View Full Version : Balliets expanding



Patrick
08-02-2005, 12:30 PM
Good news for 50 Penn Place. But it doesn't sound like the leasing agents for 50 Penn Place are too positive about OKC getting an upscale department store other than Macy's.

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"50 Penn Place store takes new form
By Tricia Pemberton
The Oklahoman

Balliet's in 50 Penn Place is undergoing a $250,000 transformation.
Bob Benham, who owns the store with his wife, DeDe, said the renovation, which began Monday, will allow for an expansion of the store's cosmetic and shoe departments, and a redesign of apparel and accessories.

Benham said shoes and cosmetics, up 27 percent and 12 percent, respectively, in year-to-date sales over 2004, are the top-growing segments in the store. Sales in general exceeded the $6 million mark last year, and Benham expects to hit $7 million next year with the store changes.

"The renovation will allow us to keep up with the trends in our business," Benham said. "We want this to be a fun store, not you're grandmother's Oldsmobile store."

Benham's excitement showed as he offered a tour of the 12,200-square-foot space.

"We're taking out all the front walls, to open the store visually and let the light spill in," he said. Carpeting and display cases throughout will be replaced.

Benham showed examples of bone-colored polished porcelain floor tiles to be bordered by black granite.

"This granite was in the ground in Brazil just six to seven weeks ago," Benham said.

Employees on Monday morning loaded cosmetics into little red Roadster USA wagons for transport to a temporary home in nearby space, formerly occupied by Williams-Sonoma.

To direct customers to the separate store, Benham will place footprints along the mall's second-story landing.

Demolition crews were set to arrive Monday evening, hoping to complete work by Aug. 29.

An anchor tenant
Randy Vallencourt of Trammell Crow Co., which handles leasing for 50 Penn Place's owner, Dallas-based Ranier Capital Management, has said he considers Balliet's an important tenant.

"For a mall our size, Balliet's, at 12,000 feet, is an anchor tenant. They're a real star in Oklahoma," he said.

And the renovation speaks of bigger changes taking place in Oklahoma City, Benham said.

"Oklahoma City is going through a renaissance. There have been so many good developments in the past 10 years. MAPS was our defibulator. It absolutely got our hearts pumping. We are now at a tipping point, where I decided to take this risk and make this investment.

"I finally decided the market is here. Why shouldn't Oklahoma have something comparable to Dallas or Chicago," he said.

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett said the city not only is seeing new investment, but also is seeing reinvestment, as in the case of Balliet's and projects such as the Skirvin hotel.

"The perception that Oklahoma City is a value-oriented market is outdated. What we notice is that higher end opportunities are doing better than they ever have, whether it be higher end concerts at the Ford Center, upper-end restaurants or higher-end retail such as Balliet's. A lot of tourism and retailers are seeing we've got to reinvest in what we've got," he said.

"When stores like Neiman Marcus or Nordstrom look here, they don't find strong enough demographics to support their stores. So we have a vacuum.

"We do, however, have very fashion-driven consumers, and we have enough customers to support such shopping on a smaller scale," he said. "

HOT ROD
08-02-2005, 10:06 PM
Hopefully with the Balliet expansion and Macy's, OKC will be able to ride the tide of high end retail. The city CAN support it!!

scootches
09-25-2005, 12:42 PM
Nordstrom, Neiman's or any other higher end department store will never come to Oklahoma City. The Saks in Tulsa is terrible and will most likely be closed soon. The great news is that with Balliet's there is no need for these stores as Balliet's carries much of what these stores carry but with a plus - actual customer service! You will find the finest apparel and accessors from Milan as well as affordable, fun fashions from right here in the USA. Check it out... in fact I think Balliet's is having an unveiling of their recent renovations on Thursday. September 29. I hear they are giving a prize to everyone that walks in the door - one of the prizes is a $1,000 gift certificate!!

mranderson
09-25-2005, 02:17 PM
Nordstrom, Neiman's or any other higher end department store will never come to Oklahoma City. The Saks in Tulsa is terrible and will most likely be closed soon. The great news is that with Balliet's there is no need for these stores as Balliet's carries much of what these stores carry but with a plus - actual customer service! You will find the finest apparel and accessors from Milan as well as affordable, fun fashions from right here in the USA. Check it out... in fact I think Balliet's is having an unveiling of their recent renovations on Thursday. September 29. I hear they are giving a prize to everyone that walks in the door - one of the prizes is a $1,000 gift certificate!!

