Successful Downtowns Will Cater To ‘Reborns,’ Retail Consultants Say

‘Spokane has the potential to become one of the hottest retail markets in the country with the redevelopment just getting under way downtown,” says national retail strategist Richard Outcalt.

But, says Outcalt, half of the Seattle-based consulting team of Outcalt & Johnson, just building new stores and restaurants doesn’t make a downtown a “success.”

“In fact, there is so much capital available to build indiscriminately that ‘success’ might be trampled to death.”

That is a very real danger in downtown Seattle, say Outcalt and senior partner Patricia Johnson, strategists for some of the nations largest and most successful merchandisers. Success, they stress, depends not on how well property owners and merchants are served, but on how well shoppers are served.

“Retailing,” the partners said in a recent article published by the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce, “is a mirror of society.

“That mirror,” they wrote, “must be adjusted for retailers - and even cities! - to thrive.”

And at present, Richard Outcalt underscored in an interview, the mirror needs adjusting to cater to older elements within the aging Baby Boomer generation, for whom the strategists have coined the term “Reborns.”

There are four major “lifestages” that shoppers pass through, Outcalt and Johnson believe, including:

SINKS (single income/no kids) and DINKS (dual income/no kids).

Households with kids under 12.

Households with teens.

And older Baby Boomers or Empty Nesters whom Outcalt and Johnson refer to as Reborn SINKS and DINKS.

Reborns, who constitute roughly one-fourth (23 percent) of Seattle-area households, are capable of saving downtowns. The other shopper lifestages all lack either the time, money, or appetite for the “urbane experience” which involves coming downtown and spending “heartily.”

“Remember,” they said, “these are the folks raised in the suburbs who got their basic training in shopping malls. Now that their children are grown, they are able once again to spend on their favorite subject - themselves!

“They will zealously pursue and savor the ‘urbane experience’ of downtown - entertainment shopping, entertainment dining, and entertainment - the theater, the symphony, the galleries and museums, and more.” But only if the urbane environment is there to experience.

“They will expect deferential (if not preferential) treatment, a multiplicity of experiences, and will demand an on-going stream of the new! The unique! The distinctive!”

Downtown Seattle’s competition for the hearts, minds, and wallets of the Reborns is “not Bellevue Square,” the strategic team concludes. The competition is San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Vancouver, B.C. - the world. Similarly downtown Spokane’s competition is not NorthTown or the new Valley Mall, it is Seattle, and Portland.

The biggest problem facing downtowns everywhere?

Parking.

Reborns believe it is scarce, scary and exhorbitantly overpriced.

“True or not, the perception is a killer for downtowns’ primary target market.”

Little steps won’t do. Only a bold stroke will work. Basically that means free covered parking.

“The Reborns will make demands,” Outcalt says. “They won’t put up with dark and scary surroundings and not knowing where to turn or where to park. In the same way as the Boomers are reinventing aging, the Reborns will reinvent downtowns.”

Spokane posts strong gains in retail sales

The Spokane metropolitan area racked up robust retail sales in the third quarter of last year, the latest figures from the state reveal.

But inside the city limits, sluggish sales repeated the pattern of recent years.

Statewide, merchants posted strong gains.

Total taxable retail transactions (including taxable sales by manufacturers, contractors, insurance companies and others not strictly in the retail trade) rose 8.8 percent statewide. That compared with 5.4 percent for Spokane city and county combined.

Retail trade only (sales by stores and eating/drinking establishments) climbed 9.1 statewide. That figure was 7.9 percent for Spokane city and county overall.

Inside the city, total taxable sales rose just 3.7 percent. Stores and restaurants eked out a gain of just 3 percent which, adjusted for inflation, left sales flat.

In Vancouver, retail trade shot up 28 percent.

With rare exceptions, the biggest sales spurts were registered by coastal communities - Redmond, up 26 percent; Renton, up 23 percent; Edmonds, up 22 percent, Everett and Kent, up 19 percent each. In Eastern Washington, the big winner was Moses Lake, with a 17-percent sales burst.

Tri-Cities retailers registered mixed results. Kennewick notched a hefty growth spurt of 10 percent. Pasco managed a modest increase of 4.4 percent. Richland suffered a 4.7 sales drop.

, DataTimes MEMO: Associate Editor Frank Bartel writes a notes column each Wednesday. If you have business items of regional interest for future columns, call 459-5467 or fax 459-5482.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Frank Bartel The Spokesman-Review