As an owner of a downtown retail location (Oklahoma's Red Dirt Emporium), I agree with the comments regarding a true need for SOME national retailers, while also agreeing with the comments regarding a need to stay heavily local in flavor.

The national retailers should be unusual or highly desirable in nature, to increase traffic from visitors and locals. This is much like a desirable downtown restaurant mix. A Chili's, for instance, would probably be a bad fit at this point, since the city has a wealth of them elsewhere/everywhere. But something like an ESPN Zone or Dave and Buster's would probably be a great fit, complementing the local choices.

The same holds true for retail. Urban Outfitters, Crate & Barrel, West Elm, Restoration Hardware or the like would probably be great, and unique within the metro, whereas Foot Locker, Bath & Body Works, etc., wouldn't offer any distinct shopping experiences to lure locals away from the mall.

Those retailers I mentioned as good fits would probably be best situated in a development similar to what was proposed for the Steel Yard (mixed-use, large floor plate available, cohesive development, contiguous parking), whereas an area like the canal probably works best for smaller, independent retailers like ours. The more the merrier, however. There needs to be a density of retail before anyone can truly thrive. Back when I was a Main Street manager (Automobile Alley), the training we received from the National Main Street Center preached that you need a minimum of six densly-located retail options before users will consider you a "retail destination."

It's a bit of a chicken-or-the-egg discussion, of course. That's why we decided to jump into our own retail project with both feet despite having no guarantee of success, in an effort to get the ball rolling in Bricktown, and specifically on the canal.

I think the soon-to-be-released Bricktown land use study will define these issues much better than they ever have been, and will create a new set of guidelines and recommendations for property owners to use as the develop their real estate, at least where Bricktown is concerned.