There are 27 square feet of retail space
for every man, woman and child in
Washoe County a figure that's about 50
percent above the national average.
Even more retail space is coming on
line during 2003, and new merchants as
well as established firms will be battling
for shares of retail sales that are projected
to grow by about 5 percent during the
year.
Some of the big stories in retailing
already are beginning to take shape:
* The continued strong push by
Walmart into the northern Nevada market.
The company, which already operates
600,000 square feet of retail space in the
Reno area, is ready to start construction on
a Super Walmart store at Mae Anne and
McCarran and has a Super Walmart store
in the planning stages in Sparks. The company
in recent months opened stores at
Damonte Ranch and at the south edge of
Carson City and launched its Sam's Club
location in Reno.
"If this keeps up, rather than going
shopping, we all will be going
'Walmarting,'" quipped Gary Johnson, a
senior vice president of Colliers
International who specializes in retail
properties.
* Major development of big-box
retailing in Douglas County, just outside
the southern edge of Carson City.
Walmart, Costco and Home Depot are
key players, and those stores affect both
the Carson City market as well as Reno
retailers who have drawn consumers from
Carson City and Douglas County.
Along with those big trends, retailing
in the Reno area will continue to see the
addition of medium-sized spaces.
Roxanne Stevenson, vice president of
Grubb & Ellis Nevada Commercial
Group, has noted that projects on the
books range from the expansion of
Shopper's Square that's in progress at
South Virginia and Plumb to construction
of neighborhood centers at
D'Andrea Ranch, Double Diamond and
Lemmon Valley.
Small retailers will struggle to find
quality space in the market, in part
because many of the services that once
were provided by small shops next to
anchor stores now have been overtaken
by big retailers.
Sales of gasoline and fast-food today
increasingly are offered by discounters
and chain grocers.
State officials estimate taxable sales in
Nevada will grow by about 5 percent
this year.
"Retailers will continue to face
intense competition, market saturation,
shrinking availability of prime locations
and reduced pricing flexibility," Grubb
& Ellis said in a recent report on retailing
in the Reno market.
Even so, the strengths of the northern
Nevada market prove attractive to
retailers.
"I think we have a lot of reasons to
be optimistic," said Cynthia Moore, the
marketing director of Meadowood
Mall.
Continued population growth brings
more shoppers, she said, and the
region's ability to produce special events
that draw out-of-towners who spend
retail dollars also is a bright spot.
With nearly 1 million square feet of
space and 100 stores and eateries,
Meadowood Mall operates half again as
much space as the existing Walmart
stores in the Reno-Sparks area.
Her worries, Moore said, focus on
questions far outside Reno the
effects of a war in Iraq or the ability of
the national economy to resume solid
growth.
Stevenson observed that the population
growth of northern Nevada should
play out in particularly strong demand
for home furnishings, electronics and
other home-related merchandise.
