To the Editors:
Our city of Norwalk is in danger of becoming the “boutique” capital of Fairfield County.
Does that sound like an exaggeration for our modest, middle-income community? Well, consider this: An alarming number of our physicians are turning to “boutique medicine” (a.k.a. “concierge medicine”).
If you haven’t been keeping up, for subscribers this means that every adult in your family will pay an additional $4,000 to $5,000 per annum for the kind of care you thought you had been getting for years anyhow. They include such amenities that (back in the old days) were part of “family doctoring,” but, in recent years, you’ve learned to do without such as: direct telephone contact with a live voice, a nicer reception room, short waits (presumably with current magazines), home visits (“if necessary”), hospital visits by your physician, and more. However, this service will no longer accept Medicare or HMO insurance or the cost of those specialists to whom they refer you for special attention or procedures they no longer wish to handle themselves.
And now, we are promised the possibility of a “boutique mall” the builder, General Growth Properties (GGP) describes as a “small” mall of 700,000 square feet, as contrasted to the 800,000 square feet of the Stamford Town Center. It will include two or three anchors, defined by GGP as “fashion department stores,” and will feature “jewel box” pods that actually are attached shops with floor to ceiling glass windows visible from the street. Additionally, it will have 75 to 100 small shops and restaurants, all of which GGP is predicting will draw 600,000 “shoppers out to explore” from Norwalk and the surrounding areas.
As we all know, the success of any mall, wherever it is located, depends on the drawing star power of its anchor stores – a Bloomingdale’s, a Lord and Taylor, even a Macy’s – but GGP cannot at this time confirm that it has such commitments from the “biggies.”
What is more, you may have noted that right next door to Norwalk, Westport’s short Main Street now offers (or has in the past, with mixed success) to those 600,000 exploring shoppers such enticements as: Talbot’s, The GAP, J. Crew, William Sonoma, Crabtree Evelyn, Occitane, Banana Republic and more. Ask any one of them if they’ve seen the 600,000 in recent years. So, we are to expect more of the same in Norwalk? If you believe that will happen with economic conditions such as they are, I have a bridge to sell you.
As for restaurants, do I need to tell you that they are one thing Norwalk has in abundance? We have an exceptional and creative selection of eateries that range from world class steak houses to European-style pubs to a mind-bending number of exotic and ethnic choices for the “exploring diner” popping up in unexpected corners and, distressingly, some disappearing just as quickly for lack of sufficient patronage to fill them all. Now, GGP promises more of the same?
We can only hope that those who are charged by Norwalk voters to make the decisions to spend our taxpayer dollars will make note that such a shopping extravaganza with all its “jewel box” appendages is entirely inappropriate for our middle-income, melting pot city that still lacks affordable housing for the corporate drones and lawn mower pushers who make up a goodly portion of our citizenry.
We cannot do much about the growing threat of concierge medicine, but we can still look before we jump with entirely misdirected enthusiasm into another builder over-reach of jewel box shopping.
Rod Lopez-Fabrega
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