Buffalo Exchange will close its downtown store, at 250 E. Congress St., after business Friday.
“We’re just not getting business down there,” said Kerstin Block, founder of the nationally known, Tucson-based resale chain. “It hasn’t been economically feasible from the beginning, and it doesn’t look like it’s improving.”
Downtown has seen an influx of new businesses, and the streets are crowded with people looking for food or entertainment. But not for shopping, Block said.
“I definitely think downtown is on a good positive way forward,” Block said in an interview Wednesday. “It just doesn’t seem like people shop for stuff down there. They shop for food, beverages and music. Entertainment. ... It seems most people go there at night. To us, it doesn’t seem like shopping goes along with these other activities.”
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“I am just as disappointed as anybody to hear this. They’re such an icon to Tucson and such a long-term part of our community,” said Michael Keith, CEO of the Downtown Tucson Partnership. “It’s becoming increasingly clear we need to address how to sustain and expand retail downtown and what programs we might put in place to do that.”
Downtown’s retail sector needs improvement, Keith said.
“Parking factors into it a little bit, perhaps,” Keith said. “But I think rental rates are going up, so owners who have been sitting on properties for years are able to get higher rent. I think that’s having an effect on small retailers, because you have to remember that 98 percent of businesses downtown are either local or state-based.”
For Buffalo Exchange, rent wasn’t the issue. “I have the world’s greatest landlord,” Block said. “I thought the rent was very reasonable.”
Parking, on the other hand, was something customers complained about, Block said. “People didn’t bring in their clothes to sell them because you had to schlep your clothes. I think it was a poorly conceived idea on my part.”
The timing of the April 2011 opening wasn’t ideal for Buffalo Exchange either, because the streetcar construction was in full effect months later. Block said the store did well for the first few months, but streetcar construction made it more difficult for customers to get to her store.
“I’m not big on accepting failure,” Block said. “I think I was really enthusiastic about it and maybe I so much wanted to do it I probably didn’t look at it realistically. I certainly didn’t take into account the effect of the construction on the street in its full effect.”
Retailing is extremely important to the overall success of downtown, Keith said. “I don’t think you can have a sustainable urban center without good retailing, and I don’t think you can have a sustainable urban center without really good public spaces. Those are the next two areas we need to turn a collective attention to.”
The store’s remaining merchandise and its three employees will be transferred to Buffalo’s two other Tucson locations at 6212 E. Speedway and 2001 E. Speedway.
“I think downtown is going to do just fine,” Block said. “But I think a used-clothing store isn’t what they’re ready for right now.”
