Economic Development Blog

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

In Part 1 of this discussion we talked about basic demographic data and other information that retailers and restaurants utilize in their endeavors to enter new markets. Part 2 of the discussion touched on more specialized and technical data and how sometimes communities are under prepared in their marketing efforts, being armed only with basic information.

This segment deals with the information that retail site selectors need, but do not always find when they are doing the due diligence required for new market retail and restaurant growth. The reason they don’t find it is because it is not always readily available, and most communities don’t recognize the need to have it ready to share. We need to discuss the kind of information that will actually set your city apart from the rest of the pack. It is the kind of data that is under the radar and often goes unspoken. We will also discuss the impact of technology, local politics, the effect of the global economy and other key criteria on new retail development.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE:
One of the things that a community has in its favor is the fact that the national retail and restaurant real estate professionals and tenant representatives that are involved in researching new growth markets certainly will miss key bits of local knowledge unless a city provides that info. The city should know about strategic new plans such as road widening and other public infrastructure improvements that are planned and perhaps even budgeted but have not been publicized. Sometimes the local community can work with property owners who may sometimes play hard to get with unknown inquiries but truly are willing to make a deal. New planned residential subdivisions and other mixed used commercial deals are known by the locals but sometimes missed by site selectors. This type of information will not be relevant if no one shares it or no one asks about it. Local liquor laws fall into this category as well.

TECHNOLOGY:
We have blogged about this in earlier posts but it bears repeating here. City leaders should be attempting to upgrade city web sites and GIS systems and provide the very latest technology and applications on city social media. IF technology is available we should use it. Citizens are all looking for information. So are retailers. Some city web sites are so antiquated that a site researcher may be tempted to cull the community from retail investment simply because of a negative first impression.

LOCAL POLITICS:
The area of local politics, especially political instability or negativism, is more devastating to new retail growth than perhaps any other variable. This is especially true in small and medium markets that are already considered risky to retailers and restaurants on first look. In times of political instability on the national level, local city council elections and county commissioner seats are sometimes hotly contested and have a direct effect on a community’s ability to enter into public / private partnerships that are crucial to new retail deals. What turns the development switch on is a local consensus and unity where everyone involved is working together and pulling in the same direction.

City leaders, city administrators, and elected officials need to know how to interact with retail site selectors. We have talked to city managers and economic development professionals who bemoan the fact that they can’t seem to get “behind the ropes”. Let me say it again. Marketing cities is best done by qualified, independent, third party professionals like Retail Attractions. We have the relationships, the “connections”, the network and we know what retailers and their representatives need to see, hear, and feel about a specific site or market before they are comfortable. Let us help your community.

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

In Part 1 of this discussion we talked about basic demographic data and other information that retailers and restaurants utilize in their endeavors to enter new markets. It is certainly prudent at this point to talk about how the growth patterns of national retailers have changed just in the past few years. There was a time, just a few short years ago, that both retailers and restaurants were extremely aggressive in terms of growth and expansion. Big box stores were doing new deals in hundreds of markets. In the present economy, retailers may open one or two new stores per year, if that. Sites now are scrutinized on multiple levels by internal site selectors and third party consultants. Financial institutions, investors, and the retailers and restaurants are evaluating sites in much more detail than ever before. A few years ago retailers were attempting to build as many units as possible, and now retailers spend a great deal of time discerning, examining and evaluating every deal in the light of a guaranteed return on investment.

THE DEEPER DATA:
The first part of this article focused on the basic demographic data that is used in retail site selection. We see lots of cities in our work around the country that attempt to market themselves with basic data purchased from various subscription data providers. Some of these providers have good and solid foundational demographic data. What cities need to know, however, is that retail site seekers dial down to level of data that is sometimes far more sophisticated than what the communities have provided. Many times site particulars like traffic patterns and flow, ingress and egress issues, municipal sign codes and development restrictions are far more important than city limit population. In this current economic environment cities should make the development process streamlined and simple and most of all business-friendly. Something else that should be considered in Oklahoma and in other states is current alcohol statutes that affect several retailers, especially grocers and most restaurants. This data should be provided and avenues for relief articulated to site selection professionals should they not be familiar.

Retail site selection involves more advanced and erudite methods than most cities can provide on their own. Critical data like household size, defining average and per capita income, and population density come into play. Recently our firm was called upon by a national retailer to provide some specialized data focused on the age and ethnicity of a certain group of consumers in a tertiary market where they desperately wanted to open a new store. Who purchases goods and services in a market is of utmost importance to retailers. Unfortunately for some communities, they get passed over because they do not determine and validate their trade area and rely on city or county population data. Trade area population density is always a foundational component of a retail site. There are many different ways of determining the size of a city’s trade area. Concentric rings and drive time studies, used by the large majority of municipalities are not always good measurements. The trade area needs to be proven by several indicators, such as traffic flow into the market, the location of existing retail, local retail sales volumes, and the local market’s ability to pull out of area consumers into the local market. By the way, this market validation is received more efficiently when it comes from an independent source.
We have spoken already about the factor of a highly competitive marketplace. Retailers and restaurant site selectors will sometimes cull a market with very little investigation because they simply have so many opportunities elsewhere. Life style data and more sophisticated income and employment information along with educational attainment are crucial as well. For example when Starbucks began its aggressive growth cycle a few years ago, upper income demographics and educational attainment were key indicators and many solid markets weren’t even on the radar.

Growing a community and building an ever increasing quality of life is what all cities should be about. It makes no difference really if the population of a community is large or small. Every community should be striving to improve services, improve blighted and decaying areas, and working diligently to improve quality of life. New retail boosts quality of life instantly. City leaders can save money and time by contracting with a third party firm to recruit retail and other private sector investment as well as developing the materials needed to present their community’s strengths to the watching world.

In the next post, I will discuss the information that retail site selectors need, but do not always find when they are doing the due diligence required for new market retail and restaurant growth.

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

Our company spends our waking hours helping communities, developers, and retail and restaurant clients find and develop the right retail sites. Site selection is an extremely specialized field. Cities across the country are competing for new retail sites and the sales tax revenue that comes with them. It is obvious if you consider discussions with city administrators and elected officials that most city leaders don’t really comprehend the myriad layers of site selection criteria. It is even more remarkable that many real estate professionals, including investors, brokers, and sales associates know very little about what drives the retail community to “pull the trigger” on a particular site. Picking a retail site is completely different from site selection for manufacturing and industrial uses. With the current instability in the national, state, and local economy, finding the right site is more crucial than ever to corporate and franchised retailers and restaurant outlets.

Since our core business is assisting cities in defining, validating, and marketing their trade area to national retailers, we see many trends in local economic development that are disturbing, and some that are even comical. Retail is not rocket science. So what do retailers and those that represent them look for when they need to grow? The obvious thing is that they are looking for a good, solid return on their investment. This is the foundational bedrock of every dollar that is invested. They are looking to make a profit. Retail is changing, and the way people purchase goods and services is changing. City leaders should retain the services of a qualified, independent, third party to keep them on the cutting edge of the retail world.

THE BASE DATA:
Obviously retailers and retail real estate and site selectors use various forms of demographic data to confirm and validate market strength. Retailers use data manufacturing and industrial site selection professionals do not use. Very sophisticated data and various types of financial modeling are utilized. Cities that put together marketing materials to attract retailers many times don’t know that the retail world already has access to the data their community is attempting to provide. Cities also need to know that the data the retail world uses is several layers deeper and more technical than the census data. I am not saying the basic demographic data available to communities is not useful. What I am saying is that restaurant and retail tenants sometimes key on demographic information that cities wouldn’t even have at their disposal, such as sales volumes of other owned brands and intelligence about their competitors.

National retailers and restaurants usually have some fairly precise pro-formas and new store sales projections and many times already know what sales volumes their competitors are doing in a market. They also analyze all existing and planned retail shopping areas, especially high traffic corridors. Total annual retail sales in a market are assessed as well as they provide a clear view of the depth of a market and add credibility to a market. The spendable income in a community and more importantly in the potential trade area is always an important piece of information in the new market growth of retailers.

Data on the latest traffic counts is crucial and has to be up to date and very precise. Defining the traffic patterns in a community and the planned improvements to that transportation infrastructure is something that retailers don’t always know. Communities that desire retail growth in their markets should always be looking to make ingress and egress into retail corridors easier, safer, and more efficient. Another key piece of data that forward thinking communities will (or should) be able to provide is planned commercial or residential development in an area of the market.

Maybe the most key piece of data to retailers is the trade area data, especially the population density and growth projections. Most leases are done on a ten year scope. Retailers and restaurants need to feel fairly comfortable that growth trends that are exciting now continue or grow even more over the ten year window. Sharing data that substantiates population growth, economic stability, and retail growth in a market over the ten year window is always beneficial to private sector investors.

In the next post, I will discuss the more intricate information retail site selection professionals are looking for in a market.

(required prerequisite: must read Part 1 of this series before reading Part 2)

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

Yesterday I had one of those experiences where you really feel good about what you’re doing. It was a short and fleeting moment, but while it lasted I felt like I was truly doing work that mattered. I got an unsolicited call from a real estate broker in a city we work in, and I quote him verbatim, “When we hired your company I was skeptical, but after a year and a half, I think we made a great decision”. He went on to say that although he couldn’t tie every deal in the last year and a half directly to our company, he had realized the new interest started after the community contracted Retail Attractions. I told him Retail Attractions’ specialty was creating interest from private sector investors and pestering retail and restaurant site selectors until they took a good look and a good listen to the strength of a local market. Retail development extends beyond data. Yes, you need a qualified third party to validate your trade area, but more importantly your community needs a spokesperson with relationships in the retail world. Hearing about a community from a respected member of the retail world is far more effective than through the typical city propaganda.

I want to continue the very important consideration of getting city leaders to acknowledge reality in terms of recruiting retail and growing their sales and ad valorem tax base. Nowhere else do the old wife’s tales, urban legends, falsehoods, lies, and innuendos exist more frequently than in government and economic development. Doing things the way things used to be done simply will not be enough in this economy. Before you can start, you have to identify your reality, and the reality is that there is a general lack of understanding prevalent in communities across the country about how economic development happens and what works (and maybe more importantly what doesn’t work). Here are a few of the vital ingredients:

• vision for your future
• developable and affordable real estate
• water, sanitary and storm sewer, electricity, natural gas, intermodal transportation infrastructure to support growth
• capital and financing
• available incentives
• public / private partnerships
• interagency and regional partnerships
• political support
• and most importantly, the competition factor

Oh yes, in this modern economy it is not your city against the small town down the road, it’s your city against the world. And while these ingredients differ when you compare retail centric development to traditional economic development models, retail centric development is as competitive, if not more so, than traditional economic development. While I don’t think it is necessary to deal with each of these factors individually, there are a few that must be addressed, and that is where we will start… next time.

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

Reality is defined as “the state of the world as it really is rather than one might want it to be”. The state of the world as it really is… The very thought of that scares a lot of folks. The fact is that most people prefer living in a world that pretty much goes the way they think it ought to, instead of the possibility of dealing in the harsh reality of the way things actually are. The movie response to the demand of all we want is the truth is that most people can’t handle the truth or at least need the truth to be watered down a bit. This question of reality and the way things really are gets clouded and hazy quicker in government than in almost any other place. If media, in all forms, from newspapers, magazines, internet, television, books, etc. could only print what was real and true, the flood of words we see and hear every day would look entirely different in scope and in volume. City governments are governed by elected officials who should have at the very least a good understanding of reality as their foundational qualification. Unfortunately that is not always the case. Be that as it may, the truth is that before real and positive change can occur, somebody has to get a glimpse of reality.

Retail Attractions has had the privilege of working in cities of every size in several states over the last four years. In terms of economic development, reality is always the starting place for real and positive change. It is the elected officials and the city administration that should be in ultimate control of economic development, not the chamber of commerce and not some quasi-governmental group (unless the quasi-governmental group is only a recommender of the direction the local leaders should go). We believe economic development (marketing, data, strategic and development planning, and all the enter-twined relationship building necessary to accomplish the task) can best be done by a professional, independent, third party group with the qualifications, experience, expertise, and relationships to get the job done. This process functions best when these services are performed on contract basis by an outside organizations and city leaders can be brought back to reality on a regular basis. City governments for the most part do not understand the process of economic development (especially retail development)… the amount of time it takes and the complexity of the process. I run into city councilors all the time who are “always certain, and often wrong” about the way economic development should be accomplished.

