a Pizzeria Uno. I'd love to know why none of these succeeded.

 

[mass88]

The Galleria is not a dump at all. It's a great urban mall and is much better that what you will find in most cities.

 

[datadyne007]

The Galleria is not a dump at all. It's a great urban mall and is much better that what you will find in most cities.

Look toward the bottom of the previous page. Its not really a dump- its just the customers that shop there that make it one. Shopping CambridgeSide and working CambridgeSide are two very different experiences. The customers ruin you and your attitue toward the mall forever.

 

[bbfen]

I was the one who called it a "terrible dump." I went back for the first time in a few years last night.

I sort of retract my statement. As others wrote, and the Sears's corner aside, it's got its charm from a design standpoint. The clientele is horrible though. Pure trash. That's a huge hurdle.

 

[Ron Newman]

How so? As far as I can see, the clientele are just people like you and me, mostly from Cambridge and Somerville, buying things that you can't easily find in Central, Harvard, Porter, or Davis squares.

 

[datadyne007]

How so? As far as I can see, the clientele are just people like you and me, mostly from Cambridge and Somerville, buying things that you can't easily find in Central, Harvard, Porter, or Davis squares.

Nay nay, pilgrim. Nay nay. We have a saying about CSide - "There are crazy customers you'll encounter at any retail job, but CambridgeSide hosts a special kind of crazy." There are numerous cracked out people, drunk people, and people who are there to steal daily. Dealing with them daily is extremely time-consuming and actually results in loss of business (we've actually calculated the numbers). The list of people that are physically banned from our CambridgeSide store is quite long. Compared to my time in other malls (Silver City and the portuguese invasion, South Shore Plaza and the asian invasion, and Copley Place which is just boring) CSide is by far the worst. Like I said before too, it's unfortunate because it's such a nice mall.

 

[Ron Newman]

Sorry to hear this. I guess that spending most of my time there at the Apple Store, and secondarily at Sears, Borders, or the food court, skews my view a bit. I used to enjoy Papa Razzi restaurant, but it's not there anymore.

(If you work at any of the places I just named, or even if you don't, I'd love to sit down and hear your stories some time.)

 

[blade_bltz]

The list of people that are physically banned from our CambridgeSide store is quite long. Compared to my time in other malls (Silver City and the portuguese invasion, South Shore Plaza and the asian invasion, and Copley Place which is just boring) CSide is by far the worst.

So whose turf is being "invaded" in all these areas, exactly?

 

[datadyne007]

So whose turf is being "invaded" in all these areas, exactly?

No one's turf is being invaded, there's just a ridiculous influx of these groups that adds unique challenges to the retail process. Silver City was really frustrating with the people who only spoke Portguese and SSP's large asian draw from Quincy results in enormous messes. They destroy stores/piles, refuse help, try on the entire store, and then either buy nothing or buy one $6.95 item. Does retail make you racist? Yep.

CambridgeSide is a brutal mix of all of these due to the large tourist base. Marketplace Center really isn't any better (more tourists actually), to be honest, but there are less chronic crackheads and drunks.

 

[Shepard]

What the hell kind of tourists end up at Cambridgeside?

 

[datadyne007]

What the hell kind of tourists end up at Cambridgeside?

Are you kidding? Look at New England Development's numbers:

Tourism Market: Boston and Cambridge attract approximately 17 million visitors each year. 38% of overnight
Boston/Cambridge visitors participate in shopping, compared to the US average of 25%. Number of Cambridge
Hotels: 14. Number of Rooms: 3,264. Hotel Marlowe, a Kimpton Hotel, with 236 rooms, has direct access to
CambridgeSide. Royal Sonesta, with 400 rooms, is located directly across street.

They used to have numbers that related to the Galleria itself, but they have a new site and changed the data. Rest assured, plenty of tourists end up at CambridgeSide. I'd expect the numbers to be slightly fewer this year than in years past because of the shuttle, but it's still a heavy chunk of their business: about 25%.

