You are onto something. BBB opened stores on Chicago's Gold Coast and in the Lakeview neighborhood in the early 2000's when both areas were experiencing tremendous condo construction and conversion activity. There's less activity going on now and what is being built caters to a higher-end demographic than that which BBB caters to.storewanderer wrote: ↑December 28th, 2020, 11:09 pm
I am thinking they still have stores in the area, maybe they had too many stores? That San Mateo Store- I stayed in a hotel near there a couple times 5-7 years ago. I went over to that store and it seemed like a really busy place so I am surprised. Not sure if maybe they opened other locations nearby since then.
This does seem to be a format that works better in growing areas with a population that skews in their 30's and 40's, as opposed to mature areas with populations skewing into their 50's and 60's. So maybe part of this is just a natural progression of the areas that made sense 20 years ago for their store but no longer make sense today.
I also think BBB's merchandise has failed to keep up with the times. Their merchandise, as others have observed, is rather "meh." There seems to be a plethora of country and Tuscan, but very little modern merchandise.