A Blue Light For Plan C

The median household income in Allegheny County is $37,267 (2000) The median household income in Pittsburgh is $20,747 (1990). More than 45 percent of households in the city make less than $20,000 (1990). Looking at an income map, the closer you move to the city center, the lower the income gets.

This is not news.

If a similar map showing the concentration of retail stores existed, it would undoubtedly show most stores where the money is, in the suburbs. This is not news either. Whether you're talking about supermarkets of big-box retailers, there is a lot more choice and selection in the suburbs.

The exception of course was 5th Avenue in Downtown. No, there aren't many groceries, but there are a number of price-oriented stores and places for people who live in the city to shop in the city and buy things, as well as department stores. But lately that's been changing.

Yes, the regular places are slowly being replaced, making way for an expanded Saks Fifth Avenue, a Lazarus and a Lord and Taylor. Soon there'll be more stores to compete with the more exclusive suburban malls to try and bring the people with money back to Pittsburgh--if only for a shopping spree. But why not compete with the regular stores at the mall and in the process provide working people with a place to shop?

There's nothing wrong with having high-end stores downtown that can compete with the ones in the suburbs.

Downtown is a good place for high-end retail stores. They fit in nicely with the urban environment. They fit in nice tall buildings with expensive parking the high-end shoppers enjoy complaining about or getting for free when a ticket is validated with purchase.

All good, but something is missing.

The third try at a renewal plan for Fifth Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh (not yet too commonly confused with the street Saks Fifth Avenue is named after) promises to continue to attract exclusive retailers and even build on it by adding places for people to live--apartments and loft space and offices. But these regular people who live and work downtown will also need a place to shop.

The residents of Pittsburgh and the ones we want to lure back downtown from the suburbs to live need something with more meat than topping. They need a place to buy the things they need on a daily basis. Perhaps a dustpan or some Easy-Off--a houseplant may be nice--cat litter will keep the apartment air fresh…and sometimes they may just feel like buying something and that something can't always be afforded at Lord and Taylor.

The people who live in the suburbs--the people with money and the ones without--have a K-Mart. So should the people who live, shop and work in downtown Pittsburgh.

"A K-mart?" Your reaction may be confusion with question. I know, I know, and before you say it, I am not suggesting razing blocks of old buildings for a parking lot. I'm talking about a discount store that will serve the same purpose as Woolworth, McCrory and Murphy's had in the past.

New York has several good examples of K-Marts that fit into urban environs and serve pedestrians rather than drivers. One is in Penn Station. The other is on Astor Place in the East Village. Astor Place of course is named for old money in New York--and if Astor Place can have a K-Mart, so can Mellon Square.

Of course it doesn't have to be K-Mart. It could just as well be a Target or Wal-Mart. But K-Mart seems to have already established a model for an urban store, and that model could more easily be replicated in Pittsburgh and other downtowns, rather than recreated.

In any case, the K-Marts in Manhattan serve to supply the people who live in Manhattan, rich and poor, with the things they need on a daily basis. As Pittsburgh looks forward to "Plan C" and a future of a more lively 24-hour downtown with retail, residential, hotel and office space, it should work for a "Plan K"--and include a store that residents, office workers and visitors can use to get the things they need without driving to the suburbs.

It's time to see the blue light. Go K-Mart.

Eric Miller