Agreed, "if you build it they will come" is a business plan for failure, the customers have to be there first then the businesses will come. What will drive them to a new store is when it is more convenient to come to the new store than the existing store.

I wonder about the logic of placing a new store directly across from an established one vs. maybe someplace half way between new growth and the existing store.

There seems to be some off that strategy in the Wesley Chapel area.

Correct.

People are being paid, a lot more money than you or I, to make those decisions.:laugh:

People are being paid, a lot more money than you or I, to make those decisions.:laugh:

Well, maybe some of the people here used to be those people in a different life :laugh:

Normally Don, I agree with your perspective on nearly everything else. This is a rare exception. Isn't that "failure" of a business model the exact same on that was used to build The Villages? I consider The Villages fairly successful.

If you mean that they build the houses and people come and buy them, not really, a house is different from a car only in that it is not mobile. Car manufacturers build a lot of "spec" vehicles that are at the lot waiting for you to buy, just like the houses here.
They build inventory and people buy it, just like car manufacturers.

For a restaurant or retail store it is a lot different, if people have to go out of their way to buy something that they "want" there has to be a very compelling reason - uniqueness or price usually. Consider in the case of The Villages, when they build homes, they also build the amenities that people want, and present a finished/polished product - roads, greenery, etc. making it desirable to move to the new areas even when much of the supporting retail is initially less convenient.

If Publix at Magnolia plaza had opened the same time as the first homes in Fenney were being built, they would have shuttered the doors and windows within weeks of opening, instead, they delayed 3 years until there was a sizable supporting population that would recognize the convenience of the new location, driving business to it. It is an undeniable success now.

No! I just bought in Richmond and don’t want all that retail and the traffic that comes with it! All I need to be close to is a grocery store and a pharmacy. Those other stores I visit once or twice a year, if that. The shopping area up near Spanish Springs is crowded and grid-locked at times with traffic. I am not a “shopper” that needs all those stores. I buy most of my clothing online, and Amazon for most household goods, and stock up at Costco quarterly for bulk items.

Yes, but you and I are in the minority. Most love their stores and consumption, the businesses will come. Just prepare yourself mentally for it, you’ll survive the chaos.:cryin2:

Sorry, no, Don. I didn't mean currently. I meant originally, when it was practically unheard of for a developer to "waste" money building club houses, pools, and other amenities like Harold Schwartz and Gary Morse did prior to building the houses. He build them to draw them here to purchase his houses. Maybe I'm in error on the chronological progression of the development, but that was my understanding, that "he build it, and they came."

Still try today..................where is it not true???

:shrug: