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08/20/07 A Fabulous Showing for the City of St. Petersburg at the ICSC Retail Conference
The City of St. Petersburg was represented at
the 50 year anniversary of ICSC’s Florida Retail Conference which took
place August 12-14, 2007 in Orlando, Florida.
ICSC’s Florida show is the third largest
event in the industry worldwide, following its top two locations of Las Vegas and New York. This year’s attendance of 6,000 beat all prior attendance records
and was ICSC’s largest market increase by 36% for the year 2007.
Big issues on the discussion docket for the
retail industry included: Hometown Democracy, property taxes, insurance,
and concurrency. The key message relayed at the conference was Florida is a prime retail marketplace for retailers due to the fact that we maintain the
most resilient, dynamic, and vibrant economy in the country.
Florida’s demographics keep getting stronger each
and every year and an influx of European tourists make us a prime market
for establishing a retailer presence. In ICSC’s Florida Retail Report for
2007, St. Petersburg was once again featured as one of the fastest growing
regions in Florida and entitled the “megamarket of the South”. Among the
top growth areas listed was the Gateway Region, located in northeast St. Petersburg.
Thus far, there are 12,000 retail centers
across the Florida market being revitalized and retail tenants are
clamoring for prime locations within shopping district markets to establish
their brand in a community. Retailers’ main focus areas for location
placement consist of lifestyle and power centers as well as Main Street community corridors.
Making this year’s ICSC “Hottest Retailers”
list are: Massage Envy; Aldi; Avenue; Coldwater Creek; Chico’s; tweenbrands;
BJ’s Restaurant Brewhouse; francesca’s collections, and Redrock Canyon
Grill.
The City of St. Petersburg tradeshow booth at
ICSC’s Florida Deal-Making Exhibition shined with glowing city images which
intrigued a diverse blend of attendees, leading to discussions on potential
locations with retailers to establish a brand presence in our community.
Thank you to project developers and property
managers who worked in conjunction with the Economic Development staff
prior to the show, which allowed us to personally reference retail opportunities
available while on-site at the show with retailers. Follow up meetings are
anticipated to take place in the coming months. Pairing a location with a retailers’
requirements is key to making a brand presence happen in our community. Please
contact Kimberly Bailey or call 893-7784 to
establish a working relationship for retailer placement opportunities.
The Southeast Real Estate Business Journal
this month featured “Florida’s Retail Roundtable” article
which reinforces our dynamic and profitable environment for retailers. Click here to learn more.
In addition, our department’s quarterly
publication “Channel Maker” (just released) features
a positive story on 2006 retail sales, retail space vacancy rates, and
percentage of growth in sales per retail categories across the region.
Visit Channel Marker online to learn
more.
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