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Think it’s impossible to attract national retailers to a rundown, 1950s-era shopping district? That’s what leaders in the village of Broadview, Illinois, thought until they heard a presentation by Buxton in 2003 at the Illinois Municipal League conference.
After the conference, Broadview leaders contacted the customer analytics firm to get the ball rolling on a multi-year retail attraction campaign. These efforts, resulted in the opening of a new SuperTarget in Broadview, with the promise of more well-known tenants to follow. “We really thought we had nothing to offer national retailers,” says Village President Henry Vicenik. “We were pleasantly surprised by what we learned from the study.”
Broadview leaders commissioned Buxton to complete a trade area analysis of a three-block area owned by the village. The municipality had spent $4.5 million to buy the property for development as a mixed-used district, but had not been able to interest any retailers in locating there. “We know that the village cannot survive on property tax receipts alone; we need the retail sales dollars,” Vicenik says. In fact, more than $3 billion dollars worth of retail trade potential within the trade area was identified in the study.
Among other information, Broadview leaders learned that the village–with a population of 8,462 and a good location 20 miles west of Chicago—has a strong median income. However, within a seven-minute drive time of their proposed retail site they have an estimated 76,579 households within the trade area. They also learned that the population swells with people who commute in for work. Buxton pinpointed the psychographic lifestyles of the residents and the commuters to paint a complete picture of the entire trade area’s consumers.
Broadview leaders are continuing to use the Buxton data to attract the attention of national retailers.
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Broadview recruits SuperTarget 