Reality may not always be pleasant, but no real progress in anything has ever been made, no goals have ever been reached, no problems have really been solved without looking at the situation squarely with reality glasses on. So what does that mean to city governments? If you think you can navigate the very complex, very competitive, very detailed work of retail development in any of its multi-faceted details without outside assistance you are simply not facing reality. Why do banks, which are usually pretty detail oriented places, have regular visits from people called examiners? Because outside, independent, third party eyes can see things from a point of view that help bring reality to the picture. We just came through perhaps the worst banking scandal in our country’s history because loans were made in a cloudy, shady, and very loosely scrutinized way. Reality is a good thing. What makes good lawyers, doctors, mechanics, CPA’s, judges, and politicians? The willingness on their part to deal with the issues at hand in realistic terms. What makes good marriages, good partnerships, and happy endings? Facing reality and making the right course corrections on the journey on from where you are to where you’re going. Reality will never fail you.

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

If you look at the 2010 census data for Owasso, Oklahoma you will see that the Census Bureau reports the population of the city at 28,915. If you drive through the city, you might be impressed at how well the city “shows”, that is the overall visual impact at eye level. But what will really boggle your mind is the fact that on nearly every corner in town is a national retailer or restaurant. Just go down the list…Wal-Mart, Target, Hobby Lobby, Belk, JC Penney, Kohl’s, TJ Maxx, Ross, Lane Bryant, Best Buy, Lowes, Home Depot, Pier One, Olive Garden, Cracker Barrel…they are all there. In a few months, another retail center anchored by Sam’s Club will open across the street from Walgreens and CVS Pharmacy. The question is always asked… How does a community with a population fewer than 30,000 residents have this level of retail presence?

So let’s go through some of the reasons why a community this small in population has such a massive and still growing retail base. 1) Growth. Owasso has been one of the fastest growing suburbs in the Tulsa MSA for the last twenty years. 2) Location. Owasso has a US highway infrastructure dissecting the community that three states use to access the urban areas of Tulsa. 3) Incentives. When communities across the nation were competing for retail deals, the city leaders of Owasso set Owasso apart from other growing communities with highway access by aggressively recruiting retailers using public/private partnerships to incentivize the deals. And most importantly… 4) Retail Base. Even if Owasso hadn’t had the exceptional residential growth and location, the city could have made a case to retailers because they city understood the difference between population and retail base. They understood the consumer trade area for Owasso extended far beyond its city limits, and this is true for many other communities.

We have often talked about defining your trade area in this blog, but probably not addressed exactly why this is so important. A city’s trade area is what defines the retail base for the city, and cities must use their trade area to accurately reflect their true retail potential to retailers. If a city has consumers from other communities shopping and dining in their city, their retail trade area is larger than that of their city limits. Other data providers use concentric rings from the city center or drive time models to identify trade areas, and while these methods require less time and effort, they often do not portray a realistic and defendable retail trade area. When Retail Attractions identifies a community’s trade area, we evaluate competing markets, natural barriers, traffic flow, accessibility, and the availability of developable real estate. Once the trade area is established, demographic data and opportunity gaps are identified, and this information profiles the type of consumer shopping in the area and what sectors are not being serviced in the area.

In the example of Owasso, a community with a city limits population of fewer than 30,000 residents has a retail base of nearly 250,000 consumers. At first glance, retailers dismissed Owasso as a viable development opportunity because it was too small, but city representatives recognized the retail potential of Owasso and were persistent. They identified a defendable trade area and went back to the retailers with their retail base demographics rather than their city limits demographics. This process was by no means easy, but persistence paid off for the city as well as the retailers. Owasso has countless top performing stores; stores that beat out stores located in major retail corridors in metro areas. This success is because the retail base for Owasso far exceeds the 28,915 residents retailers saw at first glance.

If you live in a city and think it has retail potential that is not being addressed, let Retail Attractions help you identify your retail base and effectively market your community to national retailers. Contact us today to get started!

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

There has been a lot of attention recently on social media in terms of marketing communities and the effect of the internet on economic development efforts in local settings. Last year in one of our client cities, a national quick service restaurant CEO stated to the press at their grand opening that Facebook messages to the company influenced their decision. What he did not mention are the less glamorous influences… the hundreds of hours of work by our firm, the city and real estate professionals on both sides. The deal would not have happened without the compelling market data and traffic counts or the countless meetings and calls. But social media did play a role.

