Success Stories In Retail Recruitment



Anderson County, S.C. - County-wide Retail Development
When Buxton performs its CommunityID^® assessment, it usually targets a specific town or area of a city. When Anderson County, S.C., contracted Buxton, its economic development professionals requested a study that encompassed most of the 750-square-mile rural county.

Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Anderson County lies in the state’s northwestern corner and is positioned mid-way between Atlanta, Ga., and Charlotte, N.C. The county seat, Anderson, is the largest municipality, with about 26,000 people. Anderson County is composed of six other incorporated towns and several unincorporated communities, which together hold the remaining 150,000 county residents. It was these smaller municipalities that Anderson County wanted studied.

The goals were to increase jobs and improve the quality of life for residents. The county’s economic developers knew that the opportunities to recruit large manufacturing operations to the area were remote, because the obstacles to expanding the existing wastewater infrastructure were tremendous. Retail and other small commercial development projects, however, made sense. To recruit retail, the county needed good data about its trade areas.

The problem was that the county lacked funding for such a study. The solution was a grant from the State Community Development Block Grant Program. After the grant was awarded, Anderson County sent out RFPs for the project. "Buxton replied with a proposal that included all the information and tools we were looking for," says Burriss Nelson, retail & commercial development specialist, Anderson County.

To conduct the project, Buxton studied three communities – Iva, Pendleton and Williamston. The 15- minute drive time trade areas of these towns essentially covered 90 percent of the county. The Buxton data helped Nelson spread the word about the county’s retail potential. He supplied the information to developers and retailers, to the mayors and city councils of the towns involved, and to existing businesses in the communities. The results have been promising. Several grocery and pharmacy chains have made inquires into the area, Nelson said. And the chain store Fred’s has signed an agreement to open in Iva. This is a particularly notable success, since of the three towns studied, Iva has the least number of residents and has suffered a declining population.

The data has benefited existing retailers as well. Nelson points out two businesses that have used the study to customize their goods to better serve the needs of the trade area. "It’s been a really good ‘win, win’ for consumers and the county," he says.

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