Fierce battle ahead for share of retail

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.