Wasted $4,500 on a downtown Detroit retail space near Campus Martius

I signed a two year lease on a ground floor spot on Woodward back in 2021 thinking foot traffic from the stadiums would bring customers. Turns out game days barely helped and the rest of the week was dead quiet, now I'm stuck paying rent on an empty storefront. The broker hyped up the location but never mentioned the parking situation scaring people off after 6 PM. Anyone else get burned by one of these so-called prime spots around the Fox or Comerica area?

3 comments

3 Comments

sean78217d ago

The broker sold you a dream about foot traffic but left out the reality. Game days bring crowds that scatter fast, not linger and shop. After 6 PM that whole area turns into a ghost town with paid lots and confusing signs. Saw the same thing happen to a coffee spot near there, they lasted six months. Detroit's daytime workforce is solid but the night economy is a different animal entirely.

emmawood17d ago

I walked past that exact spot last Thursday around 7 PM and counted 30 people on the sidewalk between the Fox and Comerica during a Tigers game. Those crowds arent scattering, theyre heading to Hockeytown Cafe or the Book Cadillac for drinks. You need a late night business model not blaming parking signs. Parking garages are everywhere downtown and cost like $8 after 6. That coffee spot you mentioned failed because they closed at 4 PM not because of foot traffic. The area has 50,000 office workers within a ten minute walk plus the casinos run free shuttles right past Woodward. Maybe the problem wasnt the location but what you were selling or how you marketed it. People are literally lined up for Shinola and Bonobos down the street on weekends.

norab216d ago

Ha, I actually see it a little different on that night economy piece. If you watch the crowds spilling out of Comerica around 11th inning walkoffs, those people are looking for something to do, they just need a reason to stop. That coffee shop closing at 4 PM was basically giving up before the game even ended, that's not a foot traffic problem that's a scheduling problem.