{"id":175,"date":"2015-06-02T00:16:33","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T00:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/?p=175"},"modified":"2015-06-03T17:44:15","modified_gmt":"2015-06-03T17:44:15","slug":"economic-development-monthly-report-may-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/2015\/06\/02\/economic-development-monthly-report-may-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Economic Development \u2013 Monthly Report \u2013 May 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>General notes:\u00a0 <\/strong>This month heralds the arrival of a document I have been waiting for since I got to Sandy years ago \u2013 the 2015 City of Sandy Market Analysis by Marketek.\u00a0 Mary Bosch has finally completed this report, and it is as fascinating as I thought it might be.\u00a0 The entire report will be posted on the Economic Development page shortly, but for those of you who don\u2019t have the time to read a 50 page report right now, the following is an executive summary of the findings.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Target Market Area<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The City\u2019s target market area remains around 40,000 persons and about 3,500 employees for 942 businesses.\u00a0 Services have surpassed retail as biggest share of employee market.\u00a0 Visitor traffic is steadily increasing, and potential is high for restaurants as visitor spending is increasing even though they don\u2019t like our restaurants (food spending double that of arts\/entertainment\/recreation)<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Retail gap analysis &amp; competitive assessment update<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>We have a surplus of \u201chome improvement &amp; gardening\u201d and \u201cfood &amp; beverage stores\u201d business, although citizens have been strongly demanding healthier options from the latter sector.\u00a0 There is massive demand for \u201capparel\u201d ($24M in demand versus $2M in supply), \u201celectronics &amp; appliances\u201d ($12M vs. $2M), and \u201chealth &amp; personal care\u201d ($26M vs. $3.5M).\u00a0 We could support an additional 640K SF of retail space (up 125K SF from 2009) and this number is growing rapidly.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Opinion research<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>Shoppers survey had 250 participants, and respondents want casual apparel, organic grocery options, decent restaurants and a furniture store.\u00a0 35% of shoppers do their shopping in Sandy, and this is an improvement over 2009.\u00a0 Shoppers say pedestrian safety and poor selection of goods and services are primary deterrents to shopping downtown, but they strongly value supporting local biz.<\/p>\n<p>Business owner survey stated sense of community, helping the local economy and good visibility are strengths; proximity to services and amenities and city restrictions and regulations (specifically parking, sign permits and design standards) are weaknesses.\u00a0 Despite this, most businesses say they are growing, and 80% have made a significant investment in the past 2 years.<\/p>\n<p><u>Top desired goods and services in Sandy by sector (per Shopper\u2019s survey)<\/u><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Household goods: furniture (52%), building supplies (41%)<\/li>\n<li>Apparel: shoes (57%), women\u2019s casual (55%)<\/li>\n<li>Specialty: sporting goods (43%), arts &amp; crafts (45%), books (36%)<\/li>\n<li>Convenience merchandise &amp; personal services: groceries (32%), tailoring\/alterations (30%), other (29%) \u2013 most in the \u201cother\u201d category indicated natural foods\/Trader Joes.\u00a0 Sandyites <u>REALLY<\/u> want an organic grocery that meets their needs.<\/li>\n<li>General services: day care (37%), appliance repair (33%)<\/li>\n<li>Health services: homeopathic\/naturopathic care (42%), general health care (39%) \u2013 demand for natural health care options rising significantly<\/li>\n<li>Cuisine: steakhouse\/grill (58%), seafood (52%), healthy\/natural (40%)<\/li>\n<li>Leisure\/entertainment: bowling (60%), concerts\/live music (41%), other (27%) \u2013 most frequent response in \u201cother\u201d was child-friendly recreation (putt putt course, <strong>indoor playground<\/strong>) \u2013 NOTE: Sandy has a bouncy-castle business called \u201cWippersnappers\u201d opening in July.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><u>Other responses of note<\/u><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Improvements Sandy merchants can make: improve selection (57%), lower prices\/sales (51%), expand store hours (45%), promotions\/advertise (44%)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><u>Business owner survey \u2013 responses of note<\/u><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Current business activity: growing (57%), holding our own (29%), declining (5%)<\/li>\n<li>Recent investments or improvements planned (more than 1 answer ok): new marketing\/promotional (43%), new products, services (43%), physical improvements (38%), new staff positions (38%), <strong>no improvements planned (29%) \u2013 <\/strong>3 out of 10 businesses in Sandy <u>don\u2019t plan to invest in their businesses at all<\/u> in this new economy.