Tongue and Cheek
October 2nd, 2008Mark Billings has the story on Tongue and Cheek:
Dr. Brandon Becker of Long Grove bought 14-16 Douglas Ave. in December 2006 and is rehabbing the first floors of both buildings for a new dental office called Tongue and Cheek and possibly other commercial space…
Becker said the office part of the building will be a dental boutique offering full dental services, along with a dermatologist who will perform natural skin peels and possibly even minor cosmetic surgery such as Botox injections. At some point, he may lease a small cafe in one of the storefronts.
14-16 Douglas Avenue is in downtown Elgin, across from Villa Verone. It’s good news for the downtown.
A dental office is more or less recession-proof and isn’t dependent on downtown foot traffic so it’s an ideal business for the early stages of a downtown recovery. Businesses that depend on random foot traffic, in contrast, will have a harder time staying solvent. Such stores individually cannot solve the chicken and egg problem of foot traffic, and it’s a kind of retail suicide to open a foot-traffic type of business in the downtown today.
Businesses in the downtown must be destinations that people actively seek out. It might be medical or dental offices, lawyers offices, dance studios, karate studios and so on, but in the retail sphere it can be stores that have tightly defined niches, serving core and under-served markets. Think for example of some of the businesses that have survived for years in the downtown. They include a tattoo parlor, a Lao grocery store, a shoe repair business.
These are niches that are tightly defined and that people seek out. They don’t depend on random people walking by and coming in to browse and buy something.
These may not necessarily be businesses that the city council finds desirable or fits their image of what downtown Elgin should be, but the most important thing for downtown Elgin is full occupancy. You can’t go from empty to upscale. You need the traffic of full occupancy, and the transition towards upscale is something that happens on its own in a natural progression.
That’s great! I think one of the best things we could get downtown is a grocery store. Elgin needs a Trader Joe’s–they sell a lot of organic and local produce, but are often cheaper than Jewel (vs. Whole Foods which is much more expensive).
Also, I don’t know that there’s a space downtown, but somewhere in Elgin (maybe old Venture/K-Mart/Service Merchandice strip mall) we should have a Goodwill. You talked about our tax dollars being sucked out? Our old stuff is being sucked out. Seriously, people donate huge amounts of old things. I think Village Discount is pretty large and prosperous, but they are a for-profit and do not benefit the community in the same way as Goodwill. It’d probably be hard to get one here though since there’s one in Bartlett and one in South Elgin.
Posted October 2nd, 2008 at 9:33 amTrader Joe’s would be great, so would a Goodwill. The Goodwill in South Elgin, by the way, for those who haven’t been there, is a great place to find books!
The other two places are Windmill Antiques and the Gail Borden Public Library’s for sale section…
Posted October 4th, 2008 at 6:42 amWhere is Windmill Antiques?
Posted October 8th, 2008 at 11:06 amI’ve never seen a Trader Joe’s in a “blue collar” town like Elgin. I don’t see that happening. A store like that is not going to appeal to the majority of Elginites I’m afraid. I’m sure they look at median income etc… when they decide where to build. Most of the Trader Joe’s I’ve seen are in upscale burbs. It’s a nice thought, but ain’t going to happen.
Posted October 13th, 2008 at 6:37 pmI don’t think the issue is Trader Joe’s appealing to Elginites as much as it is Elgin appealing to Trader Joe’s. I have faith Elginites would shop there. Many items are the same price or cheaper than their counterparts at Jewel. They might have a reputation as a health food store or gourmet store, but much of the food is “normal.” I just don’t know that we could convince the company to locate here, sadly enough.
Posted October 13th, 2008 at 11:21 pmI feel that with Elgin’s size, it’s really hard to label it as “blue collar”. In any case, it is becoming a lot more white collar with each passing day, impending recession or not. I live out on the west side and grew up in Sleepy Hollow. I’d say my new neighborhood is less than 20% blue collar. With Trader Joe’s in Algonquin and Batavia (neither of which fit the demographics of the other suburbs that have a Trader Joe’s), another location somewhere in-between as the population grows isn’t out of the question. Randall Road is pretty attractive. If you put a Trader Joe’s near the location of the up and coming Burlington Coat Factory, think of how many people you’d attract that don’t live in Elgin anyway. I think it’ll be a while, but with the way Elgin is moving upward and onward, Trader Joe’s or other similar speciality stores will eventually follow. I have faith.
Posted October 14th, 2008 at 6:46 pmI think any city with 100,000 people can support a Trader Joe’s.
Jessica, Windmill Antiques is in downtown Elgin on State Street.
Posted October 14th, 2008 at 9:32 pm