Why did Keagy Village Become a Flop? (Roanoke: lease, house)

[theluckygal]

That is so true. It does look like a Starbucks sign. Also, its a pain getting into the shopping area, travelling either north or south on 419.
Its not very 'catchy'. They might have to come up with some creative advertising schemes for people to take notice.

[Draegur]

Sorry to revive a two and a half month dead thread, but I've been dropping by into this place for the past few days this week, mostly because I suddenly felt the whim to (and the only good things that happen to me are the random ones!), and kept coming back because the people who work there are, in a word, Awesome.

I've been eating at the firehouse subs, and I get some coffee in the morning at the Dunkin Donuts there, and I've decided that I... really... really want those stores to survive. So when I googled it up, finding a discussion thread like this is sort of "jackpot" for me!

See, I've been talking to the people who work there, and the people who get their lunch there a bit, and there are some pretty strong arguments at how it can improve.

The location is attractive enough, but neverminding the sign looking like a starbucks--a not very wise design move in my opinion--a huge issue seems to be visibility.

You can only really see it coming or even tell that something is there at all when you're heading up 419 north, and that's a left turn. Left turns are, let us be frank, unappetizing for impulse direction changes. You have to wait for a light more often than if you're trying to head straight, for one. For another, the entrance is barely even visible from there.

I remember seeing it before, and filing it under the "too complicated, maybe later" heading in my head. Given the results (or lack thereof) that the location has been showing, I'd hazard to think that this is what most people do.

When you're coming down 419 from the north, What do you see? Trees. Just trees, and eventually a beige retaining wall. Those trees have got to go somewhere else if this place wants to not fold like damp cardboard.

This visibility issue is even -worse- than the awkwardness of navigating their one-way parking lots, in my opinion, because these prevent people from even finding OUT that the parking lot is awkward to begin with!

I'm hoping that eventually I'll find some sort of trend or pattern to what kind of businesses people would like the most, there, and... then maybe try to connect the dots. I'm no consultant or anything, but ... I really want this place to not die. That's the best little firehouse subs location I've been to, and they deserve to survive as far as I'm concerned--I just fear that going there for lunch on weekdays won't be enough.

Let me know if any of y'all have any ideas you'd like to contribute? I've got a few kicking around in my head, but I know better than to just venture off on my own hunch without a little recon, and then a little feedback.

[headnsouth]

Retail development for its own sake is a waste and a shame. Somebody owned a skinny strip of land and wanted to make some money so they put up some retail space where there wasn't a demand for it. Paved paradise, put up a (poorly designed) parking lot.

Originally Posted by Draegur

When you're coming down 419 from the north, What do you see? Trees. Just trees, and eventually a beige retaining wall. Those trees have got to go somewhere else if this place wants to not fold like damp cardboard.

There's nothing wrong at all with damp cardboard. It's a great weedblock and eventually turns into compost.

[Scott94]

Well I heard somewhere that the businesses currently in there have still been doing pretty well. But I don't really know how they can attract more businesses there, but one way to start would be to have at least some sort of anchor store, which apparently they were planning on, but the recession hit and plans fell apart. They still have tons of room to work with on land that's already been cleared plus the remaining open spaces.

We went by there today to go to Firehouse Subs, and like usual, they were decently crowded. The one-way entrance/exit is annoying though. Not necessarily because you have to drive all the way to the back of the development because of the median, but because there are always people trying to exit on the entrance side, and it's hard to fit two cars there (happened to me today). Also drove in the Townes at Hidden Valley while we were in the area; maybe when/if all of the houses get built it will help the development since it's next to it, but it looks like that could take a while, too.

[Draegur]

Originally Posted by headnsouth

Retail development for its own sake is a waste and a shame. Somebody owned a skinny strip of land and wanted to make some money so they put up some retail space where there wasn't a demand for it. Paved paradise, put up a (poorly designed) parking lot.

