Year: 2011

The Process and Hindrances of Retail Recruitment (Part 4 of 4)

Posted by Rickey Hayes on November 21, 2011 in Blog | No Comments

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

Something probably needs to be said here about the political climate in communities since more and more local governments seem to not be able to get along or all get on the same page. Our firm works with all sizes of cities and all types of city governments. I can show you case study after case study and the evidence is overwhelming that unity in purpose and unity in vision sets a city apart from the pack. Elected officials have my utmost respect when they have the best interest of their constituents at heart. But when they are there with a personal agenda or after personal gain they should be recalled. Bottom line is this…political infighting and instability stops development. One of the foundational reasons our firm has been successful is that we believe in what we are doing. Recruiting retailers and restaurants to serve the needs of communities is good for cities. It is good in terms of generating and growing revenues, both sales tax and ad valorem, and it improves the overall quality of life in a city. If those governing your town are not interested in improving revenues and improving the quality of life of your citizens, you need to move.

Recently in a meeting with a city council, city staff, and EDC staff for a mid-size city, the EDC director said that over the past year their staff had sent over 250 letters directly to retailers asking them to come to town, and that out of all that work they had only gotten one reply back. I quickly asked what the reply was. The EDC director said that the one retailer that had replied simply said “No.” Retail and restaurant real estate departments get bombarded with city and chamber of commerce propaganda almost on a daily basis. Our network of retail and real estate relationships is open and receptive each time we call regarding potential new markets and are quick to direct us to their growth plans that involve our client cities. Furthermore, many retailers approach US about their growth plans for our perspective and opinions about where the most progressive and dynamic markets are. All cities have retail potential. They may not have the same potential, but they have some potential. Large or small, urban or suburban, micropolitan, or rural “one traffic light” communities…all cities have the potential to grow revenues and upgrade the quality of life for their citizens. Let us help you.

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.

The Process and Hindrances of Retail Recruitment (Part 3 of 4)

Posted by Rickey Hayes on November 14, 2011 in Blog | No Comments

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

What does the retail recruitment process look like? It looks like any other relationship based endeavor. The first key to success is to know who to contact, and preferably, have a good relationship with that individual or group. Lots of retailers have generic mail boxes where all real estate related correspondence is funneled. Good luck with that approach. Knowing the right person is the key to getting your city’s market data into hands that actually have the power to influence decisions. We know retailers, their corporate real estate people, and the various groups of brokers around the country that they use to represent them in growth markets. Sometimes one representative will be the contact for a large geographical area, other groups will have a team of brokers and site selectors working deals for a state or a region. The thing to remember is that they are people who are busy, have families, and go to work each day just like you and me. It takes patience to stay after them until you get a convenient moment to talk about new sites. You can contact them daily with elaborate marketing material for month after month, and you may never get your city on the radar for new development opportunities. On the other hand, one phone call or meeting at the right time, with the right person, can result in a successful retail deal for your community, with no marketing material involved. We’ve experienced it many times. Again… It’s all about relationships. We discuss retail sites and the markets of our client cities daily by phone, by email, and in person. We attend the ICSC conferences held around the country and introduce our clients directly to the retailers.

The recruiting process takes patience and tenacity. A retailer or restaurant may tell you that they have no interest in a market or a community at the beginning of a year and then six months later be aggressively trying to get into that area. A retail or restaurant entity may have limited real estate personnel and simply may not have the time to look at a specific deal or a specific market today, but will warehouse sites or locations for future growth or for the next development cycle. We interact daily with the retail world and those who make a living in this industry, and have proven strategies for getting communities pushed to the top of the lists.

Check back next week to find out what your city can do to encourage retail development.

The Process and Hindrances of Retail Recruitment (Part 2 of 4)

Posted by Rickey Hayes on November 7, 2011 in Blog | No Comments

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

Any city that is interested in growing their retail base should take a look at how they handle the development procedure at the entitlement level. Over the last four years of serving cities in several states, one of the areas where there is always room for improvement is in the bureaucratic arm of the planning and community development department’s development and entitlement process. Our firm works with developers from around the country who tell horror stories of arbitrary and capricious treatment at the hands of an inspector or a planner that costs them time and money and causes serious delay to or in the worst case scenario, even the death of a project. Now please don’t think that I am against good planning and high standards of development. That is NOT the case. My job is to get the cities we are fortunate to work in ready to market themselves to sales tax producing retailers and restaurants, and one of the very worst positions a city can find itself in is to have the reputation of not being “development friendly.” What we are looking for is a balanced position where development standards can be held at a high level but there can also be a streamlined and efficient process where developers and investors are treated like customers and not treated like the enemy. Consider the amount of expense and risk a developer has in a new retail project, any city issues or slowdowns cost him time and money. The issues are different from city to city but no matter how perfect the setting is there will be issues. Whether its problems with the real estate, stormwater detention or retention, FEMA issues, topography issues, zoning and annexation disputes, sewer and water line problems, environmental / DEQ issues, limits of no access limitations; the list goes on and on. Local development philosophies do affect development. Cities that are geared and prepared for growth and development have a distinct advantage.