 

[Ron Newman]

That does surprise me, as I'd expect shopping tourists to overwhelmingly gravitate towards Faneuil Hall, Newbury and Boylston Streets, Copley Place, the Prudential, and Harvard Square.

 

[datadyne007]

That does surprise me, as I'd expect shopping tourists to overwhelmingly gravitate towards Faneuil Hall, Newbury and Boylston Streets, Copley Place, the Prudential, and Harvard Square.

It's the only real transit-accessible mall that "Boston" has to offer. The Pru, Copley Place, and Newbury are too overpriced and Harvard Sq and Faneuil Hall don't have a wide enough selection. CSide appeals to the masses and is an integral part to (Metro) Boston's tourism economy.

 

[Shepard]

Are these largely foreign tourists? I imagine domestic tourists would not feel any novelty (although, most foreign tourists wouldn't either for that matter)... Really, I couldn't see being a tourist in another city and finding myself in a mall just because it's transit accessible or even because my hotel was across the street.

 

[saulblum]

Are these largely foreign tourists? I imagine domestic tourists would not feel any novelty (although, most foreign tourists wouldn't either for that matter)... Really, I couldn't see being a tourist in another city and finding myself in a mall just because it's transit accessible or even because my hotel was across the street.

I used to work a few blocks away (on Athenaeum Street), and we would often have customers from out of town in for training. They would typically stay at the Hampton Inn near Lechmere, the Marlowe or the Royal Sonesta. At the end of the first day of training, we'd give a little overview of Boston and Cambridge, including using the T (we emphasized for them not to rent a car), and we would recommend restaurants. Some trainees took our advice and viewed their evenings as adventures getting around a new city. But others just wanted something comfortable and familiar, and, alas, the Cheesecake Factory or California Pizza Kitchen fit the bill.

(Amusing anecdote: we once had a customer from Houston, and we were describing how to get to a restaurant near the Galleria. The next day she reported back that she could not find the mall. She was looking for a typical suburban mall, with sprawling acres of parking.)

 

[datadyne007]

Are these largely foreign tourists? I imagine domestic tourists would not feel any novelty (although, most foreign tourists wouldn't either for that matter)... Really, I couldn't see being a tourist in another city and finding myself in a mall just because it's transit accessible or even because my hotel was across the street.

Yes and actually the foreign tourists are at CambridgeSide for the novelty. For one, it has Metro Boston's only Hollister and Aeropostale. Europeans, Indians, and Asians alike CRAVE American brands. Additionally, CambridgeSide is now home to a huge Pandora store (bigger than Prudential).

Re: domestic tourism, look at the $20k (double than most stores) we pull in each day at AE Faneuil Hall. There's something about Boston that makes people from Germany and Nebraska alike go cuckoo over shopping mass-market name brands. Specifically, those statistics earlier noted that 38% of tourists that are only here for 1 night go shopping, much higher than the nat'l average of 25%.

I used to work a few blocks away (on Athenaeum Street), and we would often have customers from out of town in for training. They would typically stay at the Hampton Inn near Lechmere, the Marlowe or the Royal Sonesta. At the end of the first day of training, we'd give a little overview of Boston and Cambridge, including using the T (we emphasized for them not to rent a car), and we would recommend restaurants. Some trainees took our advice and viewed their evenings as adventures getting around a new city. But others just wanted something comfortable and familiar, and, alas, the Cheesecake Factory or California Pizza Kitchen fit the bill.

(Amusing anecdote: we once had a customer from Houston, and we were describing how to get to a restaurant near the Galleria. The next day she reported back that she could not find the mall. She was looking for a typical suburban mall, with sprawling acres of parking.)

People visiting this city on conventions, etc are actually told where the mall is and encouraged to use its restaurants and food court by the convention organizers or in a "Welcome to Boston" packet.

Funny anecdote too. Haha.

 

[Ron Newman]

Even more surprising, given that the Galleria isn't especially easy to reach from either of the city's two convention centers, and given that the Hynes is directly connected to the Prudential mall.