I believe Gary was in advertising in Chicago before he came to help promote the Villages.
The restaurant & Brownwood was pretty much Mary Louise.

The Brownwood in Michigan
 

you are correct.....they used to sell jams and jellys.....very small scale and very little profit.......

so says our realtor....anyway

They still do. They sell jams, mustard, sauces, etc. You can also have lunch at Mary Lou's Tea Room. Love the Country Store.

I believe Brownwood will be 4 yrs old this fall. The theatre is excellent except that if I want to see Jason Bourne or Hillary's America I need to go to Lake Sumter Landing.

Brownwood
 

Have you head the term Overbuild? Probably so.


bbbbbb :loco:

Then again, probably not so!!

Just pack a lunch....................:wave:

Brownwood does not have the atmosphere of the other two squares, and the stand terraced seating gives it a cheap stadium feel.
As for the shops. Why pay those prices? JMO.

I'm enjoying the slow growth/expansion/development of BW. The BW threads are always entertaining with speculation and conspiracy theories. The square was packed last night, somebody likes the seating and environment.

Oh well to those who don't like BW.

:coolsmiley:

I completely agree. We go to Panera at LSL quite often. After the meal, we get an iced coffee and sit outside at the sales center, and we are always amazed how beautiful the place is. Yeah, truly amazed.

At Brownwood, we also sit outside at the sales center, but it is just not as nice. There is less vegetation and the carts driving by are much closer.

Once upon a time LSL also did not have that atmosphere..........give it a little time.

You know what else gives a cheap feel....plastic chairs at the other squares. Each square is unique.

Funny how individuals are drawn to one square or another. Each square is designed with a different look, theme. My sister visits and loves Spanish Springs, I live extremely close to LSL, but love the look and feel of Brownwood. Not many of us were so fortunate to have a town square, let alone three of them where we lived previously.

The area has changed so very much in the 10 years we've lived here.....three squares, lots of stores, shops, more rec centers, more golf courses, theaters.....and all in a relatively short time to serve a growing community. In the 32 years I lived in CA, never experienced such benefits for community residents.

It's easy to forget that we might have not had so much near by where we lived prior to moving to TV, and golf carts weren't necessarily in the picture. I love this community, I enjoy each square even though I have a favorite, I enjoy the beauty of the area, the proximity of the attractions, how much my kids and grandkids enjoy where Grandma and Grandpa live, and much more. This is my hometown, I chose to live here and enjoy the uniqueness and beauty of The Villages and the surrounding areas.

:clap2:

Not a good comparison unless the Panera Bread location was an unoccupied store from 2004 through 2011. Perhaps the reason for so many empty Brownwood stores is because the rents are too high and the monthly "royalty fee" to the developer is too high, also.

ALL MALLS, all tourist destinations with high traffic have the same kind of Percentage rent lease agreement. It is not just here. It isn't a "royalty fee". Every single business who chooses to rent property is aware of this, no one is holding a gun to their head. This is just another urban legend recirculating again and promoted by those who either dislike the developers because they are so successful, have some stake in competitive areas, are jealous they don't live here, or are just misinformed.

This will help explain how this type of Commercial lease works.
How Percentage Rent Works in a Commercial Real Estate Lease

I am not a real estate agent, never have been and would NEVER be one. I don't know the Morses, but I love this place and get danged tired of the misinformation and the "greedy developer" rhetoric.

Well said.

Really, based on what?

Not sure where you got the wording "royalty fee" from. This is no different than anywhere else. I had many family members and friends in Michigan who owned businesses that paid rent and a percentage. My sister works for a developer and that's the way they do it. That's the way the business is.

In that case, do you have an explanation for the 90+% occupancy in the other town squares, especially in the economy of the last 8 years?

Small shops all across the country are struggling to survive. They can't compete with big business. One has to drive to Lowes to get nails. Now, with online sales, small businesses will soon be a thing of the past.

Brownwood
 

I would love to see a new Curves franchise open in Brownwood as we are in the Collier village and it's an inconvenience to go to Lake Sumter.

I would like for Mark Harmon to hand out hugs on Brownwood square.

Hey...wish in one hand and...well you know.....

Make that Kate Upton and you have a deal:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

2 other points:

1) to the Collier resident, how far was it to a Curves in your home town, how long did it take to get there and park in a car, and could you take a golf cart there?. It's not like it is located in Mulberry.

2) What's with all the anti-developer rhetoric lately, are all those posters unhappy with living here?
Brownwood is not fully rented---must be the developers greed
TVH changed their accepted insurance---they must be "greedy" too
No over seeding fairways this year---more greed
An earthquake hits Italy---also the developers fault
At least we can assign blame if space aliens invade Earth:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

All rights for everyone to express an opinion aside, I just don't get it:confused::confused:

I'm guessing a lot of the buildings are empty because possibly the rent is to high. You really have to be marketing something that everyone needs because nickle dime stuff just won't cut it. I know some people will disagree with me because some places in the U.S. where some people come from was very expensive to at too & I'm sure the Villages seems really cheap! I'm sure they'll get something in all of them eventually.