Cities around the country are using Facebook, Twitter, Google, and other sources to keep their constituents informed of events, weather alerts, traffic detours, etc… Information is good. On the other hand, misinformation can be bad. While accurate information is always helpful, rumors and half-truths sometimes cause major problems for city administrators. We have seen first-hand how uninformed and in-experienced folks can slow down and sometimes even stop economic development in cities. Social media is a collaborative effort of the community, and there is no requirement for qualification to be part of the community. This means anyone can post anything on a social media site, and it is out there for the whole world to see… regardless of whether it is accurate or pure fiction. This can be very dangerous to development.

The bottom line is that social media is what a community makes of it. A properly managed campaign can be very beneficial to a community’s retail recruitment efforts, but a poorly managed campaign can sabotage even the most lucrative deal. Communities have to actively post pertinent information and more importantly respond to misinformation. City leaders have to be very sensitive to what should be public knowledge at what stage of the process, and they have to aggressively dispel rumors and half-truths.

The city should be the best informed party on matters of economic development, and they should be the ones delivering the information directly. Communities should not depend on quasi-governmental groups to be the spokespeople for marketing the community. Retail Attractions has considerable experience with how and when social media should be used to promote retail development. Using Retail Attractions will save a community time, money, sweat, and most importantly tears. Contact us today to streamline your economic development efforts and to get the most out of social media.

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

Communities around this country are doing everything they can to position themselves ahead of the pack in their economic development efforts. It is very common for a city to create and share marketing “propaganda” touting the many reasons why their particular community is the best place in the free world for investment. We are not saying this isn’t an important element, but there is a problem with relying on this approach. Our firm has heard from those receiving these materials. In many cases they don’t even take the time to look at them, no matter how glossy, slick, or gaudy they may be. What retailers are looking for in a city is the answer to one simple question… “Will our company make a profit in this market?” If the answer to that question is yes, then the follow-up question is… “How efficiently can we get open and get our goods to market?”

While it is important for you to have accurate, current data on your market for you to execute an educated and informed development effort, you need to know that retailers and restaurants will come armed with their own data. They are experts at researching and analyzing markets, and having demographics that meet their requirements is only the first step. What they are looking for in their next site is a community willing to partner with them and help to ensure a good return on their investment. To show retailers you are ready to form partnerships, a city needs to take action internally as well as externally.

Externally, cities need to hire professionals to recruit new investment. The retail world is a tight knit community, and you need someone who is known and respected within the development arena. We have often been surprised at how quickly news and reputations can pass through the retail community. Having an advocate for your community within this world is a necessity. Internally, communities need to focus on making the development process as seamless and painless as possible by eliminating the obstacles. The regulatory environment in a city can quickly become a quagmire of bureaucratic red tape, delays, fees, and any number of other nightmares for the development community. The most troubling thing to me about this is that most cities don’t have the slightest clue that they have a problem in this area. Streamlining the development process should be at the forefront of concerns for any team of progressive city administrators.

Cities should treat retailers and developers like they were welcomed customers. I’m not talking about loosening development standards and lowering expectations. I’m talking about finding creative ways to partner with the private sector. This partnership will help to improve quality of life for your citizens, create sales tax revenue for your city budgets, and stop retail leakage caused by your citizens leaving town to purchase goods and services that they would love to buy at home.

Call us. We can help.

“NEW DEVELOPMENT PARADIGMS AND TRENDS”

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

In our last two blog posts we discussed how local politics play a big part in retail and economic development for cities, especially when communities have to compete for every advantage in these days of growing expenses and declining revenues. As we mentioned before, the model for retail development in cities has changed radically. Much stricter guidelines and more scrutiny at each level of the process is resulting in far less growth and causing cities that need and desire to grow their retail base to think in new ways.

Gambling on the future is always a risky thing, but it has always been a part of the risk of development. Betting on the cycle is fun and profitable if you get it right, and a killer if you get it wrong. The good news is that there are some encouraging signs in the retail arena. Bookstores, and electronics retailers are suffering, but retailers like T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, Petco, and almost all the “dollar” stores are seeing strong growth. In some parts of the country, retailers are still struggling and the evidence indicates that consumers are still sensitive to pricing and that people for the most part are shopping for bargains and the greatest value for their money.

