LSU students looking for an ultra-hip store providing cutting-edge clothes at fair prices are about to have a new place to shop.
But they might have a little drive ahead of them.
Urban Outfitters is planning on opening its doors in New Orleans in April 2005.
Located on St. Charles Ave. near Tower Records and the Virgin Megastore, the two-story lifestyle retail store specializes in cutting-edge clothing and accessories for college and urban-minded shoppers. The store, known for carrying such items as trucker hats and vintage T-shirts, has long been synonymous with hip young adults.
Students are already anticipating a new place to shop.
“It’s always fun to have a new shopping venue because it’ll add more variety… instead of the typical American Eagle, Hollister, Gap shops” said Kara Jeansonne, a psychology sophomore. “It’ll be exciting to add urban outfitters to the list of places to go.”
Jeremy Bellemin, a marketing sophomore, is excited about an Urban Outfitters in Louisiana.
“I’m thrilled,” Bellemin said. “It is a different store to provide stylish, hip and trendy clothes at decent prices to mainstream young adults. I’m not at all surprised the store is going to New Orleans. There’s a larger crowd in New Orleans, and Baton Rouge people will travel to the store if it is what they are looking to buy.”
It is not out of the ordinary for a national chain store to choose New Orleans over Baton Rouge. It happens all the time, leaving upscale shoppers in Baton Rouge out of luck.
“Baton Rouge seems to be under-stored,” said Kristy Reynolds, a marketing professor at LSU. “There’s not enough stores to serve the population. [Chain stores] just don’t want to come to Louisiana.”
A combination of several factors cause Louisiana, specifically Baton Rouge, to lose the battle for expanding businesses. Development, demographics, location availability, economic standing and even traffic are all on the minds of businesses looking at Baton Rouge as a potential expansion territory. So, Baton Rouge struggles to provide expanding businesses with the types of consumers, the economic advantages and the locational developments they desire.
TYPES OF CONSUMERS
Chain clothing stores such as Urban Outfitters serve specific demographics. The stores are aimed at serving concentrated markets, usually of upscale customers.
Baton Rouge on first inspection would appear to offer a variety of demographics, from trendy college students to more conservative business adults.
But Mall of Louisiana’s general manager Todd Denton said many stores are not aware of the consumers available in Baton Rouge.
“Baton Rouge is a progressive city with great demographics,” Denton said. “LSU is very attractive to retailers because it is many stores’ primary demographic.”
LSU offers retailers a broad base of diverse students who are yet to be loyal to any specific brand, and tend to be more adventurous with their purchases.
But the Mall of Louisiana might not have had the consumers it anticipated.
Teresa Summers, an alumni professor of human ecology, said the mall found a different kind of shopper than expected.
“When the Mall of Louisiana came in, its initial position was to be a more upscale mall,” Summers said, “But it found that was not the [Baton Rouge] mall consumer. [We] don’t have major upscale merchants. The demographics just don’t support them.”
The mall instead found shoppers who simply were not interested in trendy or expensive clothing.
“The consumer group is middle income,” Summers said. “They are not as interested in fashion forward. On a whole it is a conservative market as far as fashion apparel.”
Even Denton admits Louisiana is a conservative market.
“Louisiana is not necessarily going to lead retail fashion as an Austin [Texas], but as stores expand they will come here,” said Denton.
With a less adventurous market, trendy large-scale clothing stores like Urban Outfitters do not fare well.
This void creates a perfect environment for something Baton Rouge does have – specialty stores and boutiques.
Clothing stores such as Bella Bella, Eros, Frock Candy and several others offer shoppers searching for trendier pieces, often at higher prices, their chance to find what they need in Baton Rouge.
Summers said specialty shops can give consumers the merchandise at a lower cost thanks to drastically smaller overhead, because they provide consumers the ability to wear the pieces for a little while and move on.
Summers said specialty stores lose business to chain stores that provide merchandise to a much broader market. Stores like Gap and Limited make clothes that appeal to enough people to cover the overhead of providing large amounts of merchandise. The chain stores that survive in Baton Rouge find a balance of consumers and merchandise by keeping their clothing more generic, Summers said.
“The upscale consumer has the mindset that they cannot find stuff in Baton Rouge, so they can afford to go to Houston, Dallas, or even New York, or they shop online,” Summers said.
With that idea, consumers perpetuate the problem.
