The 7th Street Shuffle

Something’s been on my mind lately. It has to do with all the retail tenant announcements lately for the developments on 7th Street. As it stands now, we’ve either heard rumors or actual confirmations for the following tenants of the big developments:

Movie Tavern
Lucky Strike Lanes
Fort Worth City Market
Fireside Pies
Iron Cactus
Patrizio’s
Tillman’s Roadhouse
Brut
Yofe
Paciugo
Saxby’s Coffee
LA Fitness
Sovereign Bank
Aloft
7-Eleven Corner Store
Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams
The Market
BoConcept
Potbelly
Design Within Reach
La Duni Latin Cafe
Nicolas
Ra Sushi
Village Tavern
Celebrity Bakery
Duxiana
Dry cleaner
Barber shop
Florist
Legacy Bank
Domain
Eddie V.’s Edgewater Grille
Primo’s Bar & Grille
Vino Jean Michael
Performance Playground
“Bike Shop”
Hola! Tapas
Saint-Emilion

It’s been an exciting time lately, with all the announcements - and I’d expect to hear even more in May, after the ICSC Conference in Las Vegas.

Reaction has been usually in one of two general groups - those excited by the announcements, because they’re looking forward to all the developments opening up and turning 7th Street into a premiere urban neighborhood, and those who are revolting against the tenant announcements, usually saying they’re too pretentious, too flashy, “too Dallas” (one particularly memorable comment was “we are just Gomorrah to Dallas’ Sodom”), etc.

Me, I’m generally positive. Many of the tenants either rumored or confirmed have never been in Fort Worth before. There are even some, such as Lucky Strike Lanes and Eddie V.’s, that have never been in North Texas at all before. I never go to Dallas for recreation, so if there’s a Primo’s or Hola! Tapas in Uptown, I don’t care. I’m never going there. So, I’m not that upset about them coming to Fort Worth. They’re not Chili’s - they’re local guys who have decided to finally open a location on the good side of the Fort Worth/Dallas metroplex.

I’m not a big chain person, but when it’s a quality chain that doesn’t open a location on every corner, I’m not so upset about that, either. Again, unlike Chili’s. A good example is Uno in Sundance Square - it’s good food, and it’s the only one in Texas. That doesn’t particularly bother me. So, even the more chain-like places headed in here aren’t usually bothering me that much. I prefer local, but chains have their place.

I suppose this rambling post is just a way of asking y’all in Readerland for your opinion. What do you say about the 7th Street developments and their tenants? Sound off in the comments.