Retail Market Assessment
The Center City Charlotte Retail Market Assessment was undertaken to quantify the need for retail in Uptown Charlotte. Center City’s emergence as the area’s dominant employment center and entertainment zone and its evolution as a residential neighborhood support the goal of adding a broad complement of shopper’s goods to the existing base of convenience retail and restaurants. The assessment quantified the amount of retail space Uptown can support now and in the future and also the amount of spending power exists in the market. Recommendations include focusing retail development efforts on serving the demands of current patrons rather than attempting to position Center City as a shopping destination. More specifically, in light of the limited amount of quality street-level retail space in Center City, the recommended course of action is to seek an incremental increase in the retail merchandise offering through the re-use of existing space while working to stimulate the development of new retail space capable of accommodating a critical mass of "shoppers' goods" merchandise.
