Retail follows rooftops

Earlier this week I had to make a trip up to the car dealership to pick up a part for my car. This used to be an easier trip for me but the dealer recently moved a few miles further up Capital Boulevard, adding about 10 more minutes to the trip. As I drifted through traffic heading up Capital, I wondered what sense it made for the dealer to move farther away from the city center.

Was it because of the need for more land? Not likely, it seemed. Capital Boulevard is littered with plenty of former dealerships surrounded by plenty of available expansion space.

Then in my “duh” moment, I realized the demand for cars around the outer reaches of the city is greater than the demand in the city center. People who live far away from everything obviously drive more, so the dealer’s move was fundamentally to be closer to its customers.

I thought of this when I read the article this week in the Raleigh Public Record with the headline “East Raleigh Changes Elicit Mixed Feelings.” Anything with East Raleigh in it catches my attention, of course, but this article left me a bit puzzled.

The reporter interviews my fellow CAC chair Daniel Coleman, a commercial builder by profession, who bemoans the “gentrification” of the rundown neighborhoods in east Raleigh that are now being made safe. The gentrification argument always makes me bristle because I staunchly believe everyone deserves a safe place to live, but that’s not what puzzled me. It’s that Coleman then questions where the commercial development is:

Coleman said redevelopment is great — as long as it doesn’t hurt the working class who live there. Aside from that, Coleman said focusing on single-family homes won’t help the city with its goal to create urban areas to live, work, and play, he said.

“When you look at the planning maps … where are the bars? Where is the vitality? Where is the Glenwood South? Why should we not have that?” he said.

Coleman bemoans the increasing property values and incomes that might be driving poor people out and then in the same breath wonders where is the very development that only comes from increasing property values and incomes. It’s the age-old adage of “retail follow rooftops.” I’m stunned that Coleman, as a commercial builder, isn’t familiar with the concept.

I’d love to see more retail in my neighborhood. I’ve worked to turn around the fate of my local shopping center to make it safe to shop. Now new businesses have moved in and a bank is considering moving in. A new pharmacy in the Longview Shopping Center has invested a lot of money in its building which will hopefully lead a revitalization there. As much as I want all this to happen, though, I can’t wish it and make it so. I can’t finagle incentives from the city because there are none to be had. The only thing that will attract businesses here is their knowing that they can find customers here. Businesses go where the customers are, plain and simple.

Until East Raleigh gains a little more financial prominence it won’t be attracting many businesses. There is not much we can do about it but wait.