Executives from Retail Strategies updated aldermen on the progress of retail recruitment efforts for Starkville during a Friday afternoon work session.
The Birmingham, Alabama-based firm has overseen Starkville’s retail recruitment since February 2016, when aldermen initiated a contract with it rather than continue to use the Golden Triangle Development LINK for retail recruitment.
Scott VonCannon, portfolio director for Retail Strategies, said officials could not provide specific names for some of the projects Retail Strategies is pursuing because it’s still early in those processes.
One goal for Retail Strategies, he said, is diversifying where new businesses come to town when possible.
“Highway 12, clearly, is where a majority of the retail is and where a lot of retailers still, to this day, want to be,” VonCannon said. “But we identified there is a need to branch out if possible. We’ve looked at different corridors in town. We were able to recruit Dairy Queen to the location they have chosen on the south side of Highway 12 to hopefully push commercial development in that direction.”
He added the Walmart Neighborhood Market, which is under construction off Highway 12 in east Starkville, may help draw more commercial development to the area. Retail Strategies is in conversations with a national general merchandise retailer interested in locating near the Walmart Neighborhood Market.
“Our hope is that with that success it will push more commercial development in that corridor of town as well,” he said.
VonCannon said some retailers in Starkville will likely move around in the coming months. One tenant is likely going to leave the University Square shopping center, which is on Highway 12 and home to Bargain Hunt, Badcock Home Furniture & More, Sherwin-Williams Paint Store, Aaron’s and other stores.
“We anticipate one of the tenants leaving the center, opening up an additional 15,000 square feet,” he said. “We have another tenant that will be entering that location in the next 90 days. It’s actually going to be relocation in town, opening up another space for us to recruit a national retailer to their existing space.”
He said the firm is also working on restaurant recruitment and is currently working on a possible 5,000 to 7,000 square-foot, full-service restaurant.
The update also briefly touched on if an annexation, for which the city approved a study earlier this month, could help recruit businesses to Starkville. Mayor Lynn Spruill has said she would like the city to consider annexation to push its population to 30,000 or 35,000 to help, in part, attract new businesses.
“Would it be beneficial as a selling point if the city of Starkville’s municipal population showed 35,000 instead of 25,000 in terms of recruitment?” Ward 4 Alderman Jason Walker asked.
VonCannon said it could help, but retail recruitment usually isn’t as simple as looking at the municipal population alone.
“The short answer is yes,” he said. “It’s absolutely not going to hurt. The majority of the folks from a retail standpoint that are looking at this market probably aren’t giving too much focus on the city limits of Starkville. I don’t think by any means it’s going to hurt — I think it’s going to help. But I do know we’re looking at a 20-minute drive time on Highway 12, or a 30-minute drive, or a custom-drawn trade area — most of the guys are looking at it in that capacity.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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