Something we often experience with cities is that they are shocked at the amount of time the retail process takes. We tell city officials who are really serious about retail development that they need to understand, from the very beginning, that the process is usually extremely slow and tedious. Most people really don’t get that point. If your city is not on the national radar currently you may be three years or more from actually seeing new retail and new revenue. If retailers have interest in your market and really want to get there, it still may take eighteen months to two years or more. Again, it takes a long time. On the other hand, once a retailer or restaurant pulls the trigger on a site, they need to get there, get the site through the entitlement process, get the site work done and a building built and get their goods and services to market as soon as possible. It gets confusing if you aren’t familiar with the process. This is the precise reason that cities do not need to wait until next month or next fiscal year or next year’s budget to get in the game.

Check back next week to see what the process looks like.

The Process and Hindrances of Retail Recruitment (Part 1 of 4)

Posted by Rickey Hayes on October 31, 2011 in Blog | No Comments

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

In a past life I was a police officer. When I was preparing to enter that profession I naively presumed that if they realized how bright I was and recognized my considerably advanced skill level, that I would immediately be placed in an administrative position: Boy was I wrong! They wouldn’t even give me any bullets until I had completed nine months of intensive training and preparation. I know you are dying to know what this has to do with the process of recruiting retail to your city. Well, let me tell you: Communities all over the country are beginning to realize that they are simply not prepared to bring national retail goods and services to their citizens and maybe more importantly, they are realizing that they are missing the considerable sales tax revenues that the retail growth adds to their bottom lines. Preparation is a crucial part in the process. If you were selling a house, you would want the house as clean and polished as possible before you presented it. But what if you are trying to sell a city? How does your city show? How does your city’s website portray your community? How do outside investors see your community? What kind of development and growth philosophy do your city leaders have? One thing is for sure:Cities that aren’t growing are decaying, and in today’s competitive environment, a decaying city isn’t going to win the war for attention.

Every community should have a basic knowledge of who lives there and who shops there. City administrators should have a basic understanding of the people they serve: their age, income, education, ethnicity, employment status, and family makeup. Communities should have an idea of who owns the developable tracts of real estate and have some sort of a strategic land use plan. Knowledge of flood plain data and other environmental concerns is always helpful. Believe me, you would be very surprised how a little knowledge of basic information will save tremendous amounts of time and money when the focus in the community turns to retail recruitment. Defining the city’s trade area is a little more technical and requires some knowledge of key factors such as traffic flow patterns, other population centers, and the dynamics of other localized clusters of retail development. Unless you can get your community’s data “inside the ropes” to the decision makers in the retail industry, your city will most likely get swallowed up by the 43,300 other US zip codes who think their local retail potential is better than yours.

So now your interested… check back next week to see what to do about it.

Cities and Social Media

Posted by Rickey Hayes on September 7, 2011 in Blog | 1 Comment

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.

Quality of Life (It’s hard to define but I always know it when I see it)

Posted by Rickey Hayes on August 17, 2011 in Blog | No Comments

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

Cities all over the country are experiencing rapid changes that will set precedence for the future. Decisions being made now will affect countless multitudes many years in the future. It is imperative that community leaders cast a vision of what could be and what is possible. That vision has to be communicated effectively to the citizens, so that families in the community can live, work, and play knowing they have a positive future ahead of them. Communities that refuse to plan for growth and for change, or that refuse to put infrastructure in place that will allow for positive change are always going to be playing “catch up”. Everybody knows the economy is unstable. If city governments wait until the national economy stabilizes, it will be impossible to plan for the future. Note: the future is coming whether the economy stabilizes or not. Cities that are choosing to improve the quality of life for their citizens by investing in the future are going to grow and prosper, in per capita scale, no matter what happens to the national economy.

Quality of life is a nebulous, hard to define condition that sets communities apart from one another. Any person who has ever traveled at all has seen areas where you say to yourself, ” this place is nice”. Correspondingly we have all been to neighborhoods or communities where the feeling is anything but nice. Quality of life is a force that can affect housing values, residential growth, private sector investment, and local pride. Quality of life is also very hard to maintain. It tends to deteriorate very rapidly and must constantly be improved. Shopping and retail choices, academic and educational choices, youth sports and other recreational opportunities, and well maintained roadways and developments affect quality of life. Cities are discovering that in order to grow and stay competitive they must now contend with communities outside their immediate locales, some of which are far, far more invested in the quality of life staples that they themselves desire.

