Apopka contracted Retail Strategies LLC to analyze the local market and begin targeted outreach to retailers, the firm's portfolio director, Garrett Smitherman, told the Community Redevelopment Agency during a presentation. The consultant said its year‑one work included discovery, custom trade‑area mapping using mobile‑data feeds, a demographic overview and a category gap analysis.

Smitherman said the firm's analysis defined an Apopka trade area larger than the city limits and reported that the trade‑area median household income and projected population growth make the market attractive to national retailers. "On a 3‑mile radius, you got 77,000 people. On a 5‑mile radius, that jumps to 230,000," Smitherman said. He added that the trade‑area gap analysis shows total market demand of about $2.6 billion and market supply of about $2.3 billion, leaving approximately $235 million in dollars spent outside the trade area that could be recaptured.

The firm also delivered a peer‑market comparison and a retail category count. Smitherman said Apopka currently trades below peer averages in categories including full‑service restaurants, coffee/juice retailers and grocery options, and that those categories are a focus for outreach. "Full‑service restaurants is very out of balance," he said.

Smitherman outlined the firm's approach to site work: inventorying available and redevelopment sites, logging ownership and listing agents, and then making proactive introductions between property owners and target retailers. He described the national retailer decision timeline to illustrate why recruitment can take many months: tenant reps present sites to corporate real‑estate directors, those directors run performas and, if favorable, issue letters of intent that lead to offers and eventual build‑outs.

In question‑and‑answer, Member Drago asked about a broker working a site on Rock Springs Road; Smitherman located the site north of the Publix on the west side of Rock Springs and said a car wash and a Dunkin' Donuts were in play. Members also asked whether brands prefer new construction or retrofits; Smitherman said it depends on the brand and on build‑out costs, noting many full‑service restaurants pursue backfill/retrofit to avoid multimillion‑dollar new builds.

Antoinette Forbes, Apopka's director of economic development, told the board the city holds the contract and that Retail Strategies' scope covers the whole city. She said staff can provide the unredacted recruitment report and raw data to board members on request.

The presentation concluded with staff telling the board that the city has issued a follow‑up call to Retail Strategies to begin the second year of the engagement and that staff will return with details on incentives and next steps if the board requests them.