Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

In the August 17, 2011, business section of the Tulsa World there is an interesting article. The article states that Taco Bueno recently decided to locate a store in Glenpool. That much is true. The article says that the demographics and location played a minor role, and that the driving force for the site selection was a Facebook page where Glenpool citizens voiced their appetite for Bueno’s food. Now I’m not saying that the Facebook page didn’t have an effect on the decision, it surely did. Readers of the Tulsa World should learn that social media is a powerful force. But make no mistake about it, the social media page will never replace the market dynamics and premium sales potential that Taco Bueno will enjoy on this site. In any restaurant or retail site it is always all about the bottom line. Two years of hard work and a dynamic effort by the City of Glenpool administration, consultants, brokers, and developers as well as Taco Bueno’s renowned real estate department should be factored in as well.

That being said, can social media be used by communities as a tool in recruiting retail? ABSOLUTELY! Cities should take advantage of any and all available means to market themselves to the watching world. The use of technology in every form helps a local entity share it’s attributes to those inquiring minds who are looking at the community as a place to live, work, get an education, and as we have already seen, looking to locate retail and restaurant sites.

In this economy, where every new retail deal will be scrutinized by the developer, the broker, the banker, and in house real estate department of the end user, cities should take the lead in providing accurate and dependable information on the strengths of the local market. We have proven that retailers and restaurants that tend to pass over generic city and chamber propaganda will listen to an independent, qualified, third party professional like Retail Attractions. And if the community is using Facebook to broadcast it’s retail potential, so much the better!

Let Retail Attractions help your community. We have helped dozens of local communities in several states see and change reality. Our firm can help you cast a vision and set a course for a thriving community where people want to live, work, shop and dine. Contact us today to make a seemingly overwhelming task more manageable.

Rickey Hayes is the principal of Retail Attractions, LLC, a firm dedicated to helping cities and developers successfully find retail sites, close deals and improve the quality of life for our client cities.

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

It is official. Wal-Mart now has a store model that will fit every city, town and corner in the United States. According to building permits obtained by Bloomberg News, Wal-Mart is finally moving forward with their closely guarded secret, the Express store concept.

Construction on the 14,400 square foot store in Gentry, Arkansas, a town of 3,158 only 20 miles from the company’s headquarters, will begin on March 16. The company has also released that there will be 2 more Arkansas cities graced with an Express with construction starting in the next couple of week, and rumor has it that an existing 10,000 square foot building in a Chicago suburb is being built out as the first urban Wal-Mart Express. So what does this mean to your community?

If you are a community that has already been smiled upon by the Wal-Mart gods, you could care less. However, if you are a community that has been looked at as a potential site but just not quite made the cut… this is good news.

There are traditionally 3 formats for Wal-Mart stores:

• Supercenter: 185,000 square feet
• Discount stores: 108,000 square feet
• Neighborhood Markets: 42,000 square feet

And now introducing (drum roll, please):

• Express: 14,400 square feet

The Express will feature groceries, a pharmacy, three or four checkout counters and 75 parking spaces. They are expected to have about 12 aisles and include fresh produce, frozen food items, refrigerated food items as well as general merchandise. Wal-Mart plans to open as many as 40 units this year in rural and urban areas, and executives said to expect the first Express store to open as early as May. There are thousands of opportunities across the US for this model. All you need is leakage and 5 acres!

Retail Attractions has worked with Wal-Mart real estate and our development contacts in several of our client communities and has insight into what they need to see, hear and feel to make the decision to locate in a new community. If you would like to locate a Wal-Mart or a Wal-Mart Express in your community, we can help. Give us a call at (918) 376-6707 or contact us to put us to work for your community.

The following article was posted in ICSC’s online weekly magazine.  The article clearly defines why communities and land owners need to get away from generic demographic information and the run of the mill property descriptions and hire a professional to market their communities. Every community has a unique story, every market has its own quirks that make it desirable with today’s specialty or niche retailers and restaurants. Retail Attractions, LLC can help you to effectively market your property. We can help…

October 29th, 2010
Vol. 15 No. 43

Tell a story if you want to land that lease, conference told

In this market so favorable to tenants, a leasing agent is likely to find the job to be as much art as science. “It’s less like deal making and more like selling,” said Joe Rando, president of Trade Area Systems, at ICSC’s Pathway to the Future conference. “You need verified data with context and insight.”

John Breitinger, vice president of retail investments and development at United Properties, said he sometimes has to function as an assistant to his leasing team. One key part of the firm’s strategy is to offer potential tenants more than the basic information about the property and market under consideration. “Get away from the standard marketing package to create differentiation,” he said. “Most leasing materials include a site plan, an aerial and some bullets of information. They should include market potential, competitive environment and an explanation of why there’s an opportunity here.”

Use as much data as possible from various sources, but be sure to verify the maps and statistics yourself, said Rando. “There’s not one commercial data service that won’t embarrass you at some point or another,” he said. Breitinger said United Properties usually hires a consultant to study a property before sending the leasing team into the field to verify.

The agents grade the properties they tour and then discuss the scores, said Breitinger. “You need to do the work you can’t do from a desk,” he said. “Touch every vacancy, look at every new deal — the tour provides a clear-eyed assessment of the relative value of these properties.”

Above all, agents can seal the deal by telling a story, he said. “Emotion wins over facts, so give them a context. Get the credibility to advise and not broker. Capture the details. Our guys carry digital cameras all the time now. Words, photos, numbers — what is your value proposition and how do you explain it?”

It is necessary to give the team proper incentive, said Breitinger, especially when a center is almost fully leased and brokers tend to shift their attention to other properties. “The cash flow that comes from that final few points of vacancy is very important,” he said. “You may have to offer them more reward for the final lease-up.”