Time for mall players to come to table

Wilson: It's time to take a fresh look at the Main Street-Nordstrom-Gateway hassle. This political donnybrook has been doomed from the beginning by hard bargaining over positions.

Nordstrom's "our way or the highway" position has competed with Main Street's position of not letting the store leave for The Gateway.

Maybe if we got away from positions and looked at interests a bit of clarity would creep into the debate. Then we might get those interests together and work something out that is in the best interests of the community.

We must be realistic here in dealing with interests. No doubt Nordstrom, as a free player, has a right to close the store and leave town if it can't find an alternative location in Salt Lake City. This is complicated by the fact that Nordstrom will likely reject the carrot offered to improve the mall by the new owners of Crossroads, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It appears no discussion or negotiation will alter Nordstrom's position.

Other interests seem more flexible. It is certainly in the interest of Main Street and the community to keep a large and classy anchor like Nordstrom. It adds to vitality, attracts people, and provides visitors and customers to other Main Street locales.

But can't those interests be handled any other way? Could attention to housing on Main Street provide a critical mass of people and customers? Would other major retailers find Main Street more tenable if that critical mass were attained? What if Main Street made a major play for street-level smaller businesses? Gateway has many national stores; perhaps Main Street could go for more local ownership. Smaller more user-friendly establishments could provide a new axis for the more up-scale Gateway and reasons to visit both.

The interests of Main Street now seem more flexible to negotiation than the interests of Nordstrom. And, remember, Nordstrom has every right to pull out and leave a gigantic hole in Salt Lake City if it doesn't get The Gateway location. The plum for Main Street is keeping Nordstrom as close as possible to provide circulation of shoppers. The other outcome is for Main Street, and the city, to lose everything.

Perhaps it is time to recognize that the old Main Street's vitality was largely spurred by the strength of retail Broadway (300 South). But as a retail center, Broadway died years ago. A new pole on the commercial axis is now found at Gateway. We just need to connect it. We have already done it with light rail. Now we need to develop attractions that would move people back and forth. Nordstrom and the rest of Gateway would provide a strong western pole for the housing and street-scale businesses of Main Street.