6 Thursday, March 23, 1989 / University Daily Kansan Lawrence retailers anticipate local spending - Continued from p. 1 "There was something like $1.6 million spent on rehab in downtown last year," Vieux said. "That was all while we were under the threat of a suburban mall, so things should get better." He added that years when those arrests are gone." Retail base solid Bill Martin, director of economic development for the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, said the Lawrence retail base was solid. "Sales tax revenues have steadily increased here in the community," Martin said. "I think the future of retail in Lawrence is very good." Martin said that downtown Lawrence traditionally had been the city's retail center and that until there was a shift in public thinking, downtown would continue to be the center. "There is some ambivalence there," Martin said. "A couple of years ago we had a plan to do an upstairs town, and it went to a vote and failed." "Generally, people feel that downtown ought to be the regional center, but they're not willing to open up the public pocketbook to make it happen. "There are a lot of unique things about downtown Lawrence that allow it to retain its drawing power. It's probably the nicest downtown in the Midwest. Riverfront project's impact "There are a lot of goods and services available in a small area. There's a lot of rollover there. People don't just come downstort to go to Weavers. They'll hit Weavers and three or four other stores." Area business leaders agreed that the most exciting thing happening downtown was the construction of the Riverfront project. The Riverfront project will be a factory outlet mall developed by the Chelsea Group on the south bank of the Massachusetts Street bridge. Gary Toebben, president of the Gary Toebben, said the 150,000-square-foot, $21-million Riverfront project will increase annual retail in year retail sales in the community. Martin said that with the Rivierfront project, a new dimension would be added to Lawrence retailing and shoppers it would import to the city. There are a lot of goods and services available in a small area. There's a lot of rollover there. People don't just come downtown to go to Weavers. They'll hit Weavers and three or four other stores.' T Bill Martin pers from a 200-mile radius." director of economic development. Lawrence Chamber of Commerce Price Banks, city planning director, said the factory outlet mall would expand the city's market area and commercial opportunities. "We're going to be pulling people into Lawrence that wouldn't otherwise come to Lawrence," Banks said. "When those people are here, not just going to shop in the outlet mail, they'll go someplace else." Competition good for downtown "Our downtown is very inviting, so they'll walk around downtown. They'll eat lunch while they're here, possibly dinner. They may even make a trip of it and stay in a local motel for an evening." Banks said the commercial draw of the outlet mall would offset the fact that the Riverfront project would provide competition for downtown businesses. Vieux said the downtown welcomed the competition but stressed that the mail would not be direct and that Vieux's mail would be a discount operation. "Competition is good for all of us; it will sharpen all of us up." Vuix said. "Lawrence downtown, while I don't think we're too expensive, sells service. We are not a discounting operation. "The mall will be a part of downtown. They are within our boundaries, and I hope they will be involved with us in joint promotions. "One of our biggest goals for 1989 is to make sure a connection occurs between us and the Riverfront project, both physically and commer- Vieux said the physical connections could include pedestrian walkways between downtown and the mail, or a trolley bus to carry people back and forth. Plans for the Riverfront project were encouraged by an expanding retail economy in 1988. According to the Lawrence-Douglas County Business Indicators' 1988 Summary Report and Outlook, consumers were in a positive spending mood. State sales tax collections in retailing for 1988 were $17.8 million, a 4.2 percent increase from 1987. The growth rate in tax collections was higher than the statewide average of 3.6 percent. Even though retail spending was up in Lawrence, the leakage of retail dollars to other cities continued to be a problem. "I think everybody recognizes it as a problem," Martin said. "Any community is going to have leakage, particularly when they are located this close to two major metropolitan areas." Martin said that Lawrence wanted to capture as much of that leakage as possible but that sometimes the city could do nothing to stop it. "Some people just want to go to the Club Cube Plaza in Kansas City," he said. "You can do anything in the world to keep them here, and they're still going to go to the Plaza for certain things." "But with the new Westridge Mall and Hypermart in Topeka, there now is quite a bit of leakage there also," Toeben said. "The Riverfront project is our attempt to turn this trade deficit around, so to speak." Toeben said the leakage of retail dollars had traditionally been to the Kansas City area. Toebben said he did not think the addition of a 150,000 square foot mall would overload the available retail space in the community. "The fact that you have empty stores simply means that particular location is in a transition," Toebben said. "What people don't realize is that four out of five new businesses are not in business five years later." "Even when the economy is strong, individual businesses struggle. So with that type of turnover, you know it can be a time to empty storefronts from time to time." 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