What kind of city are you?

Posted by Rickey Hayes on September 18, 2013 in Blog | No Comments

Written by
Rickey Hayes
Retail Attractions, LLC

One of the most exciting things we do in the day to day grind is meet new people in our client communities. I have said both publicly and privately that every city in the country needs to hire our firm because we bring a broad spectrum of change to our client communities. Although our work is centered on identifying a community’s retail potential and then promoting that community to our network of retail and restaurant contacts, the real benefit of our work is helping a city improve its overall quality of life at tangible levels. Many cities are stuck in a rut of decaying infrastructure, dilapidating buildings, and a depressing outlook for future change. It doesn’t have to be that way.
In working with cities across the country, we have seen that there are basically four types of cities:

  • “Yes! cities” who have a can do attitude and figure out ways to get deals done and effect positive change. These cities have vision, build consensus, and refuse to stay the way they are.
  • “No! cities” who don’t want more growth or change because they don’t want to provide the additional services or endure the inevitable tension that comes with growth and change.
  • “Who Cares! cities” who think if growth comes that’s great, but if it doesn’t come, that’s fine too. They aren’t going to work for it because they don’t think it is worth the effort. (What a tragic outlook to have when there is such potential for every community!)
  • “No! cities that could be Yes! cities” who want to change their paths but just need the right kind of leadership, vision, and passion to get them there.

I assure you that the community you live in falls into one of these four categories, and it’s normally pretty obvious where you fall. Can you change the direction your community is heading? Absolutely! Even if you are in a Yes! City and headed the right direction, you can always benefit from professional assistance. Let Retail Attractions help. Visit www.retailattractions.com to learn more. We are ready to get to work for you and make sure you are portraying a Yes! City mentality.

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.

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