Customer traffic is also a key concern of neighborhood retailers, Steidtmann notes. Traffic on Main Street provides an ample pool of prospective shoppers, but the quality of the traffic is not as good as at the mall. In urban locations, loyal customers must be cultivated, and for some that may require additional services, such as home delivery, that can add to costs. Mall traffic, though far from loyal to any one store, is at least there for the purpose of shopping. Thus, mall shoppers may be more inclined to stop in and browse than a working mother who must complete a week's worth of errands on Saturday morning.
Retailers also face the challenge of converting downtown space into a functional retail setting.
Many sites have not been well-maintained and require a substantial capital investment to set up. When Saks acquired the store in Greenwich, for example, it was formerly a Woolworth site. A tremendous amount of capital went into retrofitting and refurbishing the building according to municipal requirements and Saks' own standards. The prospect of national retailers opening in urban neighborhood settings can also stir up strong opposition from local politicians and independent retailers, says Wendy Leibmann, president of New York-based WSL Strategic Retail. That raises issues of traffic and competition with locally owned businesses.