Mel Graves, portfolio director for Retail Strategies, told the Peachtree City Council that the firm is entering year three of its partnership and will lean on new data and outreach tools to recruit restaurants and specialty grocers to the city.

"We are getting to know the community more intimately," Graves said, describing work to refine trade areas, benchmark peer communities and deploy two new resources—Calibrate, a location‑intelligence product, and Resquared, an AI outreach tool—to reach small businesses and property owners.

Graves said the firm tracks market health at the block‑group level, highlights unmet household spending and presents prospects to local brokers and property owners. He said the community remains competitive for full‑service restaurants and that demand for higher‑end and ethnic dining persists. He listed Highway 54, Carriage Lane and Willow Bend as properties where Retail Strategies is targeting outreach and noted a continuing gap for one or more grocery concepts.

The presentation emphasized a multi‑pronged approach: national tenant representative relationships, local brokerage and developer engagement, and targeted AI‑driven outreach to smaller operators. Graves also said the firm will coordinate more closely with city economic‑development staff and use Placer.ai and other vendors to justify market demand to prospective tenants.

Council members asked about specific prospects (Wegmans, Whole Foods) and timing of Highway 54 development; Graves said some grocers are in conversations elsewhere but that Retail Strategies would flag any active pursuit of Peachtree City. No formal action was requested; Graves said staff would follow up with a refreshed recruitment strategy and a data update to be shared with council.