by @BarryRafkind in Development and Zoning, Economy & Poverty, Neighborhoods and Squares
Posted on November 27, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Last Modified on November 27, 2009 at 2:19 pm
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From Ward 6 Ald. Gewirtz’s Winter ’09 newsletter :
There is a proposal being made by the owners of the Citizens Bank building on Elm Street on the corner or Bowers Ave. to bring a Staples to that space. I have been very concerned about large chain stores coming into the square. I’m curious to hear your thoughts. Would you want a Staples in Davis Square? Let me know by sending me an email to: Rebekah@rcn.com.
I’m not sure how I feel about this. I guess the pros include an economic boost to the City and a more convenient location to purchase office supplies. However, I wonder if we could find a more locally-owned, business that would pay higher wages and keep more profits in the local economy? Since the proposal is originating from the owners of the Citizens Bank, one must assume that they selected Staples not based on community benefits, but rather on their own profits.
What do you think?
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I don’t know as we have much choice. Since Somerville is so dependent on property tax for its income, rents are astronomical, and property owners will charge the max possible for their leases. Only big-box grab-n-go chains can afford what the owners are asking. Unless we come up with some way to provide owners with a concrete incentive for leasing to locally-owned businesses, we’ll be looking at another Harvard Square.
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Some historical context:
This building was originally constructed to be the headquarters of Somerset Savings Bank, and it had only offices and not retail on its first floor. After USTrust bought Somerset and then Citizens Bank bought USTrust, the first-floor office space became superfluous and vacant for many years. For a while, an architecture firm rented the first-floor office as temporary expansion space, but that’s over now.
If this space is to become anything other than offices, a zoning approval is needed — both for the change of use and to alter the façade in order to add doors in place of the current windows. The same approvals will be needed regardless of what moves into the space, whether it’s a Staples or a locally-owned business.
A few years ago, the landlord wanted to subdivide this space for Mr. Crepe and one or more other restaurants. Neighbors behind the building on Cottage Avenue objected, claiming that more restaurants would infest their neighborhood with rodents, so the proposal died. A lawsuit resulted but I don’t know what became of it.
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I mentioned a while back that I’d love to see a Bob Slate’s in Davis. I know it’s awfully close to the one in Porter, but it fits so much better with the home-grown, artsy vibe we want for Davis, and supplies basic office supplies too! Somebody said it’s too up-scale, but I don’t think it is really. Any store that sells useful things that are also lovely and well-made gets my vote. I’m sorry Bowl ‘n’ Board went belly up, but they were a bit pricey.
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Davis Square has:
McDonald’s
Dunkin Donuts
Buffallo Exchange
CVS
Boston Sports Club
All Sorts of Banks
Domino’s
Subway
And more
All of these are large or medium national chains.
Denying Staples an opportunity to open a store in Davis because it’s a national chain is just hypocritical.
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Knut, I think you meant to say “inconsistent”, rather than “hypocritical”. But that would only apply if the same people who supported the other chain-stores are now against Staples for this reason alone. So far, I’m not sure who fits that description.
Of course, one’s value system can be more nuanced than just looking at national versus local ownership. For instance, I’m quite against the fast-food chains like McDonald’s because their menus are unhealthy and their business models support unsustainable systems of agribusiness.
Personally, I think local or regional ownership is something to strive for, but I realize there are many other factors to consider.
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Also Rite Aid and Family Dollar and Chipotle and Au Bon Pain. However, the question remains whether we want Davis Square to continue in that direction or whether we’d prefer to nurture more local businesses.
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Staples is a “local” business. Well, somewhat local, their HQ is in Framingham.
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True to some extent — I recall when the very first Staples opened, on Soldiers Field Road in Brighton. (I think it’s still there.) But then you’d also have to call CVS and Dunkin Donuts ‘local’, and that’s really stretching the term beyond usefulness.
