ITEM PHOTO BY SPENSER HASAK
One Dollar Zone has opened on the Lynnway.
By THOMAS GRILLO
LYNN — Another dollar store has opened on the Lynnway as the city solidifies its place for discount retailers.
“Those kind of stores expand to locations that cost nothing to open, where they don’t pay their workers much and the demographics fit,” said Michael Tesler, a marketing lecturer at Bentley University. “Lynn has lots of newer immigrants without much money who prefer dollar stores to Target and Walmart.”
Lynn already has its share of discount retailers. There are three Family Dollar shops, two Dollar Tree stores, and One Dollar Zone has opened its second store at the former Sleepy’s on the Lynnway. That doesn’t include a number of other independent cut-rate shops such as J & M Dollar Store.
Where else can you get glassware, candy, cleaning supplies, snacks, toys, party supplies, stationery, crafts, books, automotive products, pet supplies and seasonal goods for just $1 each?
Tesler said the immediate prospects of attracting upscale shops to Lynn seems remote. MarketStreet, the premium open-air shopping destination in Lynnfield which boasts more than 80 shops and restaurants, offers the kind of retail some would like to see in Lynn, including Victoria’s Secret, Williams-Sonoma and Lucky Brand Jeans.
“Lynn lost its way, it has an image problem and the downtown deteriorated,” Tesler said. “When I was a kid, my mother’s favorite shopping trip was to Hoffman’s in the downtown, and there used to be a place called Roland’s for ice cream and that was a magnet. But those kinds of retail attractions are missing today.”
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.Still, it’s not an impossible dream to transform Lynn’s waterfront. Consider Assembly Square, renamed Assembly Row, in Somerville.
“Assembly Square should be an inspiration for Lynn,” Tesler said. “At one time, the area was infested with rats and lacked access to the Mystic River. Today, it’s a new neighborhood with waterfront apartments, outlet shopping, a new stop on the MBTA’s Orange Line and office space for Partners HealthCare.
“Lynn needs a real strong community effort like in Somerville,” he said.
Mark Browne, a Boston commercial real estate broker, said the city’s perception is that of dollar stores, check cashing shops, and feeding the kids with fast food for $5.
“It’s very challenging to change people’s view of a city,” he said.
Still, he said Lynn is not the only community with an underdeveloped waterfront.
“Look at Providence’s waterfront,” he said. “It’s lined with oil tanks and refineries.”
Ward 6 City Councilor Peter Capano, whose district includes the Lynnway, said the proliferation of dollar stores does not fit his idea of what the neighborhood could be.
“This is absolutely not the kind of development we want to see there,” he said.
While he prefers more upscale shops, Capano said those businesses do not want to be in Lynn. But he’s not sure how to fix it.
“I’d rather see a Guitar Center,” said Capano about the California-based retailer that calls itself the world’s largest musical instrument chain. “But they haven’t chosen to come here.”
It’s clear, he said, Lynn residents wants these stores and that’s why they’re growing.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
More than a decade ago, the city collaborated with Sasaki Associates to create a master plan to guide development on the Lynnway. The Watertown-based planner determined the Lynnway waterfront could accommodate 4 million square feet of apartments and condominiums, 2 million square feet of retail, office, hotel and light manufacturing, 5,000 permanent jobs and generate $18 million in real estate tax revenues.
But so far, it’s still a dream. While three projects totaling $649 million are in the works that would bring waterfront apartments to the Lynnway, a shovel has yet to go into the ground.
And despite creation of the Lynn Economic Advancement and Development Team (LEAD) in late 2015, the high-powered working group intended to jumpstart development by aligning federal, state and local stakeholders, there’s little to show for its efforts.
Capano said he’s frustrated. But the city can’t do much if developers don’t come to the city with a proposal or if a landlord leases space to a dollar store.
“What do I say to the guy who has had empty building on the Lynnway for two years?” he asked. “For example, we don’t allow auto repair shops on the Lynnway, but we can’t stop one retailer and allow another. They would go to court and win.”
James Cowdell, executive director of the Economic Development and Industrial Corp. (EDIC/Lynn), reiterated there’s not much the city can do to prevent such stores from opening.
“If we could write legislation to restrict those stores, I would be the first to do it,” he said. “They cheapen what we’re trying to do. But they are allowed as of right.”
Jen Cookke, a professor at the MIT Center for Real Estate, disagrees that the city is powerless. She said communities have a number of tools at their disposal to guide development.
“The city holds a lot of the cards, but it takes courage for city leaders to uphold the master plan,” she said. “Officials have the ability to create incentives such as tax breaks if the owner brings a mixed-use development. You just need one outlier and others will follow. For a community that is innovative and has vision, the sky’s the limit.”
Thomas Grillo can be reached at tgrillo@itemlive.com.