We are seeing some grocery growth across the region, and, because of the economy’s effect on the housing industry, many grocery chains are still very cautious and are taking advantage, as are lots of other retailers and restaurants, looking at 2nd generation space, infill, and redevelopment opportunities. In some markets, not in all, department store closings have created caverns in malls and in power and strip centers that have led to redevelopment challenges for owners. In certain areas, de-malling will benefit both owners and consumers as new retail growth creates new challenges to find exciting and more efficient shopping experiences for communities and consumers.

Across the board, there are many challenges to retail growth. Without healthy and sustained job growth, retail may survive but certainly new growth will be needed to cause it to thrive. Retail Attractions has always preached that new retail growth in cities gives them a boost in recruiting new job opportunities. Retailers are all concerned about internet sales opportunities, both in relation to their own increased sales, and negatively as to how those online sales pinch their traditional real estate models. New efforts to make the collection of sales taxes for city governments easier on internet sales may be good for cities, but they are increasingly becoming more tangled in the political winds at the federal level.

Last but not least, cities should not be shocked when retailers in many genres begin to downsize their boxes to become as efficient as possible. This is already happening in many of our client cities. Cities should assist retailers with all available means to help them improve their efficiency and over-all sales per square foot. Justice (a clothing outlet targeting girls aged 7-14), for example, plans to open 55 stores in the US, but also plans to remodel over 40 locations. Old Navy has already remodeled numerous stores to downsize and re-fit into smaller spaces.

Retail Attractions has relationships with retail and restaurant tenants and would love to help your community market itself to retail growth. Cities need to learn the valuable lesson of doing what they do best, which hopefully is building new infrastructure for growth, providing government services to their citizens, and creating proactive policies for growth and sustainability. Let a professional do the work of marketing your community to the national retailers. It’s more efficient, and more productive.

Contact us today to make a seemingly overwhelming task more manageable.

“COMPETITION-IT AIN’T AS EASY AS IT LOOKS”

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

As we said in the last blog post, local politics play a big part in retail and economic development for cities. Over the past several years federal politics, crazy as they are, have spawned a trickle-down effect that has flowed from the federal politics into state, regional, and local governments. Communities that were able to govern in relative unity a few years back are now experiencing bitter partisanship and radical thinking. When cities are competing to attract sales tax producing retail development to their city limits, they cannot afford to have dissension in their local politics. It’s hard enough to foster growth when everyone is working in a unified and efficient manner. With competition more fierce than ever, retailers and restaurants that are looking for new sites are definitely looking for the “low-hanging” fruit. They want markets that are the easiest, simplest, and produce the biggest bang for their investment dollars.

Between 2003 and 2006, big box retail stores were doing 100-200 new deals a year, and the junior anchors were equally as aggressive. Big box anchored power centers and retail developments were being built all over the place. Financing was simple, banks were cooperative and throwing money at retail deals. Brokers were making tons of money. Times were great. Not today. In these tough, lean economic times, many of the big boxes are not even considering new sites, and the ones that are will just do one or two a year. In the past, all it took for a communities to have an excellent chance for new retail deals was showing residential growth in their markets. Today it takes a special circumstance to get the attention of the retail and restaurant site selectors. In this highly competitive market, cities are competing for their very existence, and suburban communities circling a core urban area are competing amongst themselves for retail goods and services for their growing residential areas.

Where a retailer might have been willing to work with difficult local politics in the past, in this market unstable or volatile local politics can have a negative effect on retail deals and slow or even stop development. Cities need to consider the impact of their reputation on the watching world. Folks in the retail business talk to each other. Developers discuss markets over coffee. Retailers discuss how a smoothly a deal went over lunch. It is imperative for cities need to get their ducks in a row and share their retail potential with the development world. They need to be vocal about partnering with the private sector with incentives, development agreements and partnerships. They need to streamline the regulatory environment and perhaps even get into the real estate business to control the use of prime development areas. In addition, local bodies need ensure their community has a reputation for being politically unified with pro-business attitude. A reputation like that will go a long way in these competitive times.

It goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway… Communities need to hire an independent, experienced, well-respected third party consulting firm to market them to the retail world. Hiring a consultant shows the development world your community is serious about growth and is taking the first steps to making it happen. Retail Attractions is proud to represent communities across the county in their development efforts. When your community is ready to take the next step give us a call at 918-376-6707. We are ready when you are.

Contact us today to make a seemingly overwhelming task more manageable.