To Stop the Spread of Empty Storefronts, Don’t Divide -- Diversify

Larchmont, N.Y. -- The retail apocalypse. High-rent blight. The death of the downtowns. These kinds of hashtag-ready phrases are tailor-made to polarize complex issues into two-sided debates with no winners. But while they make for clickable headlines, they don’t do much to identify and address the real challenges that local business sectors like the Village of Larchmont are facing.

One such harmful false dichotomy is the image of the big, bad chain retailer versus the mom-and-pop shop -- a myopic view that assumes there are only two types of businesses, and that only one can survive. But research shows that’s just not true.

In fact, according to Smart Growth America, a national non-profit organization dedicated to bringing better development to communities nationwide, the most successful neighborhoods have a healthy blend of different types of businesses.

A Smart Growth America report, (Re)Building Downtown: A Guidebook for Revitalization, states, “A mix of retail types can give a neighborhood critical mass, identity, and a reason for people to live there.” In fact, the report specifies that having a variety of businesses, including both small shops and major chains, can contribute to the overall success of a downtown.

“Diversifying the types of activities in your downtown gives people many reasons to come to the neighborhood. Economic development professionals talk about creating an ‘18-hour’ place—that is, a neighborhood bustling with activities in the morning, afternoon, and evening, seven days a week,” according to the report. To do that, “come up with a strategy for supporting retail that includes everyday errands as well as major shopping destinations.”

The proposed Dunkin Donuts drive-through at the former Bank of America drive-thru location would be a perfect example of this. The convenience of the drive-thru and the restaurant hours would complement the pre-existing routines of families, commuters, daytime shoppers and night owls who already frequent Larchmont, while the familiar brand would create a draw for newcomers to venture into town, as well. This kind of overall increase in local activity is attractive to other businesses, and soon, those empty storefronts will begin to fill.

Throughout Westchester, this dynamic has also played out in Mount Kisco, where the introduction of national sporting goods chain Modell’s -- and the expected foot traffic it would bring to town -- helped to draw investors back into the region to purchase a building across the street for $4.4 million, now the home of the popular Exit 4 Food Hall, according to an article on lohud.com.

And unlike bank branches, which are becoming obsolete as electronic banking becomes the norm, a restaurant is among the types of businesses that are the least vulnerable to the threat of e-commerce; there’s simply no online equivalent to getting a fresh cup of coffee and a donut. Including more restaurants in the business mix helps support the overall resilience of a retail district.

The Smart Growth America report offers policy recommendations as well: “Make sure new regulations support your community’s revitalization plans. Specifically, make sure codes allow for and encourage: reuse of existing structures; strategic infill construction; mixed uses; higher density development.” An anti-idling measure that has been cited to block the proposed reuse of a pre-existing drive-through for a new Dunkin Donuts restaurant is a prime example of how illogically applied regulations can stand in the way of smart reuse; there would be no increase in idling compared to that of the previous tenant, yet the rule has stalled local development.

It’s time for Larchmont to abandon the imaginary debate between retail types, and instead build a diverse local economy that will benefit all kinds of businesses and residents.