Considering moving to OKC from Charlotte...a few concerns

[Spartan]

Ahhh, the predictable post.

I guess I have to put the caveat on my post that my selections were not endorsements or recommendations, but just an attempt to give someone who asked an honest question a general overview of the things he asked about. If you wish to avoid being associating with certain vaguely defined stereotypes, Spartan is your guide. Of course, you might only be left with going to an "upscale" mall in some other city.

Wha huh? I like Hipster Triangle. Besides, it beats spending any time at Penn Square.. (I kid, I kid)

By the way, in case you haven't heard yet bchris, we have world-class shopping.

[betts]

We have better shopping than Spartan thinks, because we have some great local stores and who cares about most of the national stores. Except that I would like a Restoration Hardware because we have no local stores that have furniture like them. Insert smiley.

And Tokyo has the best sushi. Very good sushi

[Spartan]

We have better shopping than Spartan thinks, because we have some great local stores and who cares about most of the national stores.

This is very true. To bchris, obviously we're not a perfect urban utopia, but what city is.. don't take my tongue in cheek response to BDP as a representation of our city, that just goes back to an earlier debate we were having. Also, as you probably have scanned the forums a little to get a vibe for what's going on lately, I wouldn't construe our occasionally excessive negativity as a true indicator of anything - there are just a lot of us on here who vociferously keep demanding better and better of OKC.

I think the biggest difference between OKC now and when you left it is that back then there weren't well-organized activists who got involved in community revitalization, whereas today there certainly are, and there's even a small chance that bitching about something will lead to change.

[bchris02]

We have better shopping than Spartan thinks, because we have some great local stores and who cares about most of the national stores. Except that I would like a Restoration Hardware because we have no local stores that have furniture like them. Insert smiley.

And Tokyo has the best sushi. Very good sushi

From my research, the only thing OKC doesn't have that I will miss that Charlotte does is IKEA and Costco. Any word on those coming to OKC? Other than that, Penn Square Mall and Classen Curve will serve most of my shopping needs quite well. I lived in Little Rock prior to Charlotte and OKC offers much better shopping than Little Rock did.

Now Southpark Mall in Charlotte has upscale stuff like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co, Neiman Marcus, etc, but I never shop there so its a non-issue for me.

[Pete]

No IKEA or Costco for OKC any time soon.

But really, Sam's Club is pretty much the same as Costco, just your money goes to Wal-Mart.

[Celebrator]

No IKEA or Costco for OKC any time soon.

But really, Sam's Club is pretty much the same as Costco, just your money goes to Wal-Mart.

Oh Pete, have to jump in here and respectfully disagree. Sam's and Costco are alike in a few ways, but the quality of the product mix, the house brand (Kirkland), and the customer service at Costco are head and shoulders above Sam's Club. I just find Costco to offer a more upscale experience in all ways. Having Costco here in OKC would complete my retail desires for the Metro...I would have everything I would need. Now, I had read in a fairly recent post here that the Chamber or OKC economic development stated that Costco was looking for a location here.

[MDot]

What's up with IKEA? It seems like they were going to locate here but never did; or was that just a rumor that wasn't true?

I hear people asking all the time why we don't have an IKEA and they ask if they are going to open here anytime soon or talk about how much they want one to open here.

[bluedogok]

An Ikea opened up in the Denver area just last summer, they have just started filling in the US between Chicago and California and north of Houston in the past 5-10 years for many years there was none in that vast area of the US. The Austin (Round Rock) location opened about 4 years ago and the Frisco one opened up something like 6 or 7 years ago. In recent years they have been going into locations that give them very large incentive packages, the reason why they are located in Round Rock (Austin area), Frisco (Dallas) and Centennial (Denver) instead of the main metro area like many of their older stores. I don't expect one in OKC any time soon but I didn't expect one to open up in Austin when it did either. We used to go to the Frisco or Houston stores before the Round Rock store opened but then we were in those locations monthly because of work so it was easy to stop by and pick stuff up.

[Pete]

Oh Pete, have to jump in here and respectfully disagree. Sam's and Costco are alike in a few ways, but the quality of the product mix, the house brand (Kirkland), and the customer service at Costco are head and shoulders above Sam's Club. I just find Costco to offer a more upscale experience in all ways. Having Costco here in OKC would complete my retail desires for the Metro...I would have everything I would need. Now, I had read in a fairly recent post here that the Chamber or OKC economic development stated that Costco was looking for a location here.

I would love to see Costco in OKC and help break the Wal-Mart stranglehold.

Here in California, Costco is king and I absolutely love them. I know Sam's Clubs are very similar but having never shopped at one I can understand how there are likely some key differences.

Hopefully the OP could satisfy his shopping needs at Sam's until Costco arrives.

[bluedogok]

We have memberships at both, have had a Sam's membership since the late 80's and got a Costco one when I lived in Austin and the South Austin store was under construction. There are things we get at one that the other doesn't offer but many products are carried at both.

[Questor]

From my research, the only thing OKC doesn't have that I will miss that Charlotte does is IKEA and Costco. Any word on those coming to OKC? Other than that, Penn Square Mall and Classen Curve will serve most of my shopping needs quite well. I lived in Little Rock prior to Charlotte and OKC offers much better shopping than Little Rock did.

Now Southpark Mall in Charlotte has upscale stuff like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co, Neiman Marcus, etc, but I never shop there so its a non-issue for me.

No Ikea anytime soon. There's an Ikea in Frisco, TX (Dallas suburb) though... that's about a three hour drive from OKC. That is one good thing about OKC... very short flights and drives to one of the largest metros in the country.

