Economic development manager outlines plan to 'get to yes' and capture Pullman's retail leakage
Loading...
Summary
Economic Development Manager Sean Miller presented a three‑part economic vitality plan including business‑friendly process reforms, a Claritas retail‑leakage report showing roughly $400 million leaving Pullman annually, and a retail capture strategy focused on prepared sites and targeted recruitment; staff and developers also flagged statewide costs that constrain housing and construction.
Sean Miller, Pullman's economic development manager, told the council on March 24 that the city's economic work will emphasize removing unknowns for entrepreneurs and "how do we find our way to yes, and how do we communicate that to our business partners?" Miller outlined five pillars for a "business‑friendly" approach: clear process, responsive customer service, predictability, problem‑solving within the rules, and efficient processes with continuous improvement.
Miller presented a Claritas opportunity‑gap report for 2025 that he said shows local residents spent about $752,000,000 in the study area but that only roughly $346,700,000 of that was captured inside Pullman. "We have more than $400,000,000 that leave Pullman every year," Miller said, pointing to large leakage in general merchandise (about $109,000,000), grocery and food retail (about $40,000,000), and furniture/electronics (about $32,000,000). He recommended a targeted retail‑capture strategy — building trip‑interception zones on major corridors and preparing development‑ready sites so businesses can move in quickly.
Miller described the city's SCALE program (Streamlined Concepts for Advancing Local Enterprises), a no‑cost support service that creates templates and business plans for local entrepreneurs. He said the goal is not to create new demand but to keep more Pullman spending in Pullman by recruiting businesses that meet established demand patterns.
Finance Director Jeff Albrecht and council members pressed on how to choose comparables and measure demand. Albrecht advised caution in making one‑to‑one comparisons with other cities because Pullman is a college town with unique tax and service structures. Council members asked for promotional materials and a pitch deck, and Miller agreed to assemble short outreach collateral and follow up on data questions, including whether WSU‑area businesses were included in the Claritas pull.
RJ Lott and local builder Kenny Renstrom circulated and summarized a short survey sent to 44 contractors, developers and design professionals; eight responses were returned. RJ said the top reported constraints were regional construction costs and market demand, with mixed views on permitting timelines and predictability. "The top answer was construction costs in the region," RJ said. Kenny Renstrom added that many cost pressures originate at the state level — for example, energy‑code and labor cost requirements that can add tens of thousands to a house's price — and that those statewide rules make building more expensive in Pullman than just across the state line.
Next steps recorded at the meeting included staff follow‑ups to provide more detailed breakdowns of the Claritas data, preparing outreach materials for targeted recruitment, and continuing the economic vitality series at subsequent study sessions with additional guest speakers.
Discussion versus decision: the council received the presentations and directed staff to return with clarifying data and outreach materials; there was no formal vote on policy at the March 24 session.
