Participants at each of four April workshops will learn how new Retail 1-2-3 workbook helps communities get the type of retail development that works for them
(Chicago) … It happens all the time: residents of a community want a certain kind of a store – say, a high-end grocer – but local officials can’t seem to deliver. Perhaps they haven’t dangled the right carrots, or maybe the town simply does not meet the retailer’s criteria for opening a new storefront. The new Retail 1-2-3 workbook is designed to help municipalities identify what it takes to build and maintain a thriving retail base, an increasingly important part of a healthy local economy. Municipal officials, staff, and the public are invited to learn how they can use the workbook to benefit their communities at workshops on April 4 in Tinley Park, April 9 in Waukegan, April 10 in Elmhurst, and April 17 in Des Plaines.
At the interactive workshops, participants will use Retail 1-2-3 as a guide to create a mock community economic development plan that satisfies as many of its hypothetical community’s desires and needs as possible within the market reality.
Retail 1-2-3 – third in a series of free workbooks created to help Illinois communities achieve balanced growth – provides information on retail development from the perspective of both communities and retailers. Whether a municipality is struggling to redevelop a “ghost store” left empty after a large retailer closed its doors; coordinate retail with residential, office, and/or transit-oriented development; or balance the needs of long-time local businesses with growing interest from national chains, Retail 1-2-3 offers insight. The workbook:
- explains retail’s four Rs – recruitment, retention, revitalization, and replacement – and explores current trends in retail development;
- examines the ways in which a community can improve its place in the market;
- provides valuable case studies of successful retail development by different kinds of local communities; and
- lists some of the resources communities can consult for free and low-cost help with retail development.
- Wednesday, April 4, 2007
10 a.m. to noon
Kallsen Conference Center at Tinley Park Village Hall
16250 S. Oak Park Ave.
Tinley Park, Ill.
- Monday, April 9, 2007
10 a.m. to noon
Waukegan City Hall Council Chambers
100 N. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave.
Waukegan, Ill.
- Tuesday, April 10, 2007
10 a.m. to noon
Elmhurst City Hall Council Chambers
209 N. York St.
Elmhurst, Ill.
- Tuesday, April 17, 2007
10 a.m. to noon
Des Plaines Public Library
1501 Ellinwood St.
Des Plaines, Ill.
is a publication of the International Council of Shopping Centers and Metropolitan Planning Council, in conjunction with the Campaign for Sensible Growth and Metropolitan Mayors Caucus . Workshop to help local leaders attract and retain the kind of retail development that suits their communities’ needs, desires and market. There is a $20 registration fee. Register by visiting MPC's Web calendar; click on the date of the event you would like to attend, and fill out the online registration form. Retail 1-2-3 workbook and workshops by contacting Mandy Burrell , Metropolitan Planning Council communications associate, at (312) 863-6018 or mburrell@metroplanning.org. Retail 1-2-3: Major funders: Bank of America, General Growth Properties, Inc. Other funders: Target Corporation, Abbell Credit Corporation, Land Vision, Inc., Applied Real Estate Analysis (AREA), Inc., Camiros, Chicago Commercial Center Chicago Title Insurance Company, Goodman Williams Group, Inland Real Estate Corporation, James Kaplan Companies, LLC, S.B. Friedman & Company, S.F. Solutions, LLC, Valerie S. Kretchmer Associates, Inc., Walgreens. The Metropolitan Mayors Caucus work on Retail 1-2-3 was supported by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.