Gloucester County Economic Development Authority presenter Ms. Spring gave the EDA and Board of Supervisors an update on retail inventory, vacancy and marketing efforts.

"Gloucester currently has 14 shopping centers that's got 1,500,000 square feet. Right now, there's 104,597 square feet that's available," Ms. Spring said, adding vacancies range from 1,000 square feet to a 36,799-square-foot big-box space (the former Big Lots location). She said Fox Mill has roughly 49 acres remaining for retail development and York River Crossing has about 7 acres available.

Ms. Spring summarized the EDA's outreach: membership in three restaurant- and retail-related associations, attendance at the International Council of Shopping Centers trade show and Expo North America, use of social media, website listings, direct mail and in-person cold calls at trade shows. "We don't make appointments before we go. We make telephone calls and also send out emails when we get leads that are generated from the associations that we're a member of," she said.

On site-selection criteria, Ms. Spring said national chains often look for population in a three- to five-mile radius and that the county lacks some demographic data. She noted several retailers the EDA views as possibilities for existing spaces: "Fastest growing steak houses in the Mid Atlantic right now is Longhorn Steak House...they require a 100,000 within a primary trade area. And our primary trade area in the Middle Of Peninsula is about 89,000 people. So we're not far from that." She also mentioned Aldi and Harbor Freight as fits for some vacant big-box buildings.

Ms. Spring said the EDA is not yet using dedicated digital marketing tools but has scheduled a meeting with Virginia Business Magazine to discuss digital marketing. The EDA recommended producing updated marketing materials for the county's larger available sites, including video and demographic packets for the Page site and other marketed properties.

No formal motions or board actions were recorded on the retail inventory report; the presentation led to questions from Board and EDA members about next steps for targeted marketing and data collection.