Project studies downtown retail mix

BOULDER – The Downtown Boulder Business Improvement District is launching an initiative that could influence the downtown retail-tenant mix.

“This project is not about just filling space, but filling space with tenants that have the best chance of success and will add value to the downtown experience, said Sean Maher, executive director of Downtown Boulder. “We want to target concepts that are unique and will bring incremental traffic downtown.”

Downtown Boulder is working with a team of six MBA students from the University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business.

The project has three key components:

A market analysis including the current retail mix downtown and how it compares to peer districts across the country. It will also feature profiles of key downtown Boulder customer groups: who they are, where they come from and what draws them downtown.

Phase two will include extensive market research to solicit feedback and ideas from current retailers, property owners and downtown customers on the types of retail or restaurant concepts they want to see downtown.

The final component of the project will include a database of specific retailers and retail uses that will add the most value to the downtown mix. It will also lay out a strategy for recruiting from the target list.

 “We want to create a powerful resource so we can partner with property owners to get the strongest tenant every time a space opens up,” Maher said. “This will reduce turnover and ultimately create a more vibrant downtown.”

The Downtown Boulder Business Improvement District was formed in 1999 and covers a 49-block area. Property owners within the district tax themselves to provide funds for Downtown Boulder to purchase services that supplement those provided by the city and provide a comprehensive consumer-marketing program.

on Facebook on LinkedIn