How much is the rent if you believe high rent might be the problem?

it's in the mid 30.00$ a sq ft, made offer to negotiate, they declined.

it's less $$ up by Home Depot with tons more shoppers.

.

As a former manufacturer/retailer up north, when we moved to TV several years ago, we briefly considered renting a store front to sell products from the factory we left behind. The rents here in TV are extraordinarily high, plus the developer wants to participate with your sales and profits. During the interview with the developer's agent, he asked what kind of sales did we think we needed to break even...when I gave him an off the cuff estimate, he said they wanted 4% of anything over that sales figure plus our rent payment. We were in a low margin business up north and never made more than 8% net on our sales, so handing over 4% on top of our rent was a shock, and we never went through with the contract. This was several years ago, so I assume rents and the amount the developer wants to "wet his beak" are only higher now. Opening a business in TV is a real high stakes gamble for any small business. You had better be a large chain that has other stores to absorb the lower profits or even losses from a store here...or have very deep pockets.

A lot of the businesses do very well. If you have a good product and consistent customer service, you'll do well in The Villages.

if you have big margins or overcharge for your products/services.


If you have a 5,000 sq ft store that's about $15,000 a moth rent.

or $500 a day, do the math.

there are plenty of other choices for half that money

There ya go !

As with all good threads... (lots of interesting answers). Our story. Our lifestyle visit began when BW was rising... You could see the watertower in the distance, but could not approach it from the north (literally no roads there)... Over the past four years the area to the north (all TV) grew in with houses and BW itself appeared in full. As we made many additional visits (before purchasing on the other side in Osceola Hills), we adopted BW as "our TS" but, being good TVers, we went to LSL and SP as well. Our verdict? Features. SP is beautiful, charming, interesting, lovely... sitting around the square on a warm evening, wonderful. LSL, gorgeous sunsets, beautiful vistas over water, the board walk... sorry, that is tough to beat; simply amazing dining on the Lighthouse deck.... Then BW. features? No vistas, no water, no big trees, no charming (aged) architecture... We go because it's "our side of town" and we want to support our side. We do not go for the features (that are currently present). IMHO, for crowds to appear, for people to come and linger, you need more than "Rocky and the Rollers"... (but great bands do work wonders too); you need something amazing, something wonderful, something interesting to see, to walk around, to be with... A working mill with a waterfall feature into a nice pond with wildlife... perhaps misplaced on a western theme, but something. A crop of faux mesas with waterfalls. A raceway of water threading through a sliver of the property. Imagine it, build it.

Or a giant water slide............................Geez!

Too bad you weren't on the BW architectural concept committee. The water feature people were absent.

Maybe TV are charging too much rent for business owners to turn a profit.

Maybe the business strategy is to keep rents high enough to keep some buildings empty. That way, it is technically always growing!

I posted this a while back on a similar thread. My favorite fast food restaurant, if you can call a sub that, Jersey Mike's tried to go into Brownwood. I've been a regular customer of their shop on 441/27 in front the Target shopping center ever since they opened about three years ago, in fact I ate lunch there today.

A Little more than a year ago Jersey Mike's approached TV about a space somewhere in the new area, first they asked about Pinellas Plaza and were told that Subway had a location there, then they asked about the yet to open Traverse Shopping Center and Subway had a location planned there and TV had given Subway an exclusive non-competition lease.

So then JM looked at BW Square and said we would like about a 1200 sf space. TV's answer, we don't rent under 2000 sf in BW, end of story, no negotiation. A small footprint store that would gross over a million dollars a year is turned away because they would rather keep the store empty for now, then to rent a space to a up and coming franchise that nationally went past 1000 locations about six months ago.

I eat at McAlister's at BW at least once a week and that place is packed for lunch everyday. Not every place needs to be a fancy table service restaurant, McAlister's is proof right there. This is the way Jersey Mike's on 441/27 looks like everytime I go there.

https://s3-media2.fl.yelpcdn.com/bph...KAy-w/348s.jpg

Stadium seating is great and variety is good.
 

I for one am happy the atmosphere is different then the other squares. I glad they didn't do a cookie cuttered copy of one of the other squares like they did with all the newer CC restaurants.

WOW > the terraced seating is just great. It fits more people in a given area with a lot better view and SHADE for those in that area and even below when the shadow reaches them.
Great job.

Just wish the dance floor didn't have cracks and cattle tracks on it to turn your ankle but at least better then Spanish Springs. Glad they left out the cattle dung piles.

Each business has to pay a portion of their profit to the villages, kinda like al capone's time in chicago--- the business must be very profitable to support this payment arrangment. Hence you have many business owners that will not come in to the villages.