There have been rumors of Costco looking us over.

[HOT ROD]

Modernize the liquor laws and OKC gets Costco almost immediately. ....

And Trader Joes .....

And 'insert wanted upscale food store here' .....

The Chamber is working on the liquor laws to lure upscale food retail (which then lures other upscale retail) to the city.

[BDP]

Wha huh? I like Hipster Triangle. Besides, it beats spending any time at Penn Square.. (I kid, I kid)

By the way, in case you haven't heard yet bchris, we have world-class shopping.

Ha. Sorry, I'm used to people complaining about hipsters.

Of course, it's usually hipsters doing the complaining.

[Spartan]

Hot Rod - that is correct, the Costco announcement was contingent on them getting some wiggle room with the liquor laws. I could only find the Whirled article, but here goes:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/artic...A1_CUTLIN62098

Even though it doesn't have that quote from Roy Williams regarding Costco (if I recall he or one of the Chamber VPs said we could potentially expect up to 7 new Costco locations), the article does specifically mention Costco.

Ha. Sorry, I'm used to people complaining about hipsters.

Of course, it's usually hipsters doing the complaining.

Yeah, that's the risk you run when you sound droll..nobody knows you're joking. The 51st Speakeasy is one of my fave digs in OKC, granted that's not nearly as hipster as other nearby digs.

[bradh]

Hadn't seen Saii mentioned for sushi, it's mine and the wife's favorite.

We moved here 3 years ago after 2+ years in Phoenix and 2 years in DFW. We absolutely love it. Hopefully you fall in love like some of us other have as well if you decide to head this way.

[Soonerman]

Modernize the liquor laws and OKC gets Costco almost immediately. ....

And Trader Joes .....

And 'insert wanted upscale food store here' .....

The Chamber is working on the liquor laws to lure upscale food retail (which then lures other upscale retail) to the city.

If the liquor laws are the issue with Costco, Why do they have stores in Colorado and Kansas?

[Spartan]

Probably made more sense based on existing distribution regions.

[Teo9969]

How is the dining/nightlife in downtown OKC? How does Bricktown compare to the Epicentre in Charlotte? Are there trendy/historic arts districts that can be somewhat comparable to Dilworth or NoDa in Charlotte, even on a smaller scale?

It's getting there, but it's not there yet. You certainly won't be bored if you don't want to be, but there may just not be as many options as you would like.

How restrictive is the 3.2 beer laws? I love fine beers and wines and have heard many brewers and wineries won't sell in Oklahoma period because of these laws. How is the selection in the liquor stores compared to other states?

It's harder to find really good beer here than it is to find really good wine. That being said, there are lots of good of both. The laws may be restrictive, but the wine brokers in particular have done a phenomenal job boosting the market and getting a lot of quality products in here in the last 5 years. We have 3 bars off the top of my head that have great beer selection (RePUBlic, TapWerks, and McNellie's)

[Oil Capital]

Hot Rod - that is correct, the Costco announcement was contingent on them getting some wiggle room with the liquor laws. I could only find the Whirled article, but here goes:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/artic...A1_CUTLIN62098

Even though it doesn't have that quote from Roy Williams regarding Costco (if I recall he or one of the Chamber VPs said we could potentially expect up to 7 new Costco locations), the article does specifically mention Costco.

There is a lot of mythology masquerading as fact surrounding the idea of Costco being held back from Oklahoma just because of the liquor laws. For years, we were told the same thing about Whole Foods. And yet, here they are. And Costcohas entered other markets that have similarly restrictive liquor laws.

Further, seven Costco stores in Oklahoma is not likely on any reasonable time horizon. The entire State of Texas, with about 7 times the population of Oklahoma, has 12 Costco stores.

[HOT ROD]

Whole Foods is in OKC due to the incentives offered by Chesapeake to fill up Classen Curve. ....

WF is in OK period due to Tulsa having a Wild Oats which got converted during their merger.

Costco is a mass marketer and prefers to have the entire market available in their stores.

[Oil Capital]

Whole Foods is in OKC due to the incentives offered by Chesapeake to fill up Classen Curve. ....

WF is in OK period due to Tulsa having a Wild Oats which got converted during their merger.

Costco is a mass marketer and prefers to have the entire market available in their stores.

What's your point?

[HarryMoto]

And don't underestimate the value of having a metropolitan area the size of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex so relatively close, something you don't have in Charlotte. It's not a drive you're going to make every weekend but for special events -- a King Tut exhibit, Radiohead, Madonna, IKEA, whatever -- I know people make the drive from OKC, Shreveport, or Austin -- and make a weekend of it in Dallas. And if you have friends in Dallas that you can crash with, that makes it even better.

[lasomeday]

I think it is funny how IKEA's target market are urbanites, yet they locate in suburban locations. The warehouse system they use could be adapted to an uban environment to gain even more sales.

[Oil Capital]

And don't underestimate the value of having a metropolitan area the size of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex so relatively close, something you don't have in Charlotte. It's not a drive you're going to make every weekend but for special events -- a King Tut exhibit, Radiohead, Madonna, IKEA, whatever -- I know people make the drive from OKC, Shreveport, or Austin -- and make a weekend of it in Dallas. And if you have friends in Dallas that you can crash with, that makes it even better.

Charlotte is almost as close to Atlanta as OKC is to Dallas. (245 miles vs 206 miles)

[HarryMoto]

Charlotte is almost as close to Atlanta as OKC is to Dallas. (245 miles vs 206 miles)

I thought Atlanta and Charlotte were farther apart. I guess it's those last 39 miles that make the difference!