Starbucks, Duane Reade … what’s next?
By spring of this year, those companies will open a branch of their famous coffee shop and drug store, respectively, in the same building: Grove Pointe at 100-102 Columbus Drive, near Newark Avenue in downtown Jersey City.
What does the presence of these franchises portend for other area businesses? And are more chain stores on the way?
The area includes the Grove Street PATH Station and several residential complexes like the Grove Pointe, with its 525 luxury residential units, and 50 Columbus Drive, with 400 luxury residential units.
Area residents and business owners had mixed feelings last week, when asked about the chain stores opening in that area of Jersey City.
Peter Klapper, proprietor of the 60-year-old, family-owned Hudson Camera at 130 Newark Ave., said, “Duane Reade will offer digital imagery that may hurt my business. But if anything, we will out-quality them and out-service them.”
Duane Reade will operate in an 8,000-square-foot space, which will be their third store in Jersey City. The other two are located at 52 River Drive South in Newport and the Journal Square PATH Station.
Starbucks has locations at Town Square Place and inside the Target store on 14th Street.Taking away or bringing in business?
Klapper conceded that a Starbucks and Duane Reade opening in the same building would mean a lot of residents of Grove Pointe could be doing all their shopping in the building. However, he believes the stores will bring out more people, who might make their way to his store and to others west on Newark Avenue.
“Duane Reade and Starbucks are destination stores, and they will bring people into the immediate area,” Klapper said. “The main thing that has been lacking around here for a number of years is foot traffic.”
Klapper continued, “Duane Reade will have digital cameras, but I know they will send many people my way when those customers need to find specific accessories or information about their cameras.”
Klapper’s store is located in the Historic Downtown Special Improvement District (HDSID), which covers businesses on portions of Grove Street and Newark Avenue. A Special Improvement District is an area where merchants pool resources for public improvements such as roads, sidewalks, streetscapes, and facades in order to foster economic growth. In Jersey City, there are four SIDs, each of which has its own budget.
Stuart Z. Koperweis, the director of HDSID, also sees Duane Reade and Starbucks as being a plus for the area and for the other stores.
He said the stores will increase foot traffic to the area.
“Many people who are constant customers at the smaller businesses will still go there to get the specialized service they have always received,” Koperweis said.
Koperweis said both big stores will create jobs, which is not only good for the economy in the district, but for the city.
He also would like Duane Reade and Starbucks to have more of a local presence beyond just having their stores exist in the downtown area, and hopes they will be owned and operated by local entrepreneurs and hire nearby residents, as do other businesses in the HDSID. Comments on this story can be sent to rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.