It is really strange and never ceases to amaze me the number of people who can predict when the end of time will arrive... Gee. I wish I had that talent.:fighting2

scootches
09-25-2005, 02:41 PM
Huh?

brianinok
09-25-2005, 06:17 PM
scootches: what he is trying to say is you can't say "never." We were also never supposed to get an NBA team. Have you been to the Saks in Tulsa recently?? It is much better than it was a few years ago. While we may not be ready for an upper end store like Nordstom or Neimans right now, who knows where we will be in the short-term and long-term future.

scootches
09-25-2005, 06:24 PM
And what makes you think a Saks or a Neimans or a Nordstrom would be "good" for OKC? Do you really want to see hundreds of small, locally-owned businesses close their doors? I don't. I like the hundreds of small boutiques that serve this great city. And in all fairness we didn't "get" an NBA team - we are borrowing them. I am hoping they will end up staying and there is a good chance of that and that is GREAT for our city. But another BIG chain store may not be.

ptwobjb
09-26-2005, 05:51 AM
Nordstrom, Neiman's or any other higher end department store will never come to Oklahoma City. The Saks in Tulsa is terrible and will most likely be closed soon. The great news is that with Balliet's there is no need for these stores as Balliet's carries much of what these stores carry but with a plus - actual customer service! You will find the finest apparel and accessors from Milan as well as affordable, fun fashions from right here in the USA. Check it out... in fact I think Balliet's is having an unveiling of their recent renovations on Thursday. September 29. I hear they are giving a prize to everyone that walks in the door - one of the prizes is a $1,000 gift certificate!!

This sounds way too much like an advertisement. Sort of like when apartment managers pretend to be tenets and post reviews of their own complexes on apartment-review websites.

mranderson
09-26-2005, 06:13 AM
And what makes you think a Saks or a Neimans or a Nordstrom would be "good" for OKC? Do you really want to see hundreds of small, locally-owned businesses close their doors? I don't. I like the hundreds of small boutiques that serve this great city. And in all fairness we didn't "get" an NBA team - we are borrowing them. I am hoping they will end up staying and there is a good chance of that and that is GREAT for our city. But another BIG chain store may not be.

You are exagerating. Businesses do not close just because someone else opens a location. IT takes people who shop those new businesses to cause a business to close. So, do not blame the new business. After all, you have a choice. You CAN choose to stay with the smaller business.

beedell
09-26-2005, 12:46 PM
I think this renovation sounds great for the store and for the local economy. I think we should focus on (and patronize) businesses and people that are willing to contribute to our local economy NOW, not ones who are waiting for us to achieve a certain median income level combined with a certain population threshold.

I also certainly hope that we don't judge the quality of our lives here in OKC by whether we have a Neiman Marcus or Sak's in our city. The presence of a Sak's doesn't seem to have done Tulsa much good over the past 20 years . . .

swake
09-26-2005, 12:54 PM
Sak's isn't the most upscale department store in Utica anyway, It's Miss Jackson's, which is a local store.

scootches
09-26-2005, 01:01 PM
And a BEAUTIFUL one at that...

HOT ROD
09-26-2005, 02:45 PM
I think this renovation sounds great for the store and for the local economy. I think we should focus on (and patronize) businesses and people that are willing to contribute to our local economy NOW, not ones who are waiting for us to achieve a certain median income level combined with a certain population threshold.

I also certainly hope that we don't judge the quality of our lives here in OKC by whether we have a Neiman Marcus or Sak's in our city. The presence of a Sak's doesn't seem to have done Tulsa much good over the past 20 years . . .

Seattle doesnt have Neiman Marcus or Saks either!!! No where here in Washington!

Vancouver BC has both (and much much more like Cartier, Feragomo, so forth - shopping in Canada is awesome!) and Portland has Saks. We have Loui Vitton (sp) as does Vancouver.

But that is it for high end retail in Seattle, just loui. I dont consider Nordstrom in their league, but that could be local bias (as just about every mall in Washington has a Nordys).

I would like to see OKC get a Nordy's. It is a perfect fit, not a high as Loui or Neiman but above anything there aside from Balliets, etc. It would give a nice taste to the city and give another "high end" option to add to Saks in Tulsa (if the two cities could ever agree to cooperate).

But hey, dont feel bad. As many billionaires and microsoft millionaires as we have in Seattle area and 3.8M people in Puget Sound, there is really only one high end store in the whole state! Loui Vitton.

Lots of lower "hi end" tho like Nordy's, Macy (just converted a local dept store), Eddie Bauer, so forth; hopefully OKC can get some of this, at least to start!!

mranderson
09-26-2005, 02:53 PM
Frankly, I do not want Neiman-Marcus in Oklahoma City. They can stay in Texas as far as I am concerned.

Give me Bloomingdales.