The Crossville city council heard from
three firms that provide consulting work on recruiting nation retail
chains during a work session May 26.
The city has discussed this possibility
before but has not yet taken the plunge to work with the firms that
provide data on the community, the gaps in retail available here and
the so-called “out leakage” of spending to other area shopping
locations. The three firms that spoke to the council included Retail
Strategies, R360 and Buxton. All three companies pitched their
services to the city with the idea that they could help increase
sales tax collections by recruiting large retail stores and
restaurant chains.
Brook Holbert, right, of Retail Strategies speaks to Crossville city council. Also pictured left to right are Pam Harris, Pete Souza, Billy Loggins and Mayor James Mayberry.
The kind of data that the firms
aggregate and interpret include trade areas such as where shoppers
come from, types of consumers and how ans where consumers spend their
money. The data can help to show how Crossville compares with other
communities and that comparison can be used to look at similar
communities and the retail operations that they support. This allows
the city to approach the retailers that are not in Crossville but in
similar locations and to encourage them to also locate at Crossville.
Two of the firms offer their services
for $90,000 to $110,000 over three years of consulting. The larger
Buxton firm's proposal totals $160,000. Buxton is one of the top
firms in the business and has an exclusive agreement with VISA card
to access data on purchases to help with their research.
One other interesting aspect of the
research that each firm discussed was the tracking of cell phones to
determine how many shop in a particular store in Crossville and where
they come from. This tracking of the number of cell phones within a
specific area was a part of the research planned by the firms.
Following the presentations, the
council members will consider the information and determine if such a
project will be included in the city's upcoming budget.
"recruiting large retail stores and restaurant chains"
ReplyDeleteHeaven forbid Crossville overlook the value of locally-based retail and food service where the profits stay in the community. Identify what makes Crossville unique and invest in that. Local has become fashionable and marketable. Chains are the answers provided by the lazy and outdated.
The citizenry seem to be clamoring for chain restaurants as much as anything. Of course the city would like to see a big jump in sales tax from a "big box" as that is their major source of revenue. There continues to be a lot of small business activity on the old Main Street downtown is growing in popularity. A new evening event, Friday at the Crossroads will be held this Friday June 3 from 4 to 8 sponsored by those local businesses.
ReplyDeleteBrain drain is the problem Crossville continues to deal with and somehow low paying restaurants are the solution? We need higher paying jobs from the financial and tech sectors. Oak Ridge is right up the road and could provide that yet our previous leaders ran them off looking for kick-backs and controlling what they could pay their employees.
ReplyDeleteThe answer to brain drain is not restaurants or other low paying jobs. The old money establishment (everyone one knows who they are) have gotten rich off the backs of others for way too long. This is one step removed from indentured servants where the slave owner gets rich while the rest suffer. We need high paying financial and tech jobs. They require With them come many, many support jobs that pay more. We are tired of our family members leaving or worse staying and working in a factory or being far under paid for a skilled or white collar job. When the retired class pass away in a few years where will Crossville be then?
ReplyDelete