An Urban Village Copes With Too Much Success
The appeal of Clarendon, Virginia, a homey neighborhood outside Washington, D.C., is threatening to wipe out its quirky character with a wave of upscale chain retailers, high-end restaurants, and luxury condominiums.
Clarendon, Virginia, is a walkable neighborhood of local shops and premium national retailers, older tree-lined neighborhoods and new high-rise condominiums, a few office buildings, a wide selection of restaurants and a Metro stop. With a 20-minute commute to downtown Washington, "it combines homey friendliness with convenient commerce."
"But the neighborhood's character is changing, both driven by and reacting to a shift in its commercial real estate. More affluent, less workaday, more trendy, less mom-and-pop, Clarendon has become such a retail and residential magnet that it may be losing the ambience that made it such an appealing place to live, work and shop."
Terry Holzheimer, director of Arlington County Economic Development, explains: "This isn't a place for hobby businesses anymore. It's gotten more expensive, but the revenue potential is also much higher." He estimates that annual retail sales have increased nearly $200 million in the past five years.
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Supporting local businesses pays off
Excellent article on an issue that has been long ignored!
Studies in Maine and Austin, Texas demonstrate that locally-owned businesses generate 3.5 times the local economic activity than chains. A study of 10 independent businesses and 10 chains in retail, restaurant and service in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois demonstrates independent businesses generate about 70% greater local economic activity per square foot and slightly more sales per square foot as chains.
Given this information, it makes sense to include small business/local, independent business development as a part of smart growth's model. But all of the examples of smart growth I have seen to date predominantly include chain stores, where most of the money does not actually benefit the community. This seems counterintuitive to smart growth's tenets. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Finally, Saturday, November 18 is America Unchained!, a day to raise awareness about the social and economic contributions of local businesses to the community and to encourage people to do business through them for at least the one day. For more information, see http://amiba.net/Unchained.html
Nice Area
I visited this area on my recent trip to DC. We stayed in Crystal City, not far from here. The area is booming, but I remember it when it was first built and had that village feel, but now it is like most other minimarkets in the DC area likePentagon City, Crystal City, etc. I appreciate the boom, but at what cost?