Economic development staff show merchant revenue trends, push dining guide and outreach tools

City planning staff on Aug. 25 told the Economic Development Commission that merchant-reported revenue data gathered under the five-year economic development plan shows recovery after the pandemic and identified outreach steps to support local retailers. Dawn Doherty, senior planner, presented aggregated merchant sales figures the department collects with business license renewals and described outreach ideas including a dining guide and targeted communications to new apartment residents.

Dawn Doherty, senior planner, said the figures shown are merchants— self-reported annual revenue submitted with business-license renewals and that the chart columns are organized by license expiration date; she said the most recent column in the packet (labeled 2026) reflects 2024 sales because merchants report prior-year sales by May 15. "This captures the sales, January through December for the previous annual year," Doherty said.

The data matter because, staff said, retail sales and the sales-tax base are a meaningful share of the city—s budget. "It—s back to, you know, a good third of our our budget or 25% of our budget," Doherty said, describing the broad budget role of sales tax revenue and why the commission should consider retail-support measures.

Key facts presented by staff: the revenue figures exclude sales outside Missouri and exclude nonmerchant office revenue; merchants submit prior-calendar-year revenue by May 15 each year; the municipality—s merchant license reporting effectively yields an annual snapshot for comparative trend analysis. Doherty noted that some tenants that were not previously listed (for example The Wine Merchant) did not report sales before 2024 and thus appear in the dataset only recently. She also pointed to centers that have recovered or changed tenant mix since the pandemic, including Shops at Price Crossing, Plant Haven (staff said Plant Haven is fully leased) and Olivet Plaza (largely service-oriented tenants and fully occupied).

Commission members and staff discussed communications tactics to boost local shopping. Commissioners suggested republishing the city—s dining guide and pushing themed newsletters (dining, health services, personal services) and distributing printed guides to apartment managers so new residents receive them. Carlos Trejo, director of planning and community development, and Doherty said the city can pull business contact information from license applications and run electronic surveys through the department—s ArcGIS tools to collect business feedback. "We have their contact information, including email addresses from their applications," Doherty said of the outreach capability.

Staff also reviewed that the city—s business communications plan dates to 2020 and recommended evaluating it for updates. Doherty described items already implemented from the plan: streamlined intake for new businesses, improved coordination with the building inspector and license processing, business highlights in the city newsletter, expanded relationships with the chamber and sponsor opportunities through city events.

No commission action or vote was taken on the plan or on outreach steps during the meeting. Commission members asked staff to pursue communications options and return with proposed next steps and potential schedules.

Looking ahead, staff said they will coordinate with the city communications staff to update and distribute the dining guide, test an electronic business survey and consider themed newsletter issues that promote local businesses and services.