(Atlantic) Austin Farmer, Project Director for Retail Coach, a national retail consulting firm based in Austin, Texas, toured Atlantic and presented some interesting data Tuesday evening at a Cass County Community Center workshop.
The City Council hired the business recruit firm to identify retail opportunities within the city, recruit retailers, coach the community, help fill gaps, and ultimately act as an extension to the current staff, particularly how it relates to retail.
Farmer says they use cell phone data to track where people are coming from to shop and dine in Atlantic.
The data shows the highest number of people visiting downtown Atlantic hail from five to 45 miles away, indicating a local and a regional draw. Farmer says retailers searching for new markets are looking for specific thresholds. Some are looking for trade area numbers around 10,000, and some are looking for trade populations of 15,000.
Retail Coach focuses on recruiting retail businesses across the board, casual seat down, quick-serve restaurants, general merchandise, and men, women, and kids clothing stores.
Farmer says the average household income in this trade area is approximately $72,000, which is a good number. The age distribution shows a good mix of young families from 0-9 up to 65-and older. He says all of these numbers check the boxes.
Additionally, the data reveals a potent mix of when people come downtown. The traffic peaks around noon, but there is a long tail to that, showing more people coming through the late afternoon hours and 7:00 p.m. than at 9:00 a.m., which varies with each type of business.
Farmer says the few business owners open during that timeframe admitted they are busy during those hours, and the data supports it.
Aside from data collection, Retail Coach is also working with individuals interested in being a franchisee. Retail Coach has a list compiled of businesses interested in opening up shop in Atlantic if a franchisee came forward. Anyone interested in investing as a franchisee was encouraged to attend the workshop on Tuesday evening at the Cass County Community Center.
