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Council to send Retail Coach proposal to EDC/4A for consideration
Summary
Staff presented a Retail Coach engagement to recruit businesses and provide market data; council agreed to refer the one‑year, budgeted consulting proposal to the 4A/EDC for consideration of cost‑sharing.
City staff presented a proposal to hire Retail Coach to assist Blue Ridge in attracting retail and commercial businesses and to provide market data and outreach at trade events. Staff said the proposed engagement is budgeted as a one‑year consulting line item and that the Economic Development Corporation (4A) could share the cost.
The presenter described Retail Coach as a broker that works with cities and EDCs to gauge retailer interest and to match retail types to community demographics. "He'll reach out to kinda get a gauge interest of those companies there," the presenter said when describing how the vendor would approach the work. Staff noted the cost is budgeted under admin/consulting and said the item will be presented to the 4A/EDC for their meeting so the cost can be split if the EDC agrees.
Council moved to refer the proposal to the 4A/EDC for consideration and discussion of cost sharing; staff said the vendor typically works on multiyear engagements but the city could start with a one‑year term and evaluate results.