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You know what I really miss? Paper & Provision Warehouse, that used to be down by DeMoula’s where the boxing club is now. But they need an INSANE amount of space. I think they’re in Providence now.
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“DeMoulas.” I mean Market Basket. OK, I’m kinda old.
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Something I don’t understand is … what does Staples gain by adding a Davis Square location? People with cars or bicycles can already go to their Fresh Pond location, and people who take the T or the bus can go to their Harvard Square store. How will they get any new customers by locating in Davis?
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I wondered the same thing about CVS. Maybe closer proximity translates into more frequent shopping trips and therefore more sales.
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I was not especially in favor of the CVS, but find myself going there constantly since it’s at the end of my street and they are always sending me coupons. What I buy there is fairly basic stuff like razor blades and shampoo, though — stuff I’d buy anyway, but maybe at Rite Aid or Family Dollar instead if CVS weren’t there.
If we get a Staples, I hope it doesn’t put our two small local copy and print shops (Princeton Printing and the UPS store) out of business.
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Ron – if I had to guess, it’s because upscale neighborhood = “I don’t have time for detours because I’m working a 14-hour day.” It’s only in this past year that I’ve had enough unpaid time and necessity to start going to Market Basket! Before that I was like, “tote groceries on the BUS???”
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One clarification — I don’t think Citizens Bank owns the building.
Going back a few decades, we’ve had other chains in Davis Square — Papa Gino’s, Brigham’s (both where Starbucks is now), Woolworth, Kresge, Almy’s, Parke Snow (where One Davis Square is now), even a Waldorf cafeteria (where Mike’s is now). Jimmy del Ponte or John Roderick knows this history better than I do.
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Another “chain” store? Oh no, what does Rebekah have to say? The Davis Square area is one big chain store.
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She’s asking for people’s opinions. That’s one reason for this thread. Do you think it’s a good or a bad idea to have a Staples store in Davis?
I have mixed feelings. Empty storefronts don’t do any good for Davis Square or for the city, and I’m an occasional satisfied Staples customer in Harvard Square and elsewhere. But I’m also not sure I want to see Davis go further down the ‘chain’ road.
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I have no objection to a Staples in Davis Square. It would be convenient for local businesses and residents to be able to shop there. My only concern is the effect it would have on the copy shop currently in Davis Square. It has been there for many years and I would hate to see them lose business because of Staples. I wonder if it would be possible to negotiate with Staples and have them agree to have their store without a copying department.
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We’ve seen perfect examples of the problems inherent in making policy decisions without considering the big picture: the whole debacle with the parking rules changes. Rebekah Gewirtz called on the City to address our parking problems with a comprehensive, planful, inclusive decision-making process. I don’t recall any argument with that; it is a logical and responsible approach to government- certainly on the local level. And while that was about official ordinances and associated penalties, similar principles apply when considering ‘smart development.’
I cannot speak to the permiting processes previous national retail chains have encountered, but I know that each application for a City permit is an opportunity for local communities to try and shape the future of their neighborhoods and/or commercial districts, a precious right safeguarded by the City Charter and Mass. General Laws. Each time we defer to developers, corporate entities and other kinds of investors based on our own complacency, an ill-founded trust in their beneficence, or feelings of helplessness, we lose. The size of the list of chains in Davis Sq. is a case in point: is anyone happy that so many of the commercial enterprises are not ‘of’ our community?
Despite efforts of the (relatively young) Davis Sq. Task Force and more recently DARBI, resident-stakeholders and independently owned small businesses have not produced a blueprint for future development that can we can turn to when someone new comes knocking (I’m not sure it’s even their mandate). We thus continue to make critical decisions on a case-by-case basis, believing that to be a sound, fair approach. Fair- maybe, but not sound. By and large we do not negotiate with suits from national corporate headquarters, study their financials, stock holdings, labor practices, taxpaying histories, overseas investments, etc. We deal with franchise owners, regional managers, etc.: people like you and me. It’s hard to say no…
Clearly interested in the moral character of local businesses, how many of us know of the gross exploitation of workers practiced by our own local(chain) establishments?(I’m happy to site several privately, but want to avoid libel suits.) Been to Anna’s Tacqueria lately? What effects do you suppose the excessive smoke and the invisible ventilation system has on employees?