ECONOMICS
Retail stores, particularly clothing stores, sell “income elastic products,” meaning the amount of clothing sold varies with the income of the consumer. Higher income means more purchasing.
Alumni economics professor Loren Scott said Louisiana’s economy is on par with the rest of the nation.
“We, like the rest of the country, just completed our third year of decline, and we are starting to come out of this recession,” Scott said.
Even though Louisiana’s economy is varying with the rest of the nation, it does take its place rather low in the national rankings.
“Louisiana ranks 41st in per capita income, which places us towards the bottom,” said Scott.
Per capita income is the average income per person.
Scott said Louisiana ranks near the middle of the Southern states but still below the Midwest in per capita income.
In a market based on individual income, a low ranking might not make Louisiana the most appealing market for business expansion.
Scott said that population also is a factor in locating new businesses. States with higher populations create more traffic for businesses.
Stores are looking for population numbers and economics that currently are better provided in other states.
And the numbers for Louisiana might not be improving anytime soon.
“[Louisiana’s rank] is not moving very much,” said Scott. “If lucky, we’ll stay 41st. Our highest-paying industry is disappearing.”
That industry is in chemicals, which in recent years has been experiencing a decline. The loss of industry will only worsen Louisiana’s hopes at raising per capita income.
But John Talmage, executive administrator for economic development of New Orleans, has his own theory.
Talmage believes businesses are not looking at the numbers correctly. He said companies look at old Census numbers from 1990, which do not accurately reflect Louisiana’s current demographics.
“The demographics of Louisiana have improved tremendously over the last 10 years,” Talmage said.
Talmage said the numbers in the 1990 Census were outdated long before the numbers for the 2000 Census were put into use. And even the changes over the last four years are not accurately reflected.
In the last 10 years, Talmage said Louisiana has developed a broader base of consumers, such as people interested in higher-end clothing.
Talmage said Baton Rouge is not alone in lacking national chain clothing stores.
Even New Orleans yearns for these same stores, he said.
“There’s always things we wish we had,” Talmage said. “We have gained to realize that national franchises come here when there is a market. But now we look at, if there is a need for a clothing store, how can we help someone from New Orleans create that business,” said Talmage.
Talmage said the best a city can do is provide not just national stores, but stores to allow people to buy what they want.
NEW DEVELOPMENTS
It seems Baton Rouge is trying to set change in motion, as several new hotbeds of development are springing up in the area.
Downtown development looks to bring more businesses to the city, and so does the new Towne Center being developed on Corporate Blvd.
The Towne Center is a new concept in shopping in Louisiana. The center has already attracted a Whole Foods national grocery store, which specializes in organic foods.
Toby Stark, a spokesperson for Creekstone Company who is developing the Towne Center, said the center is not having any problem attracting national retailers.
“We have found companies are very, very interested in coming to Towne Center and expanding their business to Baton Rouge markets,” Stark said.
Stark said Towne Center has confirmed Whole Foods as their major tenant, but cannot confirm any other specific tenants. Currently the company is in talks and negotiations with high-end national clothing retailers as well as restaurants which Stark could not name.
“We see this as Baton Rouge’s time for growth and expansion,” Stark said.
Companies have actively pursued spaces in the Towne Center, she said, and the company has not had problems getting businesses interested. The confirmation of Whole Foods as the main store has only added to the project’s credibility.
The Towne Center is a variation on an open air shopping center. Town Center boasts pedestrian walkways, beautiful architecture and lush landscaping, and aims to offer consumers an upscale shopping experience without having to go to a mall.
The area will even develop its own apartments.
“The center will compliment other development and growth that is going on in Baton Rouge and add another dimension for residents of the city, particularly the downtown area,” Stark said.
Towne Center is not the only new development looking to attract national chain stores.
Jeff Fluhr, assistant director of Downtown Development, said Baton Rouge Downtown is looking to create a mix of businesses. But this does not steering away from chain stores.
“We are constantly working with those who show an interest in downtown,” Fluhr said. “We want to bring new businesses unique to the area and develop downtown as a destination.”
He said these developments look to draw in large retail stores as an anchor. The large, nationally recognized stores bring in smaller stores as well as more traffic to the area.
“When bringing in large retail [stores], you are dealing with large incentives too,” Fluhr said. “You want to bring in stores as an anchor often at costs,” said Fluhr.