Flagstaff Marketplace

The Flagstaff Marketplace is a newer development that has expanded the variety of shopping places for the community. The shopping center has a PetCo, Home Depot, Old Navy, World Market, Best Buy, Marshall’s, and Ashley Furniture. Although, these stores are all retail they are retail specific with the exception of Old Navy and Marshalls there doesn’t seem to be much competition within the Marketplace. However, if you continue west past the Marketplace you will find a slew of Car Dealerships including Mazda, Honda Jeep, Toyota, Scion, Subaru, and Volkswagen. This was surprising to me that the retail stores weren’t more competitively related, but the dealerships were all located one right after another.

The Marketplace although it is considered private, is outside and makes it feel more public then a mall, because of the structure. The shopping center is also privately owned and the architecture represents that of stone on the facade of the building to give it a new and upscale feel. Flagstaff is a smaller town and usually retail superstores receive criticism within the community, because they weaken the retail draw to the smaller businesses according to Conzen.

The store on the corner of the shopping center has changed quite a few times it was originally a shoe store, but the company went bankrupt. Then it was used as a seasonal Halloween store. Now it is Tuesday mornings, which is a clearance store that carries anything from furniture, to kitchen appliances, to toys. It is a hodgepodge of items that people want or need. This space has had so many different businesses, because of the economy and the rent for the space is more expensive, as we talked about in class and it was discussed within the article “Vacancies still high in retail” in the Arizona Daily Sun written by Jake Bacon. This also explains the vacant space in the sign below.