Case-by-case is a slippery slope. Our full-scale collusion with would-be behemoths is an insidious risk. Once vowing never to patronize Staples, I found myself returning time and again, guiltily, to the Harvard Sq store. I now have a trusted computer tech (the Dept. Mngr)to whom I refer friends. And Staples- which has in recent years led the discount office supply industry nationwide- now gets my consumer dollars. Against my flagging will…
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Well, not all chains are the same, either. I certainly don’t mind having Chipotle here, because they take CSR (corporate social responsibility) seriously rather than just as window-dressing. But even if every chain were into sustainability and ethics, it would still be a shame to have the whole Square go generic, with no room for innovative local businesses.
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I think a Staples in Davis Square would be a useful addition, certainly better than office space on the ground floor. One important thing to keep in mind that the most successful business districts have a healthy mix of national and regional chains plus a diversity of locally owned businesses. The chains often serves as anchors that draw people to the district. One people are there, they tend to window shop and patronize the local businesses, many which they may have never sought out were they not already in the square. Personally, having a place within walking distance to buy office supplies, computers and computer parts would be quite useful for me, as I would imagine it would be for many others.
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I agree with Intrepid. The allure of Davis Square is its unique businesses. It is turning into a generic urban downtown.
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I should qualify what I said. This is the part of Intrepid’s statement with which I agree:
each application for a City permit is an opportunity for local communities to try and shape the future of their neighborhoods and/or commercial districts, a precious right safeguarded by the City Charter and Mass. General Laws. Each time we defer to developers, corporate entities and other kinds of investors based on our own complacency, an ill-founded trust in their beneficence, or feelings of helplessness, we lose.
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But here’s the problem with that: ANY conversion of this office space to retail, for ANY tenant, will require the exact same permit that the property owner is currently applying for. The owner simply wants to convert a couple of windows into doors. The city can’t say “no” to this just because the prospective tenant is Staples, unless the city wants to say “no” to retail use entirely.
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How elitist can you progressives get? Who cares what business comes? Businesses bring JOBS. JOBS brings money and less people on the streets.
I don’t care if a coal mining operation decides to relocate to Davis and starts to dig up Elm street. ANY business (chain or mom-pop) will bring much needed revenue and jobs. Let’s just make it happen.
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The difference is, local businesses not only put money in the pockets of their employees, but in the pockets of their local owners, who then turn around and spend it here in Somerville, at other Somerville businesses, rather than wherever a big chain happens to be headquartered.
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Staples is a good store, it creates an environment for more businesses to be created, I say bring it on.
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Hi Dave, in an age of online shopping I’m skeptical about whether having a local Staples store would make a difference in terms of surrounding business development. Given that there’s a Staples store less than 2 miles away at the Fresh Pond Mall, I wonder whether there’s enough demand to support a second one in Davis Sq.
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Barry-maybe the location in Fresh Pond is closing. That is a lucrative spot for some other store.
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I don’t think they would close the Fresh Pond store in order to open one in Davis. The Fresh Pond store is much larger than anything they can put here, and has free parking for their suburban customers coming in off Route 2.
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To Barry’s point, there are in fact 4 Staples within 2 miles of Davis Sq: Fresh Pond (which I go to probably at least once every 1-3 months), Mystic Ave (on the Somerville side of the Mystic across the river from Meadow Glen Mall), Harvard Square, and another big one in Assembly Sq.
I’d also point out that you can very easily walk to the one at Fresh Pond from Davis and would only have to be on sidewalks for about 2 blocks’ worth of the trip as the bike path leads almost directly there.
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