These are the very same manipulative psychopaths who want to run your healthcare.
Posted on 01/10/2007 10:10:17 AM PST by NewHampshireDuo
The owner of Cadillac Mountain Sports is closing his three downtown Portland stores, citing declining sales and little prospect for a turnaround because of the city's ban on chain store expansion in the area.
Matthew Curtis said sales at his Portland stores Cadillac Mountain Sports, Cadillac's Patagonia and Cadillac's The North Face have been declining since he opened them in 2002. The city's "formula business" cap, Curtis said, represents "a slap in the face" that will prevent him and other retailers on Congress Street from creating the amount of foot traffic they need to increase sales.
Curtis' decision is likely to reignite debate over the formula business limits, which were adopted in November by a 5-4 vote of the Portland City Council in response to a proposal to open a Hooters restaurant downtown.
The ordinance restricts franchises and chains, which are stores or restaurants using unified formulas of names, designs, logos, products and marketing.
For the Old Port and the Congress Street corridor, a group of stores or restaurants becomes a formula business when it has 10 or more locations, according to the Portland regulation.
The city limits formula businesses along Congress Street and in the Old Port to 23, the current number in that area, and says future formula stores must be at least 400 feet from an existing one. That provision further restricts the businesses even if an opening occurs.
Curtis said formula stores on Congress Street, such as L.L. Bean and Olympia Sports, draw people to his and other nearby stores as well as those destinations. By banning additional chains and franchises, he said, the prospects for increasing foot traffic are limited.
"We cannot continue to grow in Portland with this ban, and we cannot reverse our sales declines if Congress Street deteriorates," Curtis said in a statement. "This ban is the opposite of everything I've learned about downtown revitalization."
Curtis said shortly after the limit was adopted that there may be room for a restriction on formula stores in the Old Port, but he opposed the limits for Congress Street.
A City Council panel is scheduled to review a proposed sunset provision for the ordinance today . That amendment, if approved, would have the ordinance lapse after June 30 unless the council votes to extend it.
City Councilor Edward J. Sus-lovic, who opposed the formula business ordinance and is the sponsor of the sunset proposal, said the closing of the Cadillac Mountain stores illustrates the "unintended consequence" of a measure he called "ill-considered and hastily conceived."
He said Curtis hires local people, provides good employee benefits and gives to community charities. "He is the kind of guy and the kind of business that Portland should be courting, not slapping around," Suslovic said, noting that Cadillac Mountain would have met the city's definition of a chain if Curtis had opened two more locations.
Commercial real estate brokers also have opposed the ordinance, saying it will make it harder to fill vacant storefronts. Roxane Cole, a principal in Ram Harnden Commercial Real Estate Services, said there is 83,000 square feet of vacant, ground floor commercial space in the area covered by the ordinance.
"What we don't have is a problem of keeping businesses out, but (rather) attracting them to downtown," Cole said. "It sends a very unfortunate message about Portland not being friendly to business." Others beside Curtis have been affected by the limits, Cole said, including a woman whose plans to open a deli franchise were blocked by the ordinance.
Michele Tribou was within a couple of weeks of closing on a commercial loan and had already put a $5,600 deposit on a Fore Street space where she planned to open a Heidi's Brooklyn Deli, a franchise with 29 locations, most of them in Colorado.
"Everything came to a screeching halt at that November City Council meeting," she said. "It's really disheartening." She noted that the deli will represent a total investment of about $300,000, and she's now looking at spaces in Falmouth and Auburn or other "towns that will accept me."
"These are not big-box, ugly, powerful things that come in and destroy a community," Tribou said. "They can come in and actually enrich a community."
She said advisers from the volunteer organization SCORE had steered her away from opening an independent deli, saying it would be easier to go with a proven formula through a franchise.
City Councilor James F. Cloutier said he will still support the formula business ordinance and oppose the sunset provision despite Curtis' announcement Tuesday.
"I'm not surprised to hear that somebody in the winter retail business is suffering from sales problems," Cloutier said, suggesting that this year's warm weather is probably more to blame than formula business limits. "The suggestion that there's a cause and effect here is a little hard to swallow."
The closing of Curtis' three stores, he said, "isn't something that throws the basic wisdom of that decision in doubt."
Portland, Cloutier said, has been pushing for more residential units along Congress Street and wants to stimulate the development of small businesses there to redevelop the corridor.
Curtis said the three Portland stores represent about 10 percent of the sales for his eight locations. He said nine people will lose their jobs as a result of the closings, which will be complete by the end of March.
Mt Cadillac is the first piece of USA land struck by the rays of the rising sun. Also overlooks Bah Hahbah.
"We're with the government and we're here to help"..
When has a "big-box" store ruined a community? Is she referring to Wal-Mart, Home Depot or Lowe's?
It would seem that this action by the City of Portland would in effect be interfering with interstate commerce which is clearly not within the powers of states or municipal governments. I hope somebody has a good lawyer.
Oh well, all their brand are made in china anyhow, despite the fancy names and high prices.
For US made outdoor wear, try Filson and Obermeyer.
The Law of Unintended Consequences strikes again!!
Bangor just enacted an ordinance prohibiting smoking in cars.
These are the very same manipulative psychopaths who want to run your healthcare.
Hahaha. This does not surprise me at all about LIBERAL Portland. A couple of years ago the school board there was comprised of 3 Democrats, 3 Greens and 1 Republican. Two of the dems missed a meeting and the 3 greens voted to remove Columbus day and replace it with Indigenous Persons Day. The Republican could only sit back and laugh.
They really need a Bass Pro Shops store. Increase the redneck factor in the NE.
Yes they did. It's all for the children. If they really cared about the children they would do more when one is abused to death. There is more than one person in a household.
I'm not sure what the current status of the project is but Cabelas is planning to open a store in Scarborough, ME just down the road a bit from Portland. The state's trying to extort sales tax revenue from them which could scuttle the deal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.