In Praise of Borders

Borders Books and Music is tapping into one of the retail industry’s few remaining new frontiers – underserved urban neighborhoods – with stores in Detroit and Chicago…

Of the two projects, the Detroit store is probably the bigger gamble, if only because of the general absence of retail activity of any kind in the downtown area.

“Retail is lacking in downtown Detroit,” said Charles Maday, the chief executive of Exclusive Realty, a Detroit commercial brokerage firm. “All the retailers left. It’s the only major city that doesn’t have even a hardware store.”

A walk around the downtown area confirms that. It is impossible to buy even a T-shirt in downtown Detroit, let alone necessities like groceries or furniture.

Here is the full article. It is hard to believe there was a time when it was debated whether book superstores are a good thing.

The cynical will note that the project developer is receiving a tax break from the city.