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Environmental Studies Department |
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The Mac Weekly - February 4, 2005 Patagonia, Inc. to Fill Ruminator Vacancy By Rebecca DeJarlais, Sports Editor
Until now, Patagonia has marketed its products and goods to its Minnesota audience through other outdoors stores like REI. “We’ve been looking in Minneapolis and St. Paul for a long time, and I’ve always thought St. Paul is where we belong,” Noone said. According to Dean of Students Laurie Hamre, Macalester had agreed to give the vendor exclusive rights to revealing its identity so it could generate an advertising campaign for the area. But news of the new tenant quietly spread through the neighboring retailers and members of the community, and Director of the High Winds Fund Tom Welna confirmed the selection one month before its tentatively-scheduled March release date. He said Patagonia fulfills the criteria established by the High Winds Fund, including a tenant that would add to the existing mix of retail stores without competing with them. The college wanted the new tenant to serve as a regional draw and be a well-financed operation. Welna said he expected the college to play a smaller role than it did during Ruminator’s final months. He praised Patagonia for paralleling Macalester’s Campus Environmental Issues Committee (CEIC) mission through its environmentally-friendly corporate culture. “Patagonia is an enterprise that has been able to live up to its strong business ethic,” Welna said. “The fact that the company is not a ‘big box’ retailer and will only have one location in Minnesota, selling high-quality clothing and outdoor-wear was also very important in our decision-making.” But as the rumor about Patagonia’s selection spread earlier this week, some merchants on the block expressed concern about Macalester’s new tenant. Mabel Nichols, the owner of Coat of Many Colors, heard about the news from a customer. “I don’t know much about Patagonia,” she said. “But my preference would always be for a local business instead of a chain. I want to keep Grand Avenue as small, independent businesses.” Allan Brill, who owns Zimmerman’s, a small clothing and outdoor store, said he shares Nichols’ concern about a chain retailer moving into the space. “[Macalester] said we would be pleasantly surprised by the new store,” Brill said. “It’s a tough world out there, and to put a big store right next to me, I have no clue how this will affect me.” Rachel Oman ’07 said she was optimistic about Patagonia. “It doesn’t offer as much stuff that students need like Ruminator did, but it’s a nice store,” she said. “Maybe it’ll provide more outdoor opportunities and the inspiration to get outside for students.” But Dan Murphy-Cairns ’06, an environmental studies major and CEIC member, questioned a quick endorsement of Patagonia’s environmentalism and community impact. “It speaks to some of the larger issues of Grand Ave., with people talking about J.Crew and Starbucks moving in when Grand has had such an amazing history of local stores,” Murphy-Cairns said. “Patagonia is the J.Crew-ification of Grand Ave.” |
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