PORT ANGELES — City Hall is hoping that a new study will help Port Angeles attract more retail.
The study, called a retail market analysis, will tell the city of Port Angeles what it needs to do to attract more stores, partly so residents don’t have to travel to cities like Sequim and Silverdale for as much of their shopping, said City Manager Kent Myers.
The study will be funded by $25,000 from the city’s economic development fund.
No consultant has been hired for the study.
It’s expected to be finished in about six months and answer the “big question,” Myers said, of “how can Port Angeles be more efficient in attracting retail growth in our community?”
Clallam County Economic Development Council Executive Director Linda Rotmark said she believes the study is a good idea and that Port Angeles is ready for more retail development.
Port Angeles and Clallam County as a whole, despite a boom in development in Sequim, still have a lot of people doing their shopping in Kitsap County or Seattle, she said.
A study by the state Employment Security Department found last year that 43 percent of money Clallam County residents spend on retail is spent outside of the county.
Rotmark said a typical baseline would be 30 percent.
While there is room for growth in Port Angeles, she said, she doesn’t think there is enough of a demand for another large box store to move in.
“I don’t think we will ever see two Costcos unless we have a boom,” she said.
Myers, an Erickson Trust board member, plans to talk with Connie Lipsker, a Gonzaga University professor who teaches retail management, about participating in the retail market analysis.
Erickson Trust board members, and potential investors in a new business for the former Gottschalks building in downtown Port Angeles, plan to meet with Lipsker this week to get advice from her, said Dan Gase, Port Angeles real estate agent.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
