The nascent agglomeration of child-related services at Mueller got me thinking about other clusters. (By the ways, folks, "agglomeration" isn't my term.)
- Art -- West 6th Street
- Furniture -- Anderson & Burnet
- "Hip" (no longer funky) restaurants & stores -- SoCo
- "New" funky shops -- Burnet south of Koenig
- Medical -- Seton/38th Street (with a smaller one at St. David's)
- Used car dealerships -- South Lamar
- Car repair/service shops -- South Lamar
- New car dealerships -- I35 South, 183 North
- Music -- east 6th Street
- Government -- duh
- Legal/accounting -- downtown
- Software/high-tech -- Research Blvd., 360
- West Campus
- Mexican restaurants/bakeries/shops -- South First north of Oltorf
- Vietnamese restaurants/grocers -- north Lamar (I hear)
Any mall, of course, is simply an agglomeration of retail.
You can get an idea of the value of these clusters by looking at how they respond to rising land values. For example, land values have been rising along South Lamar for several years but during that time South Lamar has actually added a couple of used car lots. Being close to other used car lots is obviously very valuable. Proximity saves them marketing costs: Why advertise when everyone knows where you are? Also, a big cluster generates more trips than the lots would generate in isolation.
Some of these are more subtle than they appear. SoCo is a cluster calibrated for a specific demographic. Its counterpart is the large cluster of chain restaurants at Stassney and I-35.
