Filling the holes in campus retail

This campus looks very different than it did a decade ago.

Instead of Burger King, we now have Marathon Grill and the Bridge: Cinema de Lux. Instead of parking lots, we now have the Penn Bookstore, the Inn at Penn and Fresh Grocer.

But there are still a number of stores that are missing from this campus. And with three major campus developments under way -- at 40th and Chestnut, 39th and Walnut and 34th and Chestnut -- there are number of different types of retail that would make great tenants..

So, planners and developers, here's my list:

- A bagel shop.

Sure, between two Starbucks, two Bucks County Coffees, Cosi, the Bookstore cafe, Izzy and Zoe's and others, Penn students can buy bagels at about a dozen different stores around campus.

But none of those stores is a bagel shop.

The bagels found at a store that focuses exclusively on bagels are much better than bagels sold at a sandwich or coffee shop that also happens to sell bagels. Many Penn students likely grew up eating at chains like Einstein Bros. or Manhattan bagels, and either one of those chains would do great business at Penn.

College junior Greg Moran agrees.

"Izzy and Zoe's doesn't offer the freshness or variety of cream cheeses that bagel shops do," he said.

And Moran found the lack of good bagels to be so severe that he took it upon himself to open a bagel store. He met with Mark Kocent, one of Penn's top developers, who set him up with a local private developer. Unfortunately, that's as far as his plan has advanced so far. But it goes to show just how popular a bagel shop would be if Penn students are taking it upon themselves to fill the void.

- An art supply store.

Penn has a vibrant fine-arts department. Hundreds of students take classes in the department each semester, but those students' needs are being left unfulfilled by the inability to buy art supplies in University City.

Just this week, I had to trek down to Utrecht, at 20th and Chestnut streets, just to buy supplies for my digital-design class. And an art supply store would likely hit an entirely new market as well: local elementary-school students.

- A hardware store.

Think about it. Now that West Philadelphia Locksmith is moving, there will be no place to even buy a nail and hammer anywhere nearby. With so many other basic services on campus -- books, food, movies -- a hardware store would make a perfect complement to campus retail.

Sure, it may be a hard sell to the University -- it's unlikely it wants to help students bang nails into dorm walls -- but, hopefully, Penn can overcome that concern. If not, maybe a private developer will step in.

In fact, here's a winning idea: A hardware store and an art-supply store in one single shop. It would be incredibly successful since it would attract all types of residents, students and faculty.

- An Italian restaurant.

Could any other tenant be more obvious?

Penn hasn't had a good Italian restaurant since Pagano's -- located at 36th and Walnut streets until it was replaced by surface parking -- left the building now occupied by Chili's at 38th and Walnut streets about a decade ago.

Sure, Penn has Penne, but it caters to an older, pricier crowd. And as far as College Pizza and Allegro's, "There are no real Italians working there," Moran said. "I don't think it stacks up."

To get their fill out good Italian cuisine, Penn students often travel across Center City to places like Il Cantuccio and Radicchio, and a restaurant like that in University City would be packed. As can be seen from the long waits at Marathon Grill, White Dog and New Deck, the restaurant market is far from saturated.

And a BYO would do especially well.

- A high-end clothing store for women and men.

The Gap may have the more moderate-priced market covered, but if students like College sophomore Ly Nguyen are still traveling to the King of Prussia mall to buy clothes -- she recently made the trip -- there's a problem.

Brands like J. Crew and Abercrombie "would do well here with faculty, students and residents," campus planning spokesman Tony Sorrentino confirmed. Men's clothing is especially needed, as shown by a 1998 Undergraduate Assembly survey in which 77 percent of men indicated a demand for a new clothing store.

Keeping students -- and their money -- in University City should be at the core of Penn's retail strategy, and attracting these stores would go a long way toward accomplishing that goal.

At the least, it would save students from a ride on I-76.

Evan Goldin is a junior history major from Palo Alto, Calif. and editorial page editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. P.A. to Pa. appears on alternate Thursdays.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.