Steady growth foreseen for region’s retail sector

Leading economic indicators

Steady growth foreseen for region˜s retail sector

Maggie Boys

Business Report Staff Writer
Retailers and sales-tax experts agree that they˜ see steady, continued growth in 1998, despite widely varying retail growth rates in 1997.
Along the northern Front Range, retail growth varied from slow (1 percent to 2 percent in Cheyenne and Laramie) to fast (about 13 percent in Longmont).
While wholesale and retail trade added 2,000 jobs in the Fort Collins-Loveland area between 1994 and 1996, this trend took a check in 1997. Sherry Temple, financial administrator for the city, said there was no increase in retail establishments in 1997 in Fort Collins, indicating a possible leveling off.
Retail sales in Fort Collins for 1997 (from November ˜96 to November ˜97) were up 6.7 percent over the previous year, Temple said. Strongest among retailers were specialty stores and hotels.
Retailers at the Foothills Fashion Mall saw double-digit growth over last year, said Jack Gillum, vice president of Everitt Enterprises Inc., which manages the mall. There, stores that suffered some loss of business when the Rocky Mountain Factory Stores opened in Loveland have since rebounded, Gillum said.
Gillum is optimistic about next year, too.
"I˜m not sure we˜ll see double digits again, but I think it will be another good year," he said.
Temple forecasts a 5 percent increase in retail sales for 1998 but adds that hers is a conservative prediction.
Although, said Andy Miscio, a partner and broker at Miscio and Stroud Inc., the price of retail space is steadily increasing in Northern Colorado, the low cost of space in downtown Greeley still makes it attractive. This is especially important for service-intensive businesses such as Weiss Jewelers Inc., which has operated downtown since 1915.
Richard Weiss sees a continuing challenge for retail business owners in Greeley, which he called a good place for destination shopping..
"Greeley isn˜t an easy market to tap into. You˜ve got to prove you˜re going to stay here," Weiss said.
As Longmont˜s sales-tax revenues have increased, Boulder˜s have decreased, said Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce˜s Brian O˜Hanlon. He concluded that north Boulder shoppers are beginning to look to Longmont as "an easier shopping experience."
"I think Longmont is in for several years of retail expansion," O˜Hanlon said.
He said establishment of several new large retailers and several new specialty stores, combined with population growth in Weld County, will extend the boom for several more years. He discounts warnings of a national economic slowdown.
"Affluence along the Northern Front Range is only going one direction," he said.
In Cheyenne, several new employers have helped create what Larry Atwell, executive vice president and general manager of the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce, calls a slow, steady 1 percent to 2 percent growth in retail.
Increasing wages and new housing have resulted from new high-tech and manufacturing jobs, Vicki Wiant, Laramie County treasurer, noted.
The mix of retail stores, too, is on a steady increase, Atwell said, and he expects continued hiring at local employers Quark Inc., Echostar and VAE Nortrak to continue the trend.

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