Commenter and blogger Neal Meyer calls attention to this Chronicle article about the difficulties a new business is facing downtown:
Thomas Nauls was so inspired when he read The Tipping Point, a book by Malcolm Gladwell, that he named his boutique sneaker shop on Main Street after it.
Not only that, but he also wrote his business plan based on the philosophy of the book, which argues that certain ideas, products and fads behave like epidemic diseases, spreading rapidly once they hit a critical mass.
“We are trying to introduce trends to the right people so that they spread quickly,” Nauls said.
But the problem is, in order for a virus to thrive and reproduce, it must have bodies to infiltrate. And in the two months since he and partners Kenneth Baugh and Dace Graham opened, very few bodies are passing through The Tipping Point’s doors.
He blames that on two problems facing retailers downtown: parking and a limited amount of foot traffic.
As Meyer observes, the story does not once mention light rail. Rather, the story emphasizes the importance of parking to the store’s eventual success (or failure).
Undeterred, the store’s partners are thinking big:
“What separates our stores from other stores is that we don’t just have sneakers,” he said.
“We are selling a lifestyle.”
Although hope for a retail renaissance downtown is in its infancy, Nauls thinks that if he attracts the right crowd, the lifestyle he is selling could spread fast.
“We are trying to introduce trends to the right people so that they spread quickly,” he said.
“It’s a certain type of individual who is well read and sociable. Somebody that not only sees what is going on now, but sees what will be going on in the future. A forward thinker, so to speak.”
Is that really the downtown crowd (and the large homeless population)? It strikes me that there were any number of locations that might be more suitable.
But if you’re inclined to be a footwear trendsetter, here’s the website for the store. Good luck with the parking and hobos!
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