courting retail

What makes a company pick one city over another?

Oklahoma City has gone to great lengths to provide an enticing market for prospective retailers and entertainment venues. Ever since the early 1990s when the city failed to secure a new maintenance facility for United Airlines, steps have been taken to position Oklahoma City as a desirable location.

When looking for a site, retailers consider demographic information such as household income, the number of people living nearby, and what possible future growth there is. Beginning in the early 1990s, the city implemented the MAPS initiative to improve the city’s economy and attractiveness as a tourist destination. The initiatives have generated nearly $5 billion in economic impact for the city.

Currently, the MAPS 3 initiative is amid the construction phase for multiple projects, with the final one expected to be finished in 2021. Once the initiative is finished, $777 million in projects will have been completed in Oklahoma City.

Such forward thinking has helped establish Oklahoma City as a city worthy of retail investment. Many new national retailers have come to the city and there are more on the way.

Read the full article here in the August 26th edition of The Journal Record.