Retail Contacts Made in Vegas Don’t Stay in Vegas

Omaha, Neb., June 10, 2010 – A cold call made five years ago at the world’s biggest deal-making retail show heated up last year. Watch for an announcement later this year of a major national retailer entering the Omaha market.

It wouldn’t be the first time a cold call at the International Council of Shopping Centers show in Las Vegas brought a new retail business to Omaha. Three years ago, Winsley Durand, the Greater Omaha Chamber’s director of retail attraction, struck up a conversation with a representative of Panda Express. Omaha now has two of the quick-service Chinese restaurants and six more coming.

The Las Vegas gathering is the key trade show in retail development, this year drawing 30,000 people and 1,100 exhibitors. Developers ranging from small regional operations to giants like General Growth are there every year.

Five Greater Omaha Development Partnership representatives went to this year’s show in May, among them Durand and Mark Norman, the Chamber’s senior director of attraction and retention. The Partnership is the economic development organization that serves a four county area with the Greater Omaha Chamber (Douglas County) partnering with Sarpy County Economic Development Corporation, Washington County’s Gateway Development Corporation and Cass County Nebraska Economic Development Council.

They came home with 10 commitments from national retailers to visit Omaha. Four of them are not in Omaha now and the other six are considering expanding the operations they have here. Durand said a key piece of the game plan, in addition to introducing Greater Omaha to retailers unaware of the area, is to get those who have Omaha in mind to move the metro area higher on their lists.

The rest of the Las Vegas scorecard: 50 “quality conversations” and 150 “quality contacts.”

Not all those commitments, conversations and contacts came by chance. The Partnership sets up appointments in advance, too, including repeat calls on retailers met at previous shows.

The Chamber decided seven years ago to make retail development a target area, filling a gap in its overall economic development strategy. “We are somewhat unique as a Chamber in including retail recruiting,” Norman said. “There’s not a lot of Chambers doing it and our effort has been noticed in other cities.”

In addition to its own effort, the Partnership supports Omaha retail brokers’ recruiting. Some local brokers worked in the Partnership’s booth at Las Vegas.

One reason for trying to build up retailing opportunities in the local market is to keep more retail sales dollars in the Greater Omaha area. Lessening the effect of retail sales leaving Omaha for stores elsewhere.

Another reason is the boost a bigger and better retail sector — opportunities to do fun things and eat in fun places — gives to attracting and retaining high-level employees for Greater Omaha businesses, Norman said.

Not everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. The contacts and recruiting carry over to regional shows that draw many of the same retailers, from major international ones to local ones. In the Partnership’s case the Las Vegas trip will be followed by a regional show in Chicago.

Closer to home, the International Council of Shopping Centers hosts the Heartland States Idea Exchange, an educational forum with a trade show for retailers, developers, brokers and others involved in retail development in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas. Each year the Idea Exchange rotates among Omaha, St. Louis and Kansas City. Hosting this event exposes retailers and developers who are often focused on larger markets to Greater Omaha.

A somewhat different approach is the Partnership’s annual Midwest Franchise Seminar, to be held Nov. 12 at the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Mammel Hall, the new building housing the College of Business Administration. The Omaha delegation promoted the seminar heavily in Las Vegas.

The seminar takes a two-track approach, helping local people find franchise opportunities and helping local businesses get into franchising to spread their brand to other cities. That would follow the example of others, such as Godfather’s Pizza, Merry Maids and Home Instead Senior Care, which were started in Omaha.