Boulder retailers comfortable in FlatIron

BROOMFIELD ? Boulder retailers who expanded to the Village at FlatIron Crossing are not only happy with sales in their new stores, they are delighted with the mega-mall’s management. Additionally, their Pearl Street stores experienced little or no dip when FlatIron Crossing opened in August.

Ron Werner, the “W” in HW Home Furnishings, said he and his partner, Jim Hering, were seeking a different demographic when they decided to open a store in FlatIron, in addition to their original store on the Pearl Street Mall.

“It’s a different market at FlatIron,” Werner said. “We reach another customer dynamic. People from Westminster, Broomfield and south were not coming to Boulder to the Pearl Street Mall. Now they’re starting to know that we’re here in the Village at FlatIron.” Werner would not disclose sales figures, but said, “Sales are good, above our projections; and we’re getting repeat customers.”

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He said it’s amazing that two areas 10 to 12 miles apart could be such different markets. But the stores help each other, and they are experiencing cross-selling.

Werner said they chose the Village instead of the inside mall area because HW Home Furnishings is not a mall store. “People have the notion that if you’re in a mall, you’re a large, national chain. We’re a privately owned, urban eclectic home furnishings store with a one-of-a-kind product. We don’t belong in a mall,” he said.

Werner went on to say that there was no way he would have come to FlatIron if his store had to be in the mall. “In the Village, just south of the mall, we can see the outside ? trees grow, rain and snow fall, the sun shines, and we can open our doors and breathe fresh air.”

HW Home furnishings had no dip in sales at its Pearl Street store when FlatIron Crossing opened in August. “We had a great month downtown. If we didn’t already know it, we would never have guessed that a shopping center opened, based on our August sales.”

The Paper Doll had a slightly different experience. Lisa Ciardelli, the owner of the FlatIron store, was worried that the Paper Doll on the Pearl Street Mall, owned by her mother, would be hurt when FlatIron opened. “There’s definitely been less traffic, but long term, it’s going to be fine,” she said.

Ciardelli also mentioned the different demographic at FlatIron Crossing from the Pearl Street Mall, and said her customers tell her they don’t go shopping in downtown Boulder. “People I’ve had in my store from Broomfield, Westminster, Morrison and even Vail said they’ve never been to Pearl Street Mall.”

Many moms from the new housing developments in Broomfield and around FlatIron have been visiting the Paper Doll with their babies in strollers. “I also get a lot of high-tech people from the business community at Interlocken,” Ciardelli said.

The Paper Doll was started in California in 1969 by Ciardelli’s mother, Lilie St. Germain, who owns the Pearl Street Mall store. When they first decided to expand, Ciardelli began a retail operation at Crossroads Mall in Boulder.

“I really didn’t like working with the Macerich management,” she said. “They are an old-time company with old-style management that wants to dictate to businesses. Here (FlatIron) the management treats you like a human being and does everything it can to help your business. I feel sorry for retailers still stuck in their leases at Crossroads,” Ciardelli said. The Paper Doll opened Aug. 10 at FlatIron Village, and Ciardelli closed her store at Crossroads at the end of August.

Another business owner, Marilyn Reynolds of the MacLaren Markowitz Gallery, is delighted with FlatIron management. “They’re fabulous. They are so helpful, and they really want the stores to succeed.”

Reynolds said she wanted to expand into another market that wasn’t coming to Boulder, and that’s why she chose FlatIron. “Broomfield is an up-and-coming area with residents and workers I wasn’t reaching in Boulder. But I never would have come here if I’d had to go inside the mall,” she said “The Village is outside, it’s pedestrian, and it’s anchored by restaurants. All those things help an art gallery succeed.”

Although her gallery on the Pearl Street Mall is doing well, Reynolds is not happy with the way the mall is managed. “It’s almost like the city (Boulder) doesn’t want business downtown,” she said. “They didn’t act to help Crossroads even though they have known for four years that FlatIron was on the fast track to development.”

Reynolds said the lack of signage on the Pearl Street Mall bothers her. People don’t always know there are stores off the mall on the west and east ends. “The difference between FlatIron management and downtown Boulder is huge. I’m having a trunk showing in two weeks at FlatIron, and the management here will have signs about it up in a few days.”

Reynolds added that she thought creating downtown Boulder as a Business Improvement District (BID) was a good move, but it’s not too far along with its marketing efforts.

Molly Winter, director of the Downtown and University Hill Management Division, said the city does care about the downtown businesses, and is doing everything it legally can to promote the area. “The city doesn’t market the downtown, however, and we can’t run ads about the Pearl Street Mall. But we do run ads about the parking availability,” Winter said. A parking promotion for after Thanksgiving and carrying through December will soon be made public.

“People should call Jane Jenkins, executive director of the BID, to find out about all the things that are in the works,” Winter said. “The new marketer is doing a good job.”

The BID reported in its Oct. 30 newsletter that year-to-date retail sales tax revenue for the Pearl Street Mall is up 16.5 percent, while citywide retail sales tax is up 2.92 percent. For the month of August, the mall’s retail sales tax increased 18.8 percent, compared to August last year, and the city’s retail sales tax is up 2.3 percent.