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Staff presents trade‑area and visitor data showing Schulman Crossing and Parrot Cove draw multi‑state visitors
Summary
City staff presented Placer cell‑phone data and visitor analysis showing that Schulman Crossing and Parrot Cove draw a large share of out‑of‑state visitors, and compared Garden City’s retail draw with other regional centers.
A staff member identified in the meeting as Shannon presented an analysis of 2024 Placer cell‑phone data that maps where residents of surrounding cities traveled and how many visits left each community.
Shannon summarized the method and findings: ‘‘What we first have here is people who live in that in the like, the left column is people who live in Garden City city limits... And all this data is from 2024.’’ The presentation showed that Garden City’s Walmart and Schulman Crossing were the top visits for local residents and that, for some nearby towns such as Ulysses, Garden City outlets were the most‑visited places outside their towns.
Shannon said the city counts both the number of unique people visiting and the total visits (frequency) and noted differences between ‘‘people who went at least once’’ and repeat visit counts. The presenter said the city recorded about 4.7 million visits to Garden City from outside the city limits in the 12‑month data slice and that significant shares of visitors came from Dodge City, Ulysses and Holcomb.
On tourism and statewide interest, Shannon compared Parrot Cove (the local water attraction) and Blastoff Bay (a comparable project in Goddard) and reported roughly 30% out‑of‑state visitor shares for both attractions. ‘‘If we look at Parrot Cove, 30 Percent of the visitors last year to Parrot Cove were from out of state, where Blastoff Bay in Goddard, 29 Percent,’’ Shannon said.
Shannon argued that the data show Schulman Crossing already functions as a regional retail hub, drawing people from neighboring states and multiple Kansas communities, and that an attached attraction (for example a hotel or indoor sports fields planned in future phases) could further increase out‑of‑state economic impact. The board discussed using the data for trade‑area analyses, project evaluation and state Star Bond considerations.
The presentation used cell‑phone tracking data and license‑plate inference as inputs; Shannon said staff can run additional follow‑up queries and provide deeper slices of the region’s trade‑area behavior.
No formal action was taken; staff proposed to continue refining the Placer analyses and to provide follow‑up reports that break out specific attraction and retail visit numbers on request.
