Yale's plan to bring new life to Broadway stalled

One of the major selling points Barnes and Nobles offered Yale last year in proposing The Yale Bookstore was that it would stay open late. Yale also hoped that bringing a national chain would help attract other businesses to come to the Broadway area.

So far, however, the plan has had lackluster results. While 400 local and national retailers and large-scale chain restaurants have expressed interest in negotiating a lease for one of Broadway's vacant lots, no national chain has signed on to come to Yale. "When companies contact us about opening a store here, we sit down and try to negotiate something workable for both parties which takes sometimes an incredible amount of time," Jim Kurko, manager of University commercial properties, said.

Yale's hopes for bringing national chains to Broadway are also hindered by the lack of already existing businesses. "Small chain stores tend to group together. It's very unlikely that one store will come without others successfully being there first," Kim Anderson, a corporate marketing representative for Estee Lauder, said. Kurko had named Estee Lauder as one business looking into opening a Broadway store.

The lack of stores is only one aspect of what students want to see on Broadway. Yalies complain that businesses do not stay open late enough and do not give students a place to go after dinner. "Cutler's has extremely early closing hours--they should stay open to encourage some sort of night life. I definitely feel that all of those stores should stay open later than they do," Rebecca Tuhus-Dubow '01 said.

"Bruegger's closes way too early. We don't have study breaks until 11 p.m. and by that time, everything on the block that sells food is closed," Kirsten Kuehner, PC '01, said. Although the bagel store officially stays open until 11 p.m., several students say that this store and others on Broadway appear closed much earlier than their posted hours indicate.

Felix Chang, BK '98, thinks that Broadway could definitely help enliven nightlife at Yale. "A [club with a] dance floor with decent music and DJs would bring a lot more people out on the weekends. There is nothing like that here now. All we have are bagel shops and convenience stores."

Although some business owners have questioned Yale's aggressiveness to get new business into Broadway, most agree that only good can come from more development. Elliot Brause, owner of the Quality Wine Shop, has a firm grasp of the Broadway area as the third generation Brause to occupy the shop's Broadway location since Prohibition was repealed in the early 1930s.

"This area needs some other retail besides food--like a Gap or a Levi's-store, something more than what's already here," said Brause. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of space to open too many of these upscale clothing stores. The area has definitely not come up with anything for women. I feel that that's an aspect that has been let go and ignored."

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