The City of Shelton recently partnered with The Retail Coach, the nation’s leading retail recruitment and development firm, to expand the city’s retail development base.
Shelton city leaders have identified economic development as a main focus for 2018. In harmony with the comprehensive Economic Development Strategic Plan currently being developed with TIP Strategies, The Retail Coach Retail360 Program will help to identify potential opportunities for new retail development, as well as redevelopment and expansion in Shelton. The city has established several collaborative partnerships with business and community stakeholders, including the Economic Development Council of Mason County and the Shelton Mason Chamber of Commerce, to participate in plan development and critical implementation processes.
“We are excited to be working with the City of Shelton in this process,” said Aaron Farmer, Senior Vice President of The Retail Coach. “During our first trip to the community, we will analyze Shelton’s overall retail market, as well as other competing markets to help identify potential retail development opportunities in Shelton.”
After analyzing Shelton’s existing retail market, the first step in this process will be to determine the city’s retail trade area, which is the defined boundary from which Shelton draws 80 – 85% of its primary consumers. Using that information, the team will create retail profile reports and prepare marketing tools to represent the City of Shelton nationally to retailers, restaurants, and developers. To determine which dominant retail category goods consumers are leaving Shelton to purchase, the team will then conduct a gap/opportunity analysis, which is essential in determining the types of retailers to target.
“We look forward to working with The Retail Coach to identify retail opportunities that best match our unique economic profile here in Shelton,” said Andy Arnes, Communications and Economic Development Officer for the City of Shelton. “This partnership gives us the ability to communicate the city’s new retail development opportunities to targeted developers across the nation, and effectively support our local business community by identifying potential business expansion and revitalization opportunities. A clear understanding of retail opportunities that have the highest probability of success is critical to future marketing, recruitment, and expansion efforts.”
