By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
“This is not a short term thing. … You can’t expect that if we hire a retail recruitment consultant that within three months we’ll have 10 stores open,” Hays Assistant City Manager Jacob Wood told city commissioners Thursday night. “It’s a long game. These projects take time.”
In November, the city of Hays issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for retail gap analysis and recruitment firms.
Wood and other city staff members are recommending Retail Strategies of Birmingham, Ala., at a cost of $50,000 for one year and the option to renew for two additional years at $45,000 each year.
The three other companies submitting RFQs are “data centric” with their proposals, according to Wood.
“Retail Strategies has the contacts in the market. They know the retailers, the people who are in the game,” Wood said. “They said they want to do the analysis as quickly as possible and then take that with them to recruit businesses at the International Council of Shopping Centers conference in Las Vegas in May.”
Commissioners agreed to act on the recommendation at their next regular meeting with a preference to start with a one-year contract only.
“I’m anxious to see what they can do,” said Sandy Jacobs.
Shaun Musil also liked the proposal from Retail Strategies but wondered what they would do differently from previous efforts to lure new business to Hays.
Wood pointed out that analyses have been done before but the city has “never had anybody that’s actually gone out to the retailers and said this is why you need to come to Hays.
“We may have had the data before but Retail Strategies can fashion the data in a way they know realtors are looking for.” That information includes which retail stores like to be in situated in the same area.
Mayor James Meier asked if the data would be helpful to the Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development.
“I would argue that’s not what the coalition does,” interjected City Manager Toby Dougherty. “They’ve pulled some high-level data but there was also a lot of asking what people would want to see in Hays.”
The city’s 2018 budget includes $43,775 that was intended to support the Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development. The coalition has chosen not to request funding from the city in 2018.
Vice-Mayor Henry Schwaller recommended that unused allocation be used for economic development. “Right now, it’s this retail recruitment,” he said. The allocation, along with additional economic development monies from the General Fund, would be used to hire Retail Strategies.
The firm would then become available to also work with local developers, realtors, brokers and landowners.
“We want to maximize what they can do,” Wood said.
“I have to admit, I was skeptical about this from the beginning,” he added. “We’re kind of at a tipping point with things now. We’re gonna have some stuff land. We’ve got the convention center coming in. Do we really need this?
“But after talking to references, the people who have worked with these guys, I think it will be money well spent,” said Wood.
“What do we have to lose?” Meier said. “We’ve spent almost twice this amount every year for many years.”