Caught a presentation on the Jackson County CEO program for the local high school today and one of the things the presenter, Curtis Baird, mentioned in passing is something I have commented on at one time or another: the lack of high quality clothing stores in Carbondale.
There are plenty of places to buy clothing in Carbondale, ranging from Goodwill to Wal-mart to Kohls to Macy's but if you want really high quality material, you have to got to St. Louis or shop online. Same thing if you want a high quality business suit. I have had people tell me they don't buy any clothes in Carbondale.
Of course, opening up an independent clothing (or shoe) store here had probabilities stacked against it. First, people already think of the chains first when they think about clothes shopping, ergo an independent store would have to try to capture mind share from the already dominant section.
Second, the market in Carbondale is very limited for an independent clothing store. Most of the people living in Carbondale are quite happy with the selection of clothing offered by the chains and the number of people who would patronize a higher end store is quite limited.
There are plenty of places to buy clothing in Carbondale, ranging from Goodwill to Wal-mart to Kohls to Macy's but if you want really high quality material, you have to got to St. Louis or shop online. Same thing if you want a high quality business suit. I have had people tell me they don't buy any clothes in Carbondale.
Of course, opening up an independent clothing (or shoe) store here had probabilities stacked against it. First, people already think of the chains first when they think about clothes shopping, ergo an independent store would have to try to capture mind share from the already dominant section.
Second, the market in Carbondale is very limited for an independent clothing store. Most of the people living in Carbondale are quite happy with the selection of clothing offered by the chains and the number of people who would patronize a higher end store is quite limited.
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