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Consultants outline retail-recruitment strategy for Gallup, cite weekend population spike and downtown vacancies
Summary
The Retail Coach presented a year-in-review and an eight-step retail recruitment framework for Gallup, highlighting a strong weekend consumer draw, downtown vacancies and income-data challenges; staff and a local franchisee urged balancing recruitment with support for existing businesses.
The Retail Coach updated Gallup City Council on the firm’s retail recruitment work and pipeline at the Jan. 6 meeting. Keegan Mackenzie-Chavez, Community Development Project Manager, introduced Kaleb Wilson of The Retail Coach, who reviewed the firm’s corporate background and an eight-step strategic framework used to identify and recruit retailers and developers to Gallup.
Wilson presented an analysis of Gallup’s retail trade area, saying staff used cellular-tracking data to verify the city’s consumer reach and the Retail Demand Outlook report to identify opportunities. He noted a substantial weekend population increase and said that standard household income data may understate local weekend purchasing power, a factor recruiters should weigh. Discussion among councilors and staff focused on downtown vacancies and the need to create development-ready sites.
A local franchisee, James Rich, urged caution in recruiting national competitors. "Staff should defend the local workforce on behalf of business owners during recruitment of competitors," Rich said, arguing the city should prioritize incentives for existing local businesses and formally invite local owners to participate in recruitment discussions.
The presentation referenced past recruitment templates including Sam’s Club and Home Depot as comparative cases for persuading national chains, and concluded with a status update on the current lead pipeline and workforce-related feedback provided to the firm. Councilors asked staff to continue balancing recruitment efforts with protections for local businesses and to improve communication with the business community.
