Arrivederci Ropa Bella

Though the big sale sign hanging below the awning doesn't hint at the fact, a much smaller sign in the shop window confirms a sad truth: in very modest-sized type are the words "Ropa Bella is closing."  All furniture and fixtures, mannequins included, are for sale.  So the end is near for the long-running women's clothing shop that has struggled over the past couple of years to find its place.

A Madison Park mainstay for over two decades, Ropa Bella only recently moved back to the neighborhood after a short-but-uneventful foray into Madison Valley. That eight-month experiment seemed to confirm for owner Lisa Loban that the Park was where she needed to be if Ropa Bella were to survive.  But in the end, "it was the economy," she says.  She notes that her landlord, Lakeside Capital Management, bent over backwards to help her return to the neighborhood last year and has been supportive all along.  But the in-store traffic, quite simply, hasn't come back since Ropa Bella returned to Madison Park last May.  As a result, Loban notified Lakeside that she would not be renewing her lease at the end of April.

"It's been a really hard decision," Loban tells us.  "It's my baby and I gave it my all.  I really tried."  She notes that the current sale is definitely not a liquidation event.  There is all-new Spring inventory on hand, she says, and she hopes her loyal customers--and everyone else--will come by to check it out.

Loban, who is unsurprisingly emotional about the store's demise, says that beginning in May she intends to take a few months off to rest and recover.  Ultimately, she hopes to do something new in fashion or sales.  In the meantime, she's trying to come to grips with her changed circumstance. "I love my customers, but we've had our turn and it's time for change."

There was a time when there were multiple clothing shops in Madison Park, including The Yankee Peddler and Nubia's.  With Ropa Bella's exit, the only remaining Village store offering clothes will be The Original Children's Shop.  It is unclear whether a retail tenant will take the Ropa Bella space when it's vacated.  Although Lakeside would prefer to see multiple retail establishments remain in the Villa Marina building, it is reportedly prepared to convert space to office use if that is a better alternative.

[Ropa Bella is located at 1928 43rd Avenue E.]

More August events

Two Dog Island, founded 15 years ago by former Nordstrom executive (and Madison Park resident) Galen Jefferson, will be previewing its new fall line with a trunk show at Ropa Bella this week.  Two Dog Island’s focus is on “high quality casual separates for women,” beginning—but not ending—with comfy sweatshirts.  The show will be underway from 2 until 7 pm on Thursday, August 25 at the store (1928 43rd Avenue E.)

The Arboretum is requesting public input concerning a “preferred alternative” to the “preliminary conceptual design” for the park’s new North Entry and Multi-Use Trail.  The revision to the original plan is being made as the result of earlier public input after the initial plan was presented in June.  Those interested will get their opportunity to see the changes and provide their reactions at a public meeting on Wednesday, August 31 (6:30 to 8 pm) to be held at the Graham Visitors Center (2300 Arboretum Drive E.).  The new design for the North Entry presupposes the demolition of the SR 520 ramps, which seems to be a foregone conclusion at this point.

[Note to event holders:  Please submit your notices to us by the 25th of the month for inclusion in the following month’s Happenings postings. Thanks.]

Ropa Bella says sayonara to the Valley

Will return to the Park in May

After being in its Madison Valley location (2717 E. Madison St.) for only nine months, women’s clothing retailer Ropa Bella is pulling up stakes and returning to Madison Park.  In mid-May, the shop will be relocating to the space recently vacated by Maison Michel in the Villa Marina building (1928 43rd Avenue E.).   

For over 20 years, Ropa Bella had been a Madison Park mainstay (first in Arboretum Court and later in space on Madison Street now occupied by Key Bank).  But that all ended last summer, when Ropa Bella was unable to negotiate a lease renewal with its landlord.  As a result, the store—having no acceptable alternatives in Madison Park—made the move to the Valley, hoping that longtime customers would follow.   

That didn’t happen, however.  Or at least it didn’t happen to the extent necessary to keep the business running successfully, according to owner Lisa Loban.  The biggest problem, she says, was parking. Many of her customers apparently found it difficult to find parking spaces within close proximity to the new shop.  Construction along Madison related to the stormwater project didn’t help the situation much either, she adds.  If her audience wasn’t going to come to her, Loban decided, she would have to return to her audience.

The addition of another a retail shop to Madison Park is welcome news for the other store owners in the Village, according to Tina Brown of Tina’s on Madison.  She believes there needs to be a sufficient number of retail establishments in the Park to justify people coming here from other neighborhoods to shop.  This has historically been a destination shopping district, she notes, and Ropa Bella’s return gives the Village greater critical mass. Additionally, having a good retailer in the Villa Marina space, she argues, will help reinforce that block of 43rd Avenue E. as part of Madison Park’s retail core.

Dennis Daugs is principal of Lakeside Capital Management, which owns Villa Marina. He notes that the building had once been heavily retail, and he thinks it’s a plus for the neighborhood to have additional retail space in that location.  “Having Ropa Bella back in Madison Park is something I’m proud to be a part of,” he told us.

For her part, Loban is much more enthusiastic about this move than the one she made last summer.  “I’m happy to be back where I am most comfortable,” she said. Teresa [Maloney, her longtime associate] and I are looking forward to working again with our customers who we’ve been with for many years.”  To which she adds, “It will also be nice to have some foot traffic!.”

Last summer, after Sun Precautions shut down, Ropa Bella decamped, and Maison Michel vacated its space (the first time), we were considering doing a posting on how the economic vitality of the retail scene in the general vicinity seemed to be shifting toward Madison Valley and away from Madison Park proper.  We never got around to doing the story. Perhaps we were hasty in thinking it was a story at all.

