Dec. 25—Christmas Shopping Season Present may be ending today, but City of Mesa officials are turning their attention to Christmas Shopping Season Future — and all the other days around it.
Officials have hired a national retail recruitment firm to help the city grow its shopping, dining, lodging and entertainment amenities and compete with neighboring communities for sales tax dollars.
They announced this month the selection of Tupelo, Mississippi-based The Retail Coach to help develop a strategy to attract big-name brands, following a Request for Proposals they issued in August.
During budget talks last spring, the city council allocated $100,000 to the so-called Quality Retail Attraction Initiative at the behest of District 6 Councilman Scott Somers.
The move is the first step in a larger push at the city to be more assertive in attracting shopping, dining and entertainment brands that entice locals to stay in Mesa and lure spenders from its neighbors.
“As the largest city in the East Valley, Mesa historically did not need to ‘chase retail,’ as the city was the hub for shopping,” Somers said in an email.
But now vibrant bastions like Fiesta Mall and Tri-City Mall — and the sales taxes they generated — are gone.
“Mesa now faces fierce competition for retail from surrounding communities. There are new and vibrant shopping centers now in Tempe, Chandler and Gilbert. Even Queen Creek has built up their retail portfolio,” he said.
Councilwoman Alicia Goforth said the pandemic helped strengthen the case for Mesa getting more “proactive and intentional” about recruiting retail.
“We saw a huge spike in our sales tax revenue because people couldn’t go anywhere,” Goforth said. “So, it really provided hard evidence that our residents were leaving Mesa to spend their money on shopping, entertainment and hospitality.”
Somers and Goforth have been the most vocal on council about attracting retail, but all indications are the entire council and city management are behind the shift in strategy.
“Particularly now in Mesa’s evolution, quality retail is critically important,” said Economic Development Director Jaye O’Donnell, whose department is overseeing the Quality Retail Attraction Initiative contract.
“We’ve certainly increased the quality of employers in Mesa and the quality of jobs in Mesa over the last 10 to 15 years, and now it’s time to have retail have some attention paid to it,” she said.
Mesa received multiple qualified bids in response to its Request for Proposals and that enabled the city to select a strong competitor, O’Donnell said.
On its website, The Retail Coach describes itself as a “national retail consulting, market research and development firm that combines strategy, technology and creative expertise to develop and deliver high-impact retail recruitment and development strategies.”
“The Retail Coach has a good reputation nationally and relationships with brands that we’re looking to bring to Mesa,” she said.
O’Donnell emphasized that “retail” in the context of the contract covers a wide gamut of commercial activity, including restaurants, hotels, retail stores and entertainment venues.
“We’re looking at a broader scope of amenities that we can bring to Mesa to enrich the community and improve the destination, both for those who live here and those who visit,” she said.
O’Donnell said most of the work under the contract will be completed in the next three months.
The first phase is a retail analysis to study Mesa’s consumer demographics and current commercial landscape to identify opportunities.
She described the effort as city-wide, but there are seven geographic areas of “enhanced focus” spread across the city: Downtown (including the Asian District) Riverview, the Fiesta District, Northeast Mesa, Power Road corridor, the Gateway area and Superstition Springs.
“Could Mesa use some additional signature restaurants, signature retail, some boutique hospitality?” she said. “I think the numbers will help to make Mesa’s case.
“When you have a third-party independent study that provides the data and the rationale and the justification, sometimes it’s more acceptable.”
During the study phase, The Retail Coach will also lead engagement with retail industry partners and other stakeholders.
At a recent Economic Development Advisory Board meeting, O’Donnell offered to set up meetings between The Retail Coach and local business leaders.
After the initial study, The Retail Coach will help Mesa develop a plan to connect with the specific brands, developers and brokers who can deliver what the city is looking for.
The deliverables on the final task in the RFP include 10 introductions to “appropriate brokers and developers” and outreach to a minimum of 25 retail end-users.
The Retail Coach, which also has an office in Austin, Texas, boasts 21 years of experience in working with over 650 municipalities and business associations across 40 states.
It sports testimonials from far smaller markets like Laramie, Wyoming, and Fairview and Kingsville in Texas, and boasts of success in luring brands ranging from Whole Foods and Williams Sonoma to numerous fast food chains — many of which already have a presence in Mesa.
“We are a national retail consulting, market research and development firm that combines strategy, technology, and creative expertise to develop and deliver high-impact retail recruitment and development strategies to local governments, chambers of commerce and economic development organizations,” The Retail Coach says on its website.
“Through our unique Retail 360® process, we offer a fully customized system of products and services that better enable communities to maximize their retail development potential.”
In a video, CEO Kelly Cofer calls The Retail Coach’s method “Multifaceted” but based on four main activities — research, analysis, real estate site assessment and “actual proactive retail recruitment.”
Somers said Mesa’s limited retail options comprise one of the top complaints he receives from constituents.
Retail choice has also ranked high in the community feedback collected this year as part of the upcoming General Plan update.
But in comments on the initiative last week, Somers also underscored the role of retail in the city’s financial health.
“Mesa does not have a primary property tax like other cities, so the city is more reliant on sales tax,” he said.
He believes there’s room to grow Mesa’s sales tax revenue, observing that Mesa has the third-lowest sales tax revenue per capita, ahead of only Buckeye and Gilbert, according to an analysis by city staff.
“Gilbert has made massive improvements to quality retail with developments in downtown, Epicenter at Agritopia, San Tan Mall and Verde at Cooley Station,” Somers said. “All are fierce competition for Mesa’s Superstition Springs Center and Dana Park.”
Goforth said she thinks hiring an outside consultant will be beneficial for Mesa, but additional steps will be needed to bring Mesa’s retail might into alignment with its recent economic successes in the industrial sector.
“That one magic bullet isn’t out there,” she said. “It’s going to be a process, and there’s going to be several things that have to come to play.”
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