In almost every case, I agree with you. Seriously, I dig it SO HARD, it causes a sinkhole in the southern indian ocean.
(if you check google maps, that should be literally the other side of the world from here, too! 37° 17' 35" S / 80° 3' 18" E )
I don't think that putting the retail center there was a 'good' idea, but I do think that now that it's there, somebody oughtta make the best of it. Not enough to make the poor sap who dreamed up this scheme stop regretting it, but enough to stop punishing the folks in danger of losing their livelihoods just for working there.

Ooh, and another beautiful and rather relevant song for this is "Paradise Lost" by storyhill.

Originally Posted by headnsouth

There's nothing wrong at all with damp cardboard. It's a great weedblock and eventually turns into compost.

When retail centers turn into damp cardboard, it's saturated with construction chemicals and then nothing will grow there except the heavy metal content of the ground water.

Thank you for your response, though!
Thank you as well, scott1094,
Yeah, firehouse has been pretty much carrying the place XD but poor dunkin donuts, they're folks have mentioned to me that they've been having a harder time--especially since they stopped keeping it open overnight. She told me she'd remember having more customers between 2am and 4am in one night than practically a week during the daytime! it's kind of backwards; they cut back to only daylight hours because they had a lack of customers... during the daylight hours! Sounds like familiar management philosophy to me!

I took a friend by there today and he's thinking pretty much along the same lines, actually. Especially about that wonky parking lot! People like to follow a path of least resistance in their everyday lives. If the whole path has resistance though, they're just not gonna go down it!

Maybe it's not a problem with -overall- retail demand, but the wrong -kinds- of retail demand, and when the right people were seeing how the poor fits weren't fitting, it's easy to just jump to that same conclusion. If I were a business owner, and I saw that place, no way in HECK would I give Kahn (the company developing the land) a call... but maybe if someone could show me that people who go there actually *do* want something in particular... well, that's what I hope to do. If only because it would be an enormous thrill to make that kind of an impact on my community.

(Also because it would look EPIC on a resume just about anywhere!)

[roanoker 4]

I was amazed at how the process developed. I remember the local residents demanded an "upscale" center, NOT just a strip mall with fast food joints.
I thought that was understood from the beginning. Kahn re:assured everyone they could bring some quality shops to the center(way before the economic
collapse!). Years passed, construction lagged until it was too late. Someone goofed up big time! This scenario is playing itself all over again at South Peak with Cracker Barrel. At the same time, Wal Mart at Clearbrook(a favorite of the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors) continues to amaze!

[theluckygal]

FYI........
Former Roanoker buys Keagy Village retail center in Roanoke County - Roanoke.com

I hope the stores get occupied in the building. Would luv to see some local small businesses move there, rather than chains.

[RoanokeWahoo]

Originally Posted by theluckygal

FYI........
Former Roanoker buys Keagy Village retail center in Roanoke County - Roanoke.com

I hope the stores get occupied in the building. Would luv to see some local small businesses move there, rather than chains.

The only way this place will be successful is if they get an anchor store. That was the main reason it failed in the first place. The first tenant secured should have been a large grocery store.

But West Village has seemed to do well without an anchor, so who knows

[theluckygal]

Originally Posted by RoanokeWahoo

The only way this place will be successful is if they get an anchor store. That was the main reason it failed in the first place. The first tenant secured should have been a large grocery store.

But West Village has seemed to do well without an anchor, so who knows

I agree. They definitely need atleast one anchor store. When they were constructing keagy village I was hoping to see a walgreens or kroger there but the space is not enough for a big chain to take interest. To me it looked like the building was designed to accomodate private offices, boutiques, coffee shops - similar to the strip mall with chicos, froth, talbots on starkey road. The starkey stores benefit a lot from the RAC next door. I have seen a lot of people heading to froth after a workout. Hope the new owners have some plans to expand the space & attract an established chain.

[headnsouth]

The Starkey stores also benefit because people actually travel on Starkey Road. It's a major commuter route, jam-packed during rush hour and pretty busy all the time. That's not the case for Keagy Road. There's not much reason at all to turn onto that road.