The Way I See It!

Cudahy Economic Director Focus on This!

Posted by Randy Hollenbeck on Oct. 21, 2009

Cudahy, Development, Leadership, Local Government, retail

Have you walked through Packard Plaza lately?  You might notice Warehouse Shoes and IQ Buffet have left.  You might remember I talked about Packard Plaza in April of 2008 “Economic Downturn” and at that time vacancy of 42%.

You might ask yourself, “Why did Warehouse Shoes leave”?  I was told that the landlord wanted to raise the rent to makeup for all of the lost revenue of the vacancies and Warehouse Shoes just was not going to pay, so they left.

The economy is sinking!  Quick!  Drill a hole in the hull to let the water out!

I had someone say to me that Cudahy’s strip mall (Packard Plaza) represents the dying city that is Cudahy.

We hear all this talk about Cudahy money leaving Cudahy for other cities, but what is being done about it?

Now Lara Fritts, Cudahy’s Director of Economic Development needs to help stop the bleeding at Packard Plaza and work very hard with the owner to fill in the vacancies, instead of working so much about the “brownfields”. 

When you pay big bucks for something, you expect BIG results and fast!

(Just think in sports why rookies and experienced players are paid different and different results are expected.)

Many residents of Cudahy are growing impatient as they wait for the grand economic visions to translate into something tangible.

This is not a paper exercise; this is the real world where results are required and as fast as they are needed!

I hope efforts are truly being made and not placing all our eggs in one basket, because eggs don’t always hatch.  I hope we are not passing up small fish in looking for the one big catch, because you can make a meal out of little fish as well as one big fish.  I also hope someone just isn’t looking at putting a feather in a cap when the day is done!

Maybe she can use that fancy marketing survey to help fill the spots.  It’s not just a matter of knowing, but doing.

When rain threatens raincoats, something is wrong.  Maybe it was just labeled a raincoat and it wasn’t really one in the first place.

It’s not what you do on a good day; it’s what you do on a bad day that is important.

Now who is left and for how long?

Jo-Ann Fabrics & Crafts, Merchandise Outlet, Dunham’s Sports, Aldi, Family Dollar, Quality Candy/Buddy Squirrel and Cost Cutters. 

Notice something about the places left?  Could they be a key to Cudahy?  Could they be who we are and what we are about?  Are some people NOT willing to take reality for an answer?  Should we face who we are instead of pretending otherwise?

To resolve the problem you first have to be honest in your analysis of what caused the problem.

No more phone, payday loan or used car lots and no more bars even if you change the name to “entertainment district” unless two current bars are closed for every “entertainment district” opened.  We have plenty of all of them!

I will do my part by brainstorming.  Remember there are no dumb answers in brainstorming, only ones that might not fit.

How about a(n):

Mac computer store

Patrick Cudahy Outlet Store

Mailboxes and more

UPS Store

FedEx Kinko’s

Best Buy Outlet

Office Depot/ Office Max/Staples Outlet Store

Target Outlet Store

Wal-Mart Outlet/Clearance Store (maybe Wal-Mart would like to send all the clearance to the store instead of selling it at each Milwaukee store. 

We already have a Sears Outlet.  Why NOT!  You shop where you can afford to get what you need.

How about Virtual Stores (where you order online and have it shipped to it for free to be picked up) Virtual Stores already have guarantied sales which means guarantied sales tax.

IKEA Virtual Store

CompUSA Virtual Store

In the end, Cudahy needs to embrace that Outlet and Virtual stores would bring people into Cudahy from many different cities.  More traffic and patrons will be good for all of downtown and Cudahy as a whole.  Indeed, they go together perfectly...two random pieces of the puzzle that just fit.

It might be a good idea if we all sang from the same hymn sheet!

Larry the cable guy always says," GET'RR DONE ".

Coming soon to the blog – Upscale in Cudahy!  Unreachable and unrealistic?  Maybe and maybe not!