Can downtown Los Altos attract major chains?

One of the biggest issues with downtown Los Altos has been the lack of large chain stores. Many of the property owners have wanted to keep the "village" feel and only have small, local shops present - especially on Main Street. Of course, time and countless lessons learned by other towns has shown that that trend is prone to failure. Look at the number of vacancies downtown and you'll see what happens when small businesses with little economic backing do. A recent article in the Los Altos Town Crier talked about this issue, which is what prompted this blog.

What chains could we possible want downtown that would augment the retail experience? Interestingly enough, Apple was mentioned as was Niketown. However, I think we could use a few others that would appeal. We have one major sumbling block before they show up - small properties!

There are 3 major owners downtown who still hold narrow lots, some adjoining. If those owners would sell those lots, and merge them, we'd have more wide lots with 3000+ sf of store space to accomodate these chains. The town is is desparate need of more, better stores - c'mon owners, get with the program! Is keeping the Los Altos "village" feel so important that you'll sink the town's economy to do it? I think we can have a successful mix of chains and small businesses, very much like Los Gatos. If they can do it, so can we!

My suggestions for appealing chains include:

• Children's Place (clothes)
• Coldwater Creek (clothes)
• Ed Hardy (clothes)
• Gap (clothes)
• Justice (clothes)
• Pottery Barn (housewares)
• Morton's, Ruth's Chris, or any other steakhouse chain
• Lego (toys)

There are several others but these, in my opinion, fill a gap in what we already have downtown without seriously impacting existing merchants. In particular, we don't have a serious steakhouse in town and that's popular with many folks. We have one toy store and the Lego products would probably augment their business instead of taking away from it by bringing more "toy focused buyers" downtown. The clothes are a no-brainer and these stores are very popular right now.

I'd like to get some more exciting restaurants downtown too. A theme restaurant that's family oriented would be interesting but I'm not sure where to put it. Something like "Rainforest Cafe", you know what I mean? Something with a little flash. A little "sizzle" downtown would really attract consumers. Sleepy little villages don't tend to make much money.