\u00a0 Yet only 5% of businesses say they are in decline.\u00a0 That means <strong><em><u>at least<\/u><\/em><\/strong><em><u> <strong>one quarter of all profitable businesses in Sandy have no interest in growing their business<\/strong><\/u>.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Commercial Properties (vacancies, new businesses, etc.): <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><u>Jeanne Young\u2019s Carpet Outlet<\/u>:\u00a0 After more than a year of sitting empty, it appears that Betty Tee\u2019s building on Pioneer has a new tenant.\u00a0 This discount carpet store is being opened by long time Sandy resident Bob Young and his daughter, and by the time you read this they will be open for business.\u00a0 Mr. Young has extensive background in the carpet business, having worked for another regional carpet retailer for a number of years.\u00a0 They admit that Sandy D\u00e9cor might be tough to compete against, but are confident that their discount pricing will draw them plenty of customers once they are established.<\/p>\n<p><u>Laundromat in process at old Sandy Vac site\/Blue Sky &amp; Daydreams LLC site<\/u>:\u00a0 So this couldn\u2019t have worked out any better than it has\u2026..the new laundromat that has been lurching forward in fits and starts in the old Sandy Vac location has ultimately decided, after numerous setbacks and delays, to call off the project.\u00a0 However, the old laundromat site was just leased by a business owner from SW Washington who wished to put in another laundromat with\u2026..wait for it\u2026.ALL NEW MACHINES!!!\u00a0 In fact, the GC that Terre, John and I spoke to during the fire\/life safety inspection for this site says they are rehabbing the entire site, top to bottom.\u00a0 New vinyl flooring, new electrical, new plumbing, all ceiling tiles will be replaced, new change machines and soap vending machines, new LED lighting, mag-lock doors and a coat of paint.\u00a0 Finally\u2026.a laundromat that won\u2019t generate multiple complaint calls every week from disgruntled patrons!!!<\/p>\n<p>UPDATE: I&#8217;ve been waiting for this day since 2011!!!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/files\/2015\/06\/laundromat.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-178\" src=\"http:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/files\/2015\/06\/laundromat-300x177.jpg\" alt=\"??????????????\" width=\"467\" height=\"275\" srcset=\"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/files\/2015\/06\/laundromat-300x177.jpg 300w, https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/files\/2015\/06\/laundromat-1024x603.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/files\/2015\/06\/laundromat-500x294.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 467px) 100vw, 467px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><u>Paradise Quilts\/Beads Down Under<\/u>:\u00a0 For those who haven\u2019t noticed yet, the Sah building (next to City Hall) has some new tenants.\u00a0 Paradise Quilts has moved into the two small units in the northwest corner of the building following the purchase of their old building by Mount Hood Cleaners, and is now open for business.\u00a0 Their new location is a little more spacious than the old, and the store looks sharp!\u00a0 Their new neighbor will be Beads Down Under, who will be moving from her location in the old church sometime this month and occupying the unit on the southwest corner of the building.<\/p>\n<p>That leaves two vacant spaces in Barbara Sah\u2019s building \u2013 one of which will likely be an expansion space for Trail Pals, and the other (the old Reel Tackle Shop) I just recently listed on the CoS Available Commercial Properties database a couple of weeks ago.\u00a0 Barbara just told me she just got a call from a gentleman that operates a small call center who saw that listing and would like to rent the property next month!\u00a0 It\u2019s nice to see that these databases that I built are not only being used, they are bearing fruit!\u00a0 <em>UPDATE #1: The call center business, according to Mrs. Sah, will be moving in June 2015. UPDATE #2: Mrs. Sah is very interested in getting fiber to her building, as several of her new and existing tenants would like the service.\u00a0 She has recently reached out to both myself and Joe K. about this.\u00a0 We would like to make sure that hers is one of the first buildings we do once UR funds become available for this purpose!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><u>The B of A building<\/u>:\u00a0 There has been some interest in this property recently, and it may be on the verge of changing hands.\u00a0 At this time, the change in ownership would be purely speculative, as a new tenant has yet to be identified. \u00a0Watch this space.<\/p>\n<p><u>Red Shed Public House (former Organic Sandy location)<\/u>:\u00a0 Now open for business.