Why No IKEA in WNY?

I'm sitting here at Spot Coffee, enjoying my latte, and reading a NYSTAR grant and my mind starts to wander. I go to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle's website, and read the following story about Walmart opening in Victor, maybe.

So, I've got to ask myself, why another Walmart in the Rochester area? OK - I've supported a new Walmart at Northgate Plaza, mainly because it's such a shitty plaza and desperately needs something. ANYTHING. But then I got to thinking about the economics of WNY, and Rochester in particular. Why, in Victor, around Eastview Mall, where the RICH PEOPLE shop, do they need a Walmart? There's a Target already, and a K-Mart, and a million other stores. So, why does WNY fail to attract other interesting retail?

Here's my specific quandry... why no IKEA here? I mean, we've got a half dozen universities here with probably 30 or 50,000 students. We're almost eqidistant from Buffalo and Syracuse, and much of the Southern Tier. There's plenty of money here, and the region, including all the above, is probably what? 5 million people? So, why are is the only IKEA store in NYC? On LONG ISLAND, no less. And there's another one coming to Red Hook in Brooklyn. Are you telling me that the entire Western New York region couldn't support one of these?

I'm sorry, but even with all the bitching and moaning we hear about Rochester's terrible economy, frankly it could be a LOT worse. Go to Youngstown, Ohio for a visit, and then tell me Rochester is doom and gloom. Rochester is a well-off, smaller metro area with close proximity to other metros who's citizens who drive here to go to an IKEA. Maybe that would make more sense for Northgate Plaza, or even better... Eastview Mall, with easy access to the Thruway. Hell, even downtown would be OK. But why major retail chains still ignore this area, I can't quite figure out.

The Cheesecake Factory recently announced it's comming to Buffalo's Walden Galleria. I checked online to see if it's coming here, and no, it's not. But the question I ask is, why not? Are you telling me the like 5% higher population drove that decision by TCF to locate there? I hate to brag, but Rochester is simply a way better city than Buffalo. We have a broader mix of companies, a friendlier "feel", and a stronger economic outlook. Maybe these big corporations just aren't doing their homework, but it seems like a real missed opportunity to constantly overlook WNY.

And now for something completely different...
The music on the sound system at Spot when I got here was the band It's a Beautiful Day, and their song "White Bird". ( Here's a review and brief history.) I have NEVER heard this song on the radio, or out in public before. I asked the girl behind the counter, and apparently it's XM, and in the morning they play esoteric stuff. She wasn't familiar with the band, but liked it. I gave her the background about California Sound, and the band name and song title... but I really never expected to hear that song in public. Much like going to California Rollin' and hearing Snake River Conspiracy on their CD player... just something you don't expect every day!

Zillow.com

Wow, what a neat site. It's one of a few property valuation sites on the internet. What's really cool is it uses Microsoft's satellite visualization program (as opposed to Google's googlemaps, or google-earth). I might be wrong (no I'm not) but for the first time, I really like something Microsoft developed. Not that it's more fun to use than Google Earth (because it's not!) but the quality of the images is WAY better. Now, I've seen image quality using JPEG2000 from Kodak that you wouldn't believe, and so far, this is the closest thing I've seen. OK - I haven't really checked to see how they get these images... it might be Pictometry low-level flyover data, rather than satellite data, but it's really really high quality, and from multiple angles. I prefer Google Earth's navigation system, but I would hope Google would update the quality of the close up images - much like the Microsoft system uses.

I also really like Zillow.com. Here's a link to our house: RIGHT HERE. As you can see, nice closeups of the property, from multiple angles, showing much higher resolution than Google Earth/Google Maps. The property valuations also are really accurate - at least for my street - as assessed value and market value are about the same. Granted, we've done a TON of improvements to the house, and there's more on the way (like new windows throughout the house, and new insulation, and MAYBE *if business is good* a new master bathroom) so I would hope our property is worth more than $86,848 assessed value - but that's still more than we paid for it by a couple grand. After watching "Flip That House" about a million times, it's a damn shame we can't expect to recapture all that value. Frankly, we have a wonderful little home, which should be very desirable as a starter home for some other family, assuming we stay on track and move out in another 3-5 years. I'm actually sitting outside on my stoop while I write this and was noticing that the house could also use a new exterior paint job. Maybe if Jim (Julie's dad) really does replace the windows throughout the house, we'll invest in repainting the whole place. I bet it would look fantastic in a color other than "wimpy white," which is what I'd classify it as right now.

Next year I've got all SORTS of projects I'd like to have done - including finishing up the landscaping in the backyard, and maybe a new privacy fence in back? And it'd be nice to have a little patio built out back where we could put some nice outdoor furniture - and maybe the grill - so we could entertain back there. And I still want to replace the basement casement windows with glass block. It's very secure, and way more insulating than what we've got down there right now. Little things include resealing the driveway next year (as a good preventative measure) and repainting the front stoop. The top of the chimney also needs a little work, and the paint up there needs to be scraped off. Some people would hate all this stuff, but frankly, I think it's kindof fun. I think of this house as an investment in my families future - meaning, hopefully we'll have enough into it to have one hell of a nice downpayment on a future home.

Well, that's all for now. The Bills play the Jets in about 20 minutes. Lets go BUFFALO!