For decades, Chicago’s Merchandise Mart has been known as the place to shop for upscale home furnishings. But only if you have an interior designer or decorator showing you around.
That’s because the Mart is a collection of mostly wholesale showrooms that deal exclusively with the design trade.
That changed in the 1990s when the Mart decided to reach out to the masses by adding two lower-level floors of retail stores. Soon, an odd mix of shops was selling everything from bath products to music to the 10,000 people who work in the mammoth edifice.
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But the Mart’s indoor retail space has not been a big success. Carson, Pirie Scott closed a store in 1998 and other tenants have come and gone. But the mall has failed to develop into a destination point for shoppers or tourists.
Now, there’s a plan to reconfigure the retail space to be more consistent with the home decorating and remodeling theme that dominates the upper floors.
“Most people didn’t get in their cars and drive down to the Mart thinking about buying pants and shoes. There are better locations to do that,” says Mark Falanga, vice president of business development for Merchandise Mart Properties Inc., which runs the Mart.
Half of the first floor–between 80,000 and 90,000 square feet–soon will be devoted to upscale bath and kitchen stores that are open to the public. New stores will be added, but many will move down from the Mart’s 13th floor.
The plan is the brainchild of Kate Flaherty, the Mart’s vice president of building products and special projects. “The timing is certainly right. It’s going to be very exciting,” she says.
One of Flaherty’s biggest catches so far is Waterworks, the tony bathroom retailer known for its handmade tiles and mosaic floors.
Waterworks now is at 503 N. Wells St., close to several other tile retailers.
When it moves to the Mart, Waterworks’ showroom will nearly triple in size, making it one of the largest in the Danbury, Conn.-based chain.
Another coup: de Guilio Kitchen Design will be represented on the Mart’s first floor, adding a second downtown location to its store at 674 N. Wells St.
To make room for the bath and kitchen stores, others must go. Closing before the end of January will be bath and body retailers H2O Plus and Crabtree & Evelyn, along with apparel retailers Casual Corner and Express and Coconuts Music.
Relocating will be wine shop Artisan Cellar, hair salon Thomas West, men’s apparel retailer A&G Clothing and the Carlson Wagonlit Travel agency.
When the project is done, the Mart’s retail space will serve two distinct audiences, Falanga says. Folks who work there will still have restaurants, a card shop and a Post Office. And people who shop the Mart’s wholesale side or attend its trade shows will have high-end kitchens and bathrooms to explore.
Stop complaining: To hear retail analysts tell it, this holiday selling season may be the worst in decades. Sales of general merchandise, apparel and furniture may fall short of the 4 percent increase that the National Retail Federation has predicted.
But wait a minute. Any increase over last year would make holiday 2002 the biggest of all time in gross revenue terms.
And let’s not forget that sales were up 5.6 percent in 2001, a strong showing considering the nation was still in shock from the September attacks and the economy was in recession.
So if holiday sales rose only 2 percent in 2002, that would translate to a nearly 8 percent increase during the weakest two-year period for the economy since the early 1990s.
That isn’t exactly shabby.
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