What does it take to insure that optimum quality of life grows with a community? First, it takes VISION to see what could be and what is possible and practical for a specific locale. It takes COURAGE to think outside the box and perhaps even to think outside of the way we have always done it before. Finally, it takes MONEY. Everything comes with a cost. True to form, the old adage “you get what you pay for” applies to this discussion.

I’ve had the pleasure of working for dozens of different cities across the country. I’ve seen lots of city council meetings and lots of local politics. I’ve seen good city managers and some who were in the wrong business. I’ve seen city councils and trustee boards with real public servants and I’ve experienced some where elected officials ran for office because they had an axe to grind or where there to line their own pockets or the pockets of their friends. The real joy of my work comes when we see a body of elected officials who decide to put their personal likes and wishes aside and work together to make their community a better place. When people have a collective vision and are all working for the same goal, amazing things can happen.

The responsibility of handling public funds is a sacred trust. For the sake of the future, public monies should be invested in ways that will bring a good return and improve the overall quality of life in a community. City leaders should be vision casters, and at the very least take heart of their responsibility as a public servant to make wise investments for the future quality of life of their citizens. If your answer is always “NO” to growth and to change you are the enemy of quality of life. Anybody who runs for public office should have a plan and a process in mind that would make life better for all their constituents. If you are a public servant now, and all you do is generate strife and negativism, you should resign. Every public servant should lead, follow, or get out of the way. Let the citizens decide what quality of life and amenities they want to pay for.

Is your city different from mine? How to create a vision.

Posted by Rickey Hayes on July 5, 2011 in Blog | No Comments

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

(continuation from previous post)

Cities need to face reality. Every community has retail potential. If somebody living in your community travels out of your community to purchase goods or services, you are losing revenue. That is reality. Every community needs to know the reality of it’s retail potential, whether it’s bright or depressing, and then do everything they can to maximize their potential. Cities need to look for and face reality about the overall appearance of the community to outsiders and citizens alike. Communities need to face reality about their fiscal health and opportunities for growth.

At a minimum every community needs to:

Improve their overall cosmetic appearance and put on their best face
Look at what technology is available and implement what is affordable to stay up with the times
Collect and provide current and relevant data on development related topics: sales tax growth, building permits, traffic counts, etc.
Know their city limit population and their trade area population. Cities need to understand who lives there and who shops there. They need to know their income levels, education levels, age distribution, ethnic backgrounds, housing profile (basic data on what the residential development in the city looks like) and occupation classification for the local workforce.
Understand basic real estate principles, land values and be sensitive to confidentiality issues and development criteria
Have an understanding of how to partner with a retailer or a developer to create a good environment for investment
Examine their development process to ensure it is as seamless and efficient as possible. I have encouraged each community I have worked with to take an unbiased look at their development process and have not seen one where some changes didn’t need to be made.

As overwhelming as this list seems, it is all necessary to make your community the most attractive destination possible to retailers looking to expand. Competition is fierce, and there are communities across the country getting their ducks in a row. If you don’t want to be left out, you need to do the same. Retail Attractions can help you put your best foot forward. We provide a wide range of services to help you turn your vision into your reality.

Is your city different from mine?

Posted by Rickey Hayes on June 21, 2011 in Blog | No Comments

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

Cities are essentially all the same, no matter how large or small. Urban, suburban, rural… It doesn’t really make a difference. In base terms, cities are the corporate entities in geographic locations where people have gathered to live and co-exist. Although vastly different in many ways, there is a basic commonality or cohesion in them all. The populace share basic needs… food, water and shelter. Outside the basic needs the population needs a way to earn a living, to pursue goods and services needed to survive and opportunities to “re-create”. In other words ways to live, work, and play.

Communities as they exist need to organize, communicate and govern themselves to continue the cycle of life. Our country’s history is rich in the fundamental element of the way society is governed. We are opinionated, very vocal, and each has his or her individual ideologies about how government should work. We often take for granted our freedom in this country, and wars and conflict have occurred since the beginning of time because of difficulties in being able to figure out how life should be lived.

Because there is such a diverse population in our community and every individual has an underlying ideology about how things ought to be, city government often finds itself in the cycle of turning on itself because the goal of improving the overall quality of life for the whole is swallowed up by those in power fighting to make their own little kingdom.

It takes a vision to change the climate of “what we have always done” to “what ought to be done for the good of the city”. Along with a vision, it takes a vision caster to allow people to “see” the reality of what could be. A vision is a unifying force in itself. Where the reality of a do-able vision exists, people will be gathering around it. Where a do-able vision exists and people willing to work together to implement the vision are assembling… the future is born.

