The City of Carroll, the Carroll Chamber of Commerce and Carroll Area Development Corporation (CADC) have partnered on tandem initiatives to promote growth, retention and expansion in targeted areas. Council members were given an update on one of these from Austin Farmer, project director with The Retail Coach. Since last fall, they have been gathering data and identifying market needs as they develop a plan to meet them. They also look at leakage.
Recruitment of potential retailers began about two weeks ago. Interested businesses will be looking for demographic and statistical information. Farmer says they are ready to offer that—beginning with the primary retail trade area.
They were able to mine GPS data, identifying how far consumers are traveling to Carroll and what businesses they are frequenting. Farmer says this represents an area encompassing residents from Breda on the north side and Coon Rapids and Bagley to the south and east.
Council member, Clay Haley, says he does not believe that area is accurate
Farmer says they will be creating a secondary, broader retail area and will review and adjust both accordingly. He also explained retail fusion, looking at current retailers and then others who traditionally partner with them in other communities to showcase the opportunities in this market. They are presenting the benefits of Carroll to as many as 30 to 40 businesses. What they would consider successful recruitment would be to capture one of those in the first year of their three-year initiative, but it is typical to get at least one by the second year and they have historically seen six to seven interested parties at any one point in time. The entire presentation from The Retail Coach can be found below. There is a special public presentation for the other partnered initiative, the Corridor of Commerce, tonight (Wednesday) which will be done virtually beginning at 7 p.m. The public is asked to weigh in with questions and comments following the presentation at 7:30 p.m. Details on that meeting and how to join can also be found here.
_________________________________________
Full audio of The Retail Coach presentation 02-22-21:
The Retail Coach Demographic Profile: The-Retail-Coach-Profile
To join Corridor of Commerce Public Presentation Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.: https://rdgusa.mysocialpinpoint.com/carrollhwy30
