Target in Center City?

The Inquirer reports on a new project at 8th St and Market St. The new center proposal is anchored by a Target store. It could also have a Barnes & Noble and a Linens 'n Things and perhaps a movie theater.

I had almost exactly the same setup in my former hometown of White Plains, NY. A new "city center" opened up with a Target, Starbucks, Legal Seafood, Regal Cinema and other stores were in various stages of opening up before I left for Illy. It became an instant hit. White Plains had lacked a major movie theater [actually, any] and the current theater has about 15 screens, big enough to support the city of White Plains and the surrounding towns. I thought that it would snarl traffic, but with three entrances, cars were never a problem. You couldn't enter a lot from the main street; I think that helped a ton.

A huge center like this would be quite a change in look for that area of Market St. There's not much over there, I think. The SEPTA station is on 12th St and there's not much between that and Independence Mall over on 5th St.

Traffic isn't too bad over there, from what I've experienced. Market St has two lanes in both directions and if they play the parking situation right, it could bring quite a bit of business to that area.

I'm not over there much, so I can't say exactly what kinds of smaller stores are in the area which will be affected by the plan, but I do know that all of Center City will be hurt.

But I was just thinking, isn't that new slot-machine casino complex supposed to be right around there too? Ugh, what a stupid idea that thing is.

Pavilion East (artist's rendering) by developer Kenneth N. Goldenberg

Comments

[KT]

Isn't my beloved Greyhound station over there too?

[dragonballyee]

That's right KT, on the seedy other side of Market St. I believe it's between Market & Arch streets over by 10th St or so.

[Mark]

8th and Market is the first stop in the city for PATCO to dump off Jerseyites. There's not much going on on that side of Market (or Chestnut behind it), but there are a lot of office workers around there who, like me, would love a Target and a B&N there. We have to go to Rittenhouse Square for a big bookstore like that. Of course, the Gallery Mall is across the street at 8th & Market, and that might suffer from compitition. I wouldn't be surprised to see the K Mart at the Gallery close if Target moves in. K Mart really doesn't fit there anyway. The south side of Market could really use a spark like this - especially if it gets stuck with the life-zapping slots parlor.

[dragonballyee]

Wouldn't it be hilarious to see the headline & article:
"Slots Jackpot Winner Blows it All in Target"
Mrs. Jones won $1.2M at the slots on 10th & Market Streets then proceeded to take her winnings and promptly spend it all at the Target across the street. Heh.

[Mark]

Re-reading my comment, I sound shallow drooling over a Barnes & Noble, but I can't find any quality small bookstores in Old City either. I just want a bookstore, any bookstore.

And I know that BuyBlue.org dislikes Target, but there really isn't anything like it around here. And they dislike K Mart and Wal Mart (of course) too.

[dragonballyee]

I'm not familiar enough with Old City to suggest a local bookseller, but I do know that Book Sense lists some local booksellers. I know of a bunch in Center City like Robin's [Chestnut/19 & Sansom/12], Joseph Fox [Sansom/17] and Molly's [Italian Market] among others are pretty cool. Robin's especially - they have discounted magazines, even the coolio photo mags.