Space Now Available in Madison Valley

You can never have too many banks

The story hit the streets yesterday that Key Bank will soon be arriving in the Park, becoming the fourth national bank to have a Madison Park presence. Rumor has it that the bank will be taking the space at 4105 E. Madison Street being vacated at the end of this week by Ropa Bella, as well as the contiguous spaces occupied by Dermaradiance and the recently-departed Sun Precautions. Unfortunately, this is a story which remains unverified at this point, since Key Bank is unable to confirm or deny it and the building’s owner is unwilling.

Key Bank reported that it couldn’t confirm the story because its branch-expansion manager is out of the office until next week. In the case of building owner Sander Properties, however, it appears there is some reluctance to talk to the Madison Park Blogger on the subject. One area merchant had warned me “Oh, Bob will never talk to you!” And this certainly seems to be the case. Although I’ve called several times (and actually walked over to Bob Sander’s office and left my card on one occasion), I haven’t managed to drum up any real response from him. I did get a cryptic “it seems to be the rumor alright” when I called Sander’s office today to ask if the story about Key Bank is true. But that was it.

So, atypically, we are doing a posting based on a rumor—but one that has a lot of people talking. That fact alone makes it newsworthy.

The idea of a big national retail bank moving into space previously occupied by a local merchant is controversial. On one side are those who feel Madison Park should limit itself to local businesses and seek to retain a kind of small-town ambiance. On the other side, presumably, are those more hard-headed realists who believe that the market will determine what is needed in the Park. Key Bank, if and when it arrives on the scene, will be successful—or not—based on whether people want to have the Bank here. That’s how the free-enterprise system works.

But allowing a local building owner to rent to whomever he pleases does not sit well with certain people in Madison Park. One member of the Madison Park Business Association, for example, told me she feels that landlords here (of which she is one) should be concerned about the character of the business district and take an altruistic view. Effectively, no McDonalds, no Subways, and no big national banks should defile the pristine village character of our business district. Some believe that the Park should be zoned exclusively for small establishments, and only local (or, at minimum, regional) retailers should be allowed to grace our fine community. If property owners must accept lower rents from less-well-healed tenants as a consequence, then so be it.

That’s one opinion. But if Bob Sander were talking to us, he probably would present an alternative view. I suspect that just because he lives in Madison Park and owns commercial property here, he doesn’t necessarily agree that he shouldn’t get the highest amount of income off of his property investment that he possibly can. He might point out that a national retailer willing to sign a long-term lease (in this case, rumored to be for 20 years) is a better tenant prospect than a potentially struggling local merchant would be.

One area merchant who has a good feel for both sides of the equation is Lola McKee, owner of Madison Park Hardware. “I understand what he (Sanders) did,” she told me, “but I wonder if it’s going to be good for the neighborhood.” She noted that she had no objection to a bank coming in, if that’s what’s going to happen, but worries about the impact of bank customers on neighborhood parking, for one thing. She told me she’s also concerned about the feel of the neighborhood with a fourth bank on a two-and-a-half block stretch of Madison. She admits she would rather see a local merchant in the space. “I take my money from the neighborhood,” she said, “and I think that I should give back to the neighborhood. But I’m old fashioned.” She notes, however, that she well understands Sander’s situation. “When you own a building you need to be sure it’s rented.”

If Key Bank is on the way to the Park it will arrive to find plenty of competition already in place. Onetime local banks Wells Fargo (formerly, Pacific Bank, later First Interstate), JP Morgan Chase (formerly Washington Mutual), and Bank of America (formerly Seafirst) are longtime players on the Madison Park scene. Apparently (and it’s still just a rumor) another national bank now thinks that Madison Park is where the money is.

Another retailer to exit The Village

Madison Park’s retail core—what‘s left of it—is about to be hit with another defection. At the end of July, Ropa Bella in the Park, the women’s clothing store which has been a mainstay of the Park’s retail district for years, will decamp for Madison Valley. Word on the street is that at about the same time, Dermaradiance, the skincare spa next door, will be also moving out.

These exits from the commercial building at 4105 E. Madison Street follow closely upon the loss of Sun Precautions (which closed up shop a few months ago) and the earlier retreat of VanQuaetham Chiropractic (which moved to Madison Valley last summer). Both of those spaces remain vacant at 4105, although the onetime basement location of the chiropractors was briefly occupied by a yoga studio last year.

Rumor has it that building owner, Sander Properties, is in negotiation with a “national” retailer to fill the entire first-floor shop space, although the deal has apparently not been inked. I was unable to make contact with Sander last week to verify the story. What is not in question, however, is that we will soon be experiencing a major shift at the very heart Madison Park’s retail district (referred to by the Madison Park Business Association as “The Village”).

The way the whole thing seems to be playing out is perhaps a bit ironic. Some may recall that Madison Park Books, which previously occupied the Ropa Bella space, was thought to have been forced out of business when the building’s owner indicated that there was going to be a big increase the bookstore’s rent if it wanted to stay. At that time, the landlord had a prospective tenant waiting in the wings that was willing to pay the higher rent: Ropa Bella. This time, as we understand the situation, Ropa Bella wanted to move to smaller quarters in the same building, but the landlord apparently needs all of the first-floor space in order to accommodate another—presumably higher paying—tenant.

In the meantime, Ropa Bella is preparing for its move to Madison Valley, where it will soon be ensconced in a shop near All the Best Pets, a much smaller space than the clothing store currently enjoys here in the Park. What’s next for the big space the store leaves behind remains an open question.