SIOUX CITY (KTIV) – You may have noticed new retail businesses in town: Crumbl Cookie, Boot Barn and Aldi, to name a few. We set out to measure Sioux City’s overall business health, but it was difficult to get precise metrics.
KTIV spoke with officials from the private sector, real estate and local government to learn about business developments in Sioux City.
Think of it this way: During the COVID-19 pandemic, every major retailer you can think of has taken a break. But now that we’re behind a pandemic, all these companies are scrambling to grab any available retail space that hasn’t been occupied.
For now, that’s good news for businesses in Sioux City. New stores like Crumbl Cookies, HOTWORX and Fazoli’s offer consumers more choice than they did before the pandemic, Chris Boganreeve said.
Chris Bogenrief, president of NAI United, a commercial real estate firm, said: “I would say, however, that the overall health of our local economy is very strong and has remained fairly resilient throughout the pandemic. .”
The retail recovery could soon hit a wall, largely due to a lack of space.
“It’s just the pent-up demand for the last two years that’s not being met, and they’ve filled the empty space. But you don’t see a lot of retail development because of supply chain issues that have caused construction costs to skyrocket,” Bogenrief said.
City officials said they do not maintain lists of active businesses, making it difficult to calculate how many businesses Sioux City has gained or lost. Officials said the city is not hiring new businesses, but will try to encourage new development.
“Yeah, I think with the growth that’s happening here, you’re going to see some new, new shopping areas, and they might look a little bit different, you know, they’re probably not going to be big malls. But in the next In a few years, you’ll see some new developments,” said Marty Dougherty, Sioux City’s director of economic development.
Crumbl Cookies is one of these new retailers. With 600 stores, they chose Sioux City as their new location to open this September.
“Almost every day, we have clients coming in and saying you should come to Sioux City to Sioux City. So we came down and looked at the market. We liked the research we saw and found next to Stone Bru,” said Colby Wilson, regional manager of Crumbl Cookies. Got a great location and decided we couldn’t pass it up.
Assessing the health of small businesses can be more difficult, Bogenrief said. But a study by his firm showed that during the pandemic, more businesses in Sioux City actually opened their doors than had to close.
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