By Juan Montoya
First it was Sears.
Then, the downtown HEB.
And now, Bealls' an upscale department store and an anchor at Sunrise Mall - as was Sears - is flying the Brownsville coop.
Bealls scrapped a plan to transition its Bealls stores to Gordmans in the Rio Grande Valley, and will close all but one of its approximately 15 outlets. The store to remain open is located in Port Isabel.
What's happening? Is out city bureaucracy and city fathers (and moms) not minding the stores?
While we continue to throw millions of pet projects like the hike-and-bike trails system to connect us to a network linking the entire valley, spending thousands and closing downtown to traffic so people can rid their bicycles, funding that Mr. Amigo, etc., the underwhelming Crossroads Festival during Charro Days that set the city back a pretty penny, businesses are flying away in droves.
The much ballyhooed thousands of Active tourism that was supposed to bring the city millions hasn't materialized yet, and - unless you have blind faith in commissioner Rose Gowen's fantasy - won't by any stretch of the imagination in the foreseeable future.
How many more of these boondoggles must local taxpayers fund? How many jobs have these undertakings created, apart from putting public money in individuals' pockets?
It's time to take a hard look at our priorities as a a city. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. Will our mall mirror the downtown area in a few years if we continue down this road? It's time to grab the bull by the horns. Down this road lies economic perdition.
29 comments:
Beall's upscale? Since when? Maybe in Brownsville! LOL
Juan if Amigoland mall closed down i am certain other retail stores will follow and then Space X, Titan you know the list. What else is new here in brownsville.
For once it is not city leadership as big box store are an endangered species everywhere. Online shopping is doing what these store did to Mom and Pop stores. Expect to see more stripe malls and the return of Mom and Pop specialty stores.
Huge brick and mortar stores with many thousand of square to heat, cool and insure with an army of employees are as dead as the Doo-Doo bird. Viva Amazon.com!
I can already hear the blimp saying, “here is the deal people, the bv reported this 10 years ago.... Vato Gordo!
(Huge brick and mortar stores with many thousand of square to heat, cool and insure with an army of employees are as dead as the Doo-Doo bird. Viva Amazon.com!)
Lol! I agree. I'm even starting to buy groceries from Amazon.
Eldelasprietas.
funny i use to order from jc penney catalog and shop at service merchandise
the internet is almost the same concept of shop from home
everything goes in full circle they say.
City leaders don't care, just take a look at city management staff all of them park their personal cars on metered parking areas right in front of city hall all day taking away much needed revenue. But they require all other employees to park three or four blocks away on city parking lots, rain or shine, cold or hot. Is this true Leadership? Leaders lead by example, something that is obviously not practice here in city government. What a double standard.
But downtown is full of cantinas!
But what about NURITH?
I only go to the mall to buy tostadas and agua fresca lol
Unfortunately for Brownsville, Trey Mendez is continuing the Tony Martinez era by focusing on Downtown Brownsville and neglecting the fact that the real Brownsville is now North of Downtown and is being neglected. Time to get real in Brownsville and realize that Downtown is just a little part of this town now.
"Ostrich policy" is a metaphoric expression referring to the tendency to ignore obvious matters and pretend they don't exist; the expression derives from the supposed habit of ostriches to stick their head in the sand rather than face danger. Caterubg to the elitist (lambisquiando)is another problem that also exist in this town and along with the coco mentality that, is to cater to the white population ONLY. "CATERVILLE" is a more appropriate name for this CENOTE.
Spring breakers coming down here will bring the virus yes or no? Are there any safe guards to protect the locals? Shit NO money is more important bring all the infected people down here and lets make a bunch of money money money!!!
Spacex won't go he's looking to privitize that area he already has a check point to keep the mexicans out
Will our mall mirror the downtown area? Economic perdition? You don't keep up with the nation's (and hemisphere's) economic trends much, do you?
Somebody beat me to the comment...
Bealls, upscale? LOL... Ni yo que estoy jodido digo que Bealls es upscale.
Blaming city leaders for a decision made by a corporation is irresponsible and casts blame to the wrong people. The city had absolutely nothing to do with the company's decision to close the store rather than rebrand it. Brick and mortar stores are closing around the country because of online retailers. It isn't Brownsville's fault Sears and Beall's are closing.
It is time the Sunrise Mall gets its comeuppance. They killed the Amigoland Mall and now they're suffering some of the same issues.
Blaming the mayor for "neglecting" North Brownsville is ridiculous. Just because he's trying to renovate downtown doesn't mean he is neglecting anything else.
Coronavirus Live Updates: Governments Struggle to Cope as Anxiety Rises
I guess they figure that is place is going to be hit hard by the virus and they're skipping out of their responsibilities and closing shop, just like the local elected officials and BISD NO EMERGENCY PLANNING
The White House insists President Donald Trump doesn't need a coronavirus test, despite several members of his political circle self-quarantining after they came into contact with a man later diagnosed with the disease.
it's a godsend
T.he mayor is neglecting the the city,
So who do you blame pendejo and how do you know its a corp decision idiota? He'll be a one time mayor and a bad one at that
Sent him to china he'll be a good candidate for testing el chapo
You DO know that the SEARS is being replaced with a 50,000 sq. ft. Main Event and a 2nd Tru-Fit location for Brownsville?
OUR MALL IS DYING AND NO ONE CARES. IT'S AMAZING THAT OUR LEADERS CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. IT WOULD BE NICE IF A CHEESECAKE FACTORY RESTAURANT COULD OPEN IN THE MALL LIKE THE ONE IN SAN ANTONIO, AS WELL AS AN INDOOR PLAY AREA FOR KIDS AND A MACY'S STORE. THE AREA WHERE SEARS WAS WOULD BE A PERFECT SPOT FOR MACY'S. ANOTHER THING THAT OUR MALL COULD DO IS TO HAVE A FARMER'S MARKET ON SATURDAYS. I WENT TO ONE AT A MALL IN AUSTIN AND IT WAS PACKED WITH PEOPLE THAT EVENTUALLY ENDED UP INSIDE THE MALL. IT WAS MUCH LARGER THAN THE FARMER'S MARKET WE HAVE BY THE ZOO. I JUST HOPE THAT SOMETHING CAN BE DONE ABOUT OUR MALL.
Excellent places for the homeless, ducks and maybe a prison for our local elected officials, oops I mean containment storages.
The elected officials want to close all the malls so people can go downtown to shop and get drunk and eat pizzas but you are going to have to drive a bike to get there.
If Beall's is upscale, then Target is haute couture.
Target is not in the mall and its a démodé homogenisation store. The elected officials shop there.
Hope that elected officials take action against city management staff parking every day on metered parking spots downtown. Thousands of dollars are being wasted every month due to this poor practice, Total Aligment? Yeah right, leaders lead by example, get with the program.
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