Retail Analysis and Development Program

Skill Building

 Speakers:
Bruce W. Schwartau and Sherri A. Gahring
Over the last several decades small town retailers have suffered economic losses to "big box" merchandisers. Over half of Minnesota cities with populations between 5,000 and 10,000 have a Target, Wal-Mart, or Kmart store. As a result, many towns have seen their retail stores disappear and now small regional centers have concerns about the survival of their locally owned stores. The objective of the Retail Analysis and Development program is to help Minnesota communities maintain a diverse retail sector with independent retailers successfully competing with "big box" retailers. This two-part presentation describes Extension Service generated Retail Trade Analysis reports that are now available for many cities and counties in Minnesota. By measuring pull factors, the report is useful in a community planning process for business expansion and recruitment. This workshop is often used in conjunction with a second retail workshop, Small Store Success Strategies, to aid independent retailers to co-exist with the big box retailers. This workshop looked at recommended strategies on marketing, merchandising, customer service, and business operations and compared that to survey data from small independent retailers in three Minnesota communities. Particpants in this session will learn 1)about tools developed through applied research to help retail markets and economic entities 2) how pull factors are generated and how they might be used to develop expansion strategies or determine the retail health of a community and 3) strategies that independent stores can implement to survive in a dramatically changing retail marketplace.

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For more information about the conference, contact the conference co-chairs: Cindy Bigger, cbigger@umn.edu, (888) 241-0843, or Rick Maurer, richard.maurer@uky.edu, (859) 257-7582.

For questions, comments or concerns about the 2006 NACDEP Conference website, contact emilye@srdc.msstate.edu.