\u00a0 The interior is very nice \u2013 reminiscent of a small neighborhood tap house in Portland.\u00a0 I have spoken to a number of customers about the quality of the food, and they all had nothing but positive things to say.\u00a0 So far, Mr. Newberry\u2019s business seems to be a hit with the community.\u00a0 Keep up the good work, Jeff.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sandy Main Street: \u00a0<\/strong>Our May First Friday had a little bit better turnout than April\u2019s event, probably due to the comfortable weather as well as the participation of Impact Learning Center, the Action Center and a number of home businesses that were not a part of FF in April.\u00a0 The final First Friday that Sandy Main Street will manage is June 5<sup>th<\/sup>, and should be our busiest event in 2015 so far unless it rains.\u00a0 This event will have the year\u2019s first business awareness activity [Safari Bingo!] designed to get citizens to visit every participating store.<\/p>\n<p>June\u2019s First Friday will be the last event that Sandy Main Street will be administering in its current form.\u00a0 It has been an interesting management project administering this organization over the last two years\u2026.sometimes a struggle, but mostly rewarding.\u00a0 I would like to loudly thank both of my staffers, Aubrey Erwin and Jennifer Marks, for not only keeping the organization going, but for expanding and improving our downtown community events to what they are today.\u00a0 First Fridays are a delight to participate in now, and the Trick or Treat Trail had 62 participating businesses last year and is truly a sight to behold.\u00a0 We now trust that whomever takes over these events through the Special Service Contract program will continue to build on what these two exceptional young ladies created.\u00a0 I will offer my services to assist with that transition, which will take place in July.<\/p>\n<p>So when you see Jennifer and Aubrey out wandering the town during June\u2019s First Friday, please give them a pat on the back and thank them for all of their hard work.\u00a0 They absolutely deserve it!\u00a0 And for those who have spoken to me about trying to retain Jennifer here in Sandy, fear not\u2026.Jennifer has accepted a position with SandyNet, and will begin scheduling work and a few other special projects for Joe in July!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Project work:\u00a0 <\/strong>\u00a0I am pleased to announce that the Mount Hood Farmer\u2019s Market is up and rolling!\u00a0 We have been through two markets as of this writing and the turnout has been moderate but steady, but both of those markets took place in less than ideal weather.\u00a0 The true test will be Farmer\u2019s Market number three, which has a projected high temperature of 82 degrees.\u00a0 Many of our vendors have either run out of stock, or have had to send an employee back to the farm to pick more produce.\u00a0 Since the beginning, we have added eggs, honey and fresh bread from the AntFarm bakery.\u00a0 We will add Red Shed barbecue and fresh berries at the next market.<\/p>\n<p>Not all of the kinks have been worked out quite yet, as we are still working on implementing the SNAP program at the market so we can invite more participation from the low-income segment of our community.\u00a0 We are also struggling with the departure of a key personnel member from AntFarm which is slowing us down a bit.\u00a0 However, our kids program at the market has been a huge success, and we continue to find musical entertainment that has really helped not only to draw folks to the market, but to get them to hang out and socialize.\u00a0 And many thanks to SandyNet (Scott Brown particularly) for getting the wi-fi setup in the Outdoor Building to operate at peak performance, making electronic transactions by market vendors a breeze.\u00a0 All-in-all, both vendors and market patrons have been very happy with the progress to date.<\/p>\n<p>If you would like more information on the Mount Hood Farmer\u2019s Market, click on the following link to be connected to AntFarm\u2019s MHFM page: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.antfarm-international.com\/mount-hood-farmers-market-2\/\">http:\/\/www.antfarm-international.com\/mount-hood-farmers-market-2\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conferences\/training:\u00a0 <\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0None in the last 30 days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>General notes:\u00a0 This month heralds the arrival of a document I have been waiting for since I got to Sandy years ago \u2013 the 2015 City of Sandy Market Analysis by Marketek.\u00a0 Mary Bosch has finally completed this report, and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/2015\/06\/02\/economic-development-monthly-report-may-2015\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177,"href":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions\/177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}