Center City Tries to Attract Shoppers With New Campaign

You already knew that Center City was a great place to live, work, and eat. But did you know that it is a shoppers’ mecca as well, offering a plethora of great places for fashionistas to get their plastic revved up? Center City wants you to know that it is a serious retail destination. That’s the point of the Philadelphia Retail Marketing Alliance’s new initiative, called “This Is In,” as in “This is in Center City.”

Center City is trying to brand itself as a hot shopping destination.

Paul Levy, chief executive officer and president of the Center City District, was on hand along with Harold Epps, director of the city Commerce Department, and Angela Val, chief administrative officer of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, to unveil the new campaign at the Shops at Liberty Place, 1625 Chestnut St., on Thursday.

Currently, dining is the most popular pursuit of those visiting Center City. Levy and other city officials want you to know that the shopping is hot, too. One of those officials is CBRE executive vice president Larry Steinberg, listing agent for the Shops at Liberty Place. “If CCD can help bring attention to the great density, walkability, nightlife, and live/work character of Center City, then the new generation of retailers should take notice,” Steinberg said. “And there are a great many retailers that are establishing their brick-and-mortar store strategies right now. Important internet sales companies like Amazon and Google are rolling out stores. Center City needs to be high on their target lists.”

Levy said that, despite its tremendous success with retail, Center City is not trying to compete with nearby shopping mecca King of Prussia.

“We kind of forget the retail and the shopping, so I’m glad we are putting [them] in the [marketing] mix,” said senior sales associate Amanda Walker of Metro Commercial, the real estate firm that brokered the deals for Target’s smaller-store format locations in the city, as well as deals for PetSmart and T.J. Maxx. “I see that retail follows dining.”