Check back in a couple of weeks for action steps to create a vision for your city…

Living in Reality

Posted by Rickey Hayes on May 5, 2011 in Blog | No Comments

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

My adult working career has been diverse to say the least. It has been a mix of retail, health care, law enforcement, non-profit, counseling and economic development in both the public and private sector. I have been married to the same wonderful woman for thirty one years, raised four children and developed a vast network of interpersonal relationships as well as. I have experienced life at many levels, and each one of these life stages has been an education in itself. Perhaps the single hardest thing to learn in each stage is how to live life in reality. And it is no different as we work for our city clients.

One of the most difficult tasks we face is getting the various elements of city government to look with focused eyes at reality. Reality is sometimes harsh, sometimes brutal. But living in reality is always the best way to live. Living in fantasy has been the downfall of many individuals and organizations. Fantasy is sometimes fed by ignorance, sometimes by deceit. Regardless of where fantasy comes from, living in a false world is never going to get us where we need to go.

Our federal government is currently trying to avoid default by implementing “extraordinary measures”. The first “extraordinary measure” will be the suspension of a category of non-marketable bonds known as State and Local Government Series securities or SLGS (often referred to as “slugs”). These securities are tailor-made for state and local governments and are designed to help them pay for their debt. The federal government can’t pay their bills so they are passing the buck to the state government. Our government is in this mess because they refuse to live in reality.

We see cities living in a false world where they think revenue is going to create itself. City managers and city councils are pressed to create new sources of revenue to meet growing budget demands across the board. The “way we have always done it” philosophy isn’t working in today’s economic climate. What cities need is a new vision and new leadership. Cities need to take responsibility and face reality. Sitting idly by waiting for something good to happen doesn’t change the quality of life in your community. At Retail Attractions our philosophy is simple. Identify the needs of a community and figure out the best plan of action to fill those needs. Contact Retail Attractions to help your community make positive change a reality.

Is Retail Growth Really Economic Development?

Posted by Rickey Hayes on March 16, 2011 in Blog | No Comments

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

Last week I received an invitation to the Heartland Economic Development Course held in Kansas City next month. The course touts itself as the “highest ranked multi-state economic development course in the United States”. This course, like most of the regional ED courses held in different areas around the country, is accredited by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC). This course is a basic part of an economic development practitioner’s training program and is in fact required for the IEDC certification process. I attended the same course in San Antonio, Texas in 2001, and I can tell you the course is saturated with good, solid training and should be a part of every ED professional’s course of study. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the course. However, if you look at the course offerings highlighted on the marketing brochure you will find not one reference to or mention of retail recruitment. It’s all about the “smokestack” and industrial and manufacturing job creation. I would argue that there is more to economic development than this. There is a bigger picture.

Bottom line is this:when we were in school we knew we weren’t going to use half of the stuff we were being taught. And we were right. Education gives you a foundation, but economic development technique is not learned in a classroom. It is learned in the field. Successful economic development at its foundation is about improving the quality of life in a community. Real economic development is about relationships with the right people at the right time at the right location. Correct me if I’m wrong here, but I can point to some job creation successes that ultimately reduced the overall quality of life in a community. Is that successful economic development? Not in my book. I know this is sensitive stuff, but sometimes when we try to be sensitive and politically correct we lose sight of our goal. What is our goal? To face reality and move forward in a positive direction.

So what is reality? The fact is that when well planned national retail comes to a community, the quality of life in that city goes up. The adage “rooftops generate retail” is only part of the story. Just as residential growth can bring retail growth, retail growth can generate residential growth. When corporate America decides to relocate jobs from one geographic area to another, I can assure you that the retail goods and services offered and the overall quality of life in the prospective cities are at the top of the list of things considered when those decisions are made.

The following story is not fantasy:it is reality. I saw it with my own eyes in living color. From 2002-2007 the City of Owasso, Oklahoma experienced tremendous growth in both commercial and residential investment. Census data states Owasso grew 55% in population from 2000-10, and the city’s sales tax base and general fund revenue nearly tripled during that time. The sales tax revenue continues on an upward trend even in a “recession” economy. New commercial construction totaled more than 4.2 million square feet with over a quarter of a billion dollars in total value. The Owasso Independent School District built over $100 million in new facilities, and because of the increased property values, all this was done without raising taxes one penny. And a sleepy little bedroom community became what other cities have termed a “city on a hill”, a true regional shopping mecca. What is the driving force, the “reason”, for the continued growth and revenue? Retail. Well planned, incentivized retail.

Is that real economic development? I think so.

Our company teaches communities how to define their retail market and sales potential and then market themselves to the national retailers and restaurants. Our client cities that stick with us through the slow grinding process of retail development reap new retail, new revenue, and a new and improved quality of life for their citizens.

Is that real economic development? I think so.

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