It is plain to see that consumer climate has changed in recent years. With the adoption of large stock websites like Amazon and huge growth in the popularity of online shopping, physical stores don’t have the same appeal.
In the current market, stores have to focus on the experience far more than in the past. Consumers can now easily order what they used to get at the store, and if a store offers nothing but an opportunity to pick up what you can find online, many consumers will ditch the physical store.
For example, while retail stores reported just half the traffic this holiday season compared to three years ago, online shopping revenue was up 10 percent. Simply having a brick-and mortar store is just not enough any more, companies that want to be successful at physical locations must do something more.
To combat this, some retailers have realized that in order to be successful they have to offer consumers something they can’t get from shopping online: a unique shopping experience. Many are familiar with the Source, a highly successful market made up of fourteen tenants located in an old warehouse in the River North (RiNo) neighborhood of Denver. Following in their footsteps, a similar marketplace is slated to open in Aurora next year: the Stanley Marketplace.
The Stanley Marketplace will be located in the Stanley Aviation facility, a large retro-styled factory that closed its doors in 2007. Entrepreneurs Mark Shaker, Loren Ting and Megan Von Wald purchased the building and announced plans to turn it into an urban marketspace. After renovation of the building is complete, there will be over 100,000 square feet of rentable space.
The Stanley Marketplace has been well-received: over 40 tenants have signed letters of intent to rent in the space when it reaches completion towards the end of 2015.
Notable future tenants include a fitness center, wine shop, grocery store, 40,000-square-foot event center and a restaurant and beer garden headed by Kevin Taylor, a local Denver chef.
“This is no ordinary marketplace. We are creating a community of like-minded businesses and people who believe in doing things differently: sustainably, thoughtfully, creatively, and with much more than the bottom line in mind,” said entrepreneur Mark Shaker in an interview with the Denver Business Journal.
The Stanley Marketplace also offers a unique opportunity for DU students. Expecting to bring over 100 jobs to the area, it will not only offer employment opportunities in a wide array of industries but also a place to spend a day running errands or relaxing with friends.
With ideas like this being the driving force behind the Stanley Marketplace, it aims to revitalize the Aurora economy by bringing in industries and jobs that otherwise wouldn’t come to the city, offering tenants and consumers alike a unique retail experience.
