Memorandum

City of Lawrence

City Manager’s Office

TO:              David L. Corliss, City Manager

CC:               Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager

FROM:          Roger Zalneraitis, Economic Development Coordinator/Planner

DATE:           November 18, 2010

RE:               Retail Task Force RFP for retail study

The City Commission is being asked tonight to consider two recommendations from the Retail Task Force: to issue an RFP for a strategic retail study and database, and to authorize City Staff to review standalone retail information databases for use by the economic development partners.  Staff recommends approving both requests, if appropriate.

The Retail Task Force was established by the City Commission to investigate the current retail climate in Lawrence and develop recommendations for enhancing the climate for retail businesses in the City.  The Task Force has been meeting since May, and is beginning to identify recommendations for consideration by the Commission.

The first recommendation by the Task Force is to issue a Request for Proposals (“RFP”) for the purpose of identifying strategic opportunities to strengthen retail businesses in Lawrence.  A copy of the RFP is attached.  The RFP lists several requirements, including:

o A review of existing retail studies;

o Profiles of retail shoppers in Lawrence and those who may shop in Lawrence but currently do not do so;

o Strategies for existing retail stores to capture additional sales;

o Retail opportunities that exist but may not be able to be captured by existing stores; and

o Provide a database to the City that has key information for assisting local businesses.

The Task Force has been particularly interested in assisting local retail businesses and the database. 

The local business component is vital because the Task Force believes that the first goal of any retail program should be to strengthen existing retail businesses and the climate in which they operate.  The RFP is unique in this respect, as many other RFPs that staff reviewed do no identify a local component as being a key priority.

The database is also crucial for the Task Force.  The database would include metrics such as “psychographics”, which is simply a term describing the integration of demographic and retail expenditure data.  The psychographics would be both for current as well as potential retail shoppers in Lawrence.  The database could ultimately be used to assist local retailers in enhancing and expanding their businesses.  For example, the database should be robust enough to identify marketing opportunities; locations where the business could consider expanding; and additional products that the business could offer for their existing clientele.  Additionally, the City could provide this data to companies.

Due to the importance the Task Force placed on the database, staff raised the possibility of purchasing the data without having a consultant conduct a retail study.  Many independent databases exist, such as BusinessAnalyst from ESRI and GeoWise from Instant Atlas.  To this extent, the Task Force recommended that staff review databases and provide a summary of what the standalone data suites can offer, whether these would meet the goals the City is seeking, and what the costs of implementing these databases would be compared to the study and data offered by consultants.  This report would be reviewed in conjunction with the RFP responses.

If approved by the City Commission, the RFP would be issued immediately, and responses would be due back from firms by December 23^rd.  Staff would review the responses and provide a recommendation to the Retail Task Force and then the City Commission of the best proposal by January.  Staff would also present a report on the best options for a standalone database.  At that time, the City Commission could approve either the winning RFP bidder to undertake a retail study, or alternatively approve the acquisition of a database, or alternatively defer and/or approve neither proposal.  The goal would be to have either a completed report or an installed and active database by the Summer of 2011.

The minutes of the Retail Task Force meetings for May, June, July, August, September, October, and the draft minutes for November, are provided.  These chronicle various discussions the Task Force has had regarding the need for additional retail data. 

Action Requested

Approve the issuance of the RFP as recommended by the Retail Task Force, and direct staff to provide a report on standalone retail databases, if appropriate.