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GREEN THUMBS UP?

BY BENNETT VOYLES

The locals in Ardmore, Pa., are very protective of their 75-year-old Suburban Square, and they don’t take changes lightly.

But the center’s owner says locals and tenants alike are taking to the new home recently built for Ardmore Farmers Market, the centerpiece of the 300,000-square-foot, open-air Suburban Square. Amerishop Real Estate Services, the Dallas-based firm that owns and manages the center, figured that the roomier market would make shopping easier for people in the old-money community of Main Line. The town of about 250,000 has for nearly 100 years been one of the country’s most exclusive residential enclaves. Household income in the area, which is named after Philadelphia’s first commuter rail line, averages about $172,000 a year, according to U.S. census data.

“We had to be very careful,” said Amerishop CEO Robert Mills, recalling the community’s vigorous opposition to previous changes at the center.

Suburban Square has been a source of retail innovation for decades. It was built in 1928 to give Main Liners a shopping alternative closer to home than downtown. A firm called The Suburban Co. laid out a six-acre parcel with parking spaces and retail shops, all designed around a limestone-accented, art deco theme. In 1929 the center became home to what is reputedly the country’s first suburban department store, a branch of Philadelphia-based Strawbridge & Clothier, according to Amerishop. The chain (today called Strawbridge’s and owned by The May Department Stores Co.) remains its other anchor tenant.

For its first 50 years, the center was more like an old-fashioned downtown commercial district, with working streets. The Square’s streets were closed to traffic in 1978 for its 50th anniversary, and they remain pedestrian walkways to this day. Mills says the community is very possessive of Suburban Square; getting the necessary planning approvals took 18 months.

The residents of Ardmore, Pa., are protective of their 75-year-old Suburban Square shopping center.

A previous owner tried to build a movie theater on top of a parking garage, he says, but was turned down. “The neighborhood went crazy,” said Mills. “They turned it down in a heartbeat and about ran these guys out of town.” Amerishop, which owns and manages 4.6 million square feet of malls, community centers and commercial property in 11 states, bought Suburban Square from Baltimore developer Williams Jackson Ewing in 1999. The latter’s accomplishments include retail developments in Washington, D.C.’s Union Station and New York City’s Grand Central Terminal.

A gourmet market that had opened in a converted cinema in 1980 closed just two years later, because Main Liners found it too glitzy. That made way for the Ardmore Farmers Market, which occupied the space until its recent move.

The market’s previous location at the center of the property meant shoppers had to do a lot of walking. But the new site, on what had been an underused parking lot, makes things more convenient. The 14,000-square-foot new facility’s interior retains much the same appearance as the old one — mostly stainless steel counters and tile walls. (Hugh Boyd, whose Montclair, N.J.-based Hugh A. Boyd Architects also designed the previous incarnation in 1989, describes the look as “contemporary barn, as opposed to a nostalgia barn.”) Farmers’ markets, Boyd says, need less decoration than supermarkets, as the food provides the visual interest. The market has some additional features that Amerishop executives say consumers had asked for in a study: wider aisles, shopping carts, and seating areas. Deciding how much seating to have was an issue, says Boyd, because the concept of the farmers’ market conflicts somewhat with prepared food. “That’s always a fine line.”

Boyd notes that farmers’ markets face two important competitive challenges today. First, conventional supermarkets have borrowed some of the presentation ideas that made these markets so distinctive 15 or 20 years ago. Second, people aren’t cooking as much as they did. The wider aisles and shopping carts, he says, are meant to “goose up the sales a few dollars.”

Amerishop executives say they hope an 8,000-square-foot Trader Joe’s opening next door will complement their farmers’ market. The upscale food shop, which sells primarily packaged goods, is intended to round out the center’s retail food offering, says Larry Gee, Suburban Square’s general manager.

Amerishop was initially concerned that relocating the farmers’ market to the project’s edge would reduce the foot traffic to tenants at the center of the property, but the added convenience to customers outweighs that concern, Mills says.

Externally, the market uses some limestone touches to integrate it with the original architecture of the rest of the center. The town was very specific about wanting the limestone, Boyd says, adding, “I don’t think I’ve ever used limestone in my life in a center. It’s usually some fake concrete that sort of looks like limestone.”

Boyd commends the company’s handling of the project. “Amerishop has really been great, because these farmers’ markets are really painful to do,” he said. “You need a developer who has a lot of patience to do them, because you’re dealing with 17 small vendors. It’s not like you’re dealing with a Starbucks who’s going to put $250,000 into a store minimum. These guys, if you put $15,000 to $20,000 in, you’ve maxed them out.”

The tenants, for their part, say they pride themselves on honoring customer loyalty. “I’ve watched some of our customers come in with little 5- and 6-year-olds, and guess what — 22 years later, who’s working for me? Those 5- and 6-year-olds,” said JoAnne Dippolito, owner of the Ultimate Bake Shop, a tenant since the market opened.

The success of Ardmore Farmers Market has prompted developers to seek insights into how a farmers’ market should be managed. Gee says that in his two years as Suburban Square’s manager, he’s received about 20 such calls. So what’s the secret? “Listen to what your customers want, [and] make sure you have the best quality available,” Gee said. “If you have better quality than what customers can get from other area resources and you can put them in an environment that is user-friendly … you’ll have a very successful market.”

As a private company, Amerishop does not release sales figures, but Suburban Square is 100 percent leased; its 43 stores include Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, Coach and Williams-Sonoma. The property also includes an eight-story office building.

The management is changing the market hours. Until now, closing time was 6 p.m., but such hours may seem nearly as anachronistic in this era of two-career families as the buggies of the Amish farmers who run four of the 21 stalls. The new market will be open seven days a week; on Thursday, Friday and Saturday it will stay open until 7 p.m. On Sundays, the Amish will stay home in Lancaster County, but the other tenants will be open.

Next, the center will build a separate shopping facility on another section of the property, plus a two-story, 18,000-square-foot restaurant and retail space to adjoin the train station. This addition is scheduled to open in 2004. So far Main Liners approve.

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