The Paraiso Town Center in Dos Vientos is a small mall, designed to serve primarily local residents.

It’s a concept that works great on paper.

The harsh world of reality, however, doesn’t conform to bright ideas that were scripted on paper. Paraiso is in receivership and on the verge of bankruptcy. (See story on page 9.)

There is, of course, one aspect that makes a small mall always work.

If the immediate area has a huge population, then even a little shopping center can be successful. But plenty of people must live there, and they need to be residents before the mall goes in.

Without a big population, a single neighborhood retail center has another necessity: a major anchor store that attracts shoppers from other areas. To survive, the small mall requires at least one drugstore or a grocery store—but not necessarily a supermarket.

And even those stores need the traffic of other viable retailers, service professionals and coffee shops or restaurants to make them highly profitable.

Anchor stores may attract a regional clientele, but the smaller co-tenant retailers also need to stimulate traffic. A co-dependency exists between anchors and smaller shops. Each feeds the other.

And hate them as we may, let’s be honest. Convenience stores work. Many people like the idea of stopping at a small store, parking right in front, and getting in and out—without long lines. Consumers willingly pay higher prices at convenience stores.

Paraiso Town Center is a wonderful concept, but it will take some creativity to make it work. We hope the experts can find a solution.

The idea was to give people things they need close to home so they wouldn’t have to travel.

But there are limits. Idealism is wonderful, but it must function beyond the ivory towers.