View Full Version : Memorial and Penn update



Patrick
08-19-2004, 11:47 PM
Looks like another anchor has been chosen to go with Super Target and PF Chang's at the old Memorial Square Shopping center on the Northeast corner of Memorial Road and Penn. A Circuit City will be built on the site.

Also, Best Buy will be opening up a new store as well, next to Gordmans in whats left of the old Quail Springs Target store. I tend to wonder who will win the electronic war at this corner. I give Ultimate Electronics a year.....I bet after Best Buy and Circuit City open, Ultimate will be gone. They're just too pricey. This is just my guess anyways.



Here's the article:

" Circuit City store will be city's third
By Jim Stafford
The Oklahoman

With an eye on the Christmas retailing season, Circuit City hopes to have a store operating at the busy intersection of Memorial Road and Pennsylvania Avenue in December, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.
The new Circuit City store is in one of Oklahoma City's busiest retail areas in terms of both shopping and traffic volume.

It is adjacent to Quail Springs Mall on the east side of Pennsylvania and north of Memorial. It is next to a Target store, and Sam's Club and Wal-Mart stores are south across Memorial Road. An Ultimate Electronics retail store also is nearby.

Oklahoma City traffic engineer Stuart Chai said the intersection averages more than 30,000 vehicles a day traveling east and west on Memorial and almost 30,000 vehicles traveling north and south on Pennsylvania. Those numbers are from 2002, the latest figures the city has, he said.

The new Circuit City retail site is the former location of a now-demolished strip center that was home to the AMC Theaters before it relocated to the nearby mall. Workers with JVC Construction of West Des Moines, Iowa, already have erected some of the building's frame at the site.

Other retailers that will join Circuit City at the site have not been disclosed. Leasing is being negotiated by Tom Blanton of the Blanton Property Co. Blanton was unavailable Wednesday for comment.

This will be the third Oklahoma City outlet for the Richmond, Va.-based consumer electronics retailer. It opened two stores in 1992, one at 221 E Interstate 240 Service Road next to Crossroads Mall and the other at 3625 Northwest Expressway.

Spokeswoman Amanda Tate said Circuit City normally operates from stores that average 33,500 square feet of retailing space and employ about 60 people. She said no general manager has been named for the store.

"This new store will be a different-looking format for shoppers in Oklahoma City," she said. "The biggest thing they will notice is that it will be brighter, the aisles are wider and easier to get around. Shopping carts will be available."

Tate said when Circuit City dropped appliances from its stores in 2000, it reduced the space needed for warehousing inventory and opened more to retailing.

"We have as much product on the floor as we possibly can," Tate said. "We did some research and found that's what consumers like."

The Northwest Expressway store was one of 222 Circuit City stores recently remodeled to reflect the new philosophy, she said. The company operates 609 retail stores and plans to open "60 to 70" stores this year, Tate said.

Circuit City is the nation's second-largest electronics retailer -- Best Buy is No. 1 -- with annual sales of almost $10 billion, according to the business information company Hoover's Online.

As for its soon-to-be neighbors, Quail Springs Mall spokeswoman Stacey Aldridge said the retailer is welcome in the area.

"Competition is a good thing," Aldridge said. "Bringing more opportunities for shoppers to get a variety of things in this area benefits everybody and brings more people to this side of the city."

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Patrick
08-19-2004, 11:49 PM
By the way, are they going to do anything about the traffic at this intersection??? I really hate going up there because the traffic is a nightmare. I think the city has really put some poor planning into the area! With all the retail being located in mega centers there at one intersection, that intersection is horrible.

mranderson
08-20-2004, 05:14 PM
I think there is room for all three and more. Ultimate is upscale, Circuit City is midrange and Best Buy caters to all but extreme high end.

There are others. Fry's, Rex and a few more.

I only wonder if Best Buy is adding a location or moving from NW 59 and May.

Patrick
08-21-2004, 02:17 AM
Best Buy is adding another location. They wouldn't dare move their 59th and N. May location...it's their top profit producing store in the state! You'll notice that most major stores have locations around the Crossroads/I-240 area, NW Expressway area, and Memorial Road area. I think several of the stores located in the first two are just locating additional locations at the newly developing Memorial Road corridor. I wouldn't be surprised if you see stores like Office Max, Borders, Staples, Comp USA, Show Carnival, etc. make their presence there as well, as they already have locations in the NW Expressway area.

okcpulse
08-25-2004, 07:32 AM
Patrick, the City of Oklahoma City has been focusing on this very intersection for quite some time now. Plans are currently underway to reconfigure and expand the intersection of Penn and Memorial, which will include additonal lanes, additional turn lanes and Texas turn-arounds under the Kilpatrick Turnpike overpass.

I have family coming in from Houston next month. My brother-in-law, along with my wife, lived in Oklahoma City for three years during their childhood from 1987 to 1990 near Quail Springs Mall. He hasn't been to Oklahoma City in fourteen years. A lot has changed since February of 1990! He'll be shocked to see the tons of traffic passing through what was then just a four-way stop with a field in between eastbound and westbound Memorial.

At this point, the only variable Oklahoma City is waiting on for this intersection is funding to start work on the project. That situation may have changed the last time I checked, but as far as I know, a funding source has yet to be obtained. I do know it is part of the 2000 bond issue, however, not all the bonds have been sold yet, as old bonds from the 1995 o.b. issue are being retired.

Continue the Renaissance!!!

Patrick
08-25-2004, 05:45 PM
Yeah, I was fully aware they were going to put in Texas turn lanes and double turn lanes at this intersection. I definitely can see how you're family will be shocked to see that area. It's definitely taken off! I remember the old 4 way intersection you're referring to there. Boy, that doesn't seem like too long ago.

My only problem with this intersection is that the city didn't put any planning into it. Instead of having to put more turn lanes in, the city should've zoned that corner differently. In my opinion, there's way too much retail concentrated in one space there. The new turn lanes may help the intersection out, but they won't help all of the parking lots out, and the come and go traffic. The development should've been more spready out, kind of like what was done around the Northwest Expressway area, with office buildings and apartment complexes in between retail and restaurant space. Seems like on Memorial Road, everything is concentrated in one area. Retail and restaurants seem to be concentrated between the May and Penn area. Offices seem to be concentrated west of May Ave towards Lake Hefner Parkway and beyond. Apartments seem to be concentrated south of Memorial Road and wayout west. The Northwest Expressway are has the same stores, but they're more spread out. For example, Circuit City is onn Portland. Best Buy is at NW 59th and May Ave. Home Depot is at NW 59th and May Ave. Lowes will be at NW 39th and May Ave. Staples, Bed Bath and Beyond, Akins, and Burlington are at NW 63rd and May Ave. Ross, Wal-Mart- Belle Isle, Old Navy, Show Carnival is at Classen and NW Expressway. Target (soon to be a Super Target) and Office Depot is at NW Expressway and May Ave. and another at Rockwell and NW Expressway. Office Max is at NW Expressway and Idependence. Another Wal-Mart with Sam's Club is at Council and Northwest Expressway, along with a Kohl's and Home Depot.

Having offices in between helps with traffic because most of the people at the offices are idle during the day, and that space is inactive on nights and weekends. So it provides a buffer in between high traffic shopping areas. Just think if you put all of the stores I just mentioned in the Penn Square/Northwest Expressway area on one intersection! I would be a nightmare.

Anyways, my point in all of this....I think the Memorial and Penn area, although a great sign of growth for our community, is also a sign of poor planning.

The Memorial and Penn development is also continuing to further the cause of Urban Sprawl! Something that's detrimental to our city. I'll talk about this in another post later.