September 8, 2008
..."It has been an issue to get national retailers in inner cities," said Richard Green, director of the University of Southern California's Lusk Center for Real Estate.
"Five years ago, there was a real dearth of grocery stores in inner cities," Green said. "The perception was that incomes were low, but densities are high there and people spend such a large fraction of their income on food that there is a market there."
Green said the closing of Starbucks locations in inner-city neighborhoods or redevelopment areas is not good, but those vacancies will not have the same impact a larger retailer, such as a grocery, would have because those stores draw other retailers to the area...