San Jose Citywide Retail Strategy
San Jose, California
San Jose, the largest city in the Bay Area, has experienced strong growth over the past several decades. Despite its residential and employment base, the City has lagged in developing an array of retail districts, and has experienced slowing sales in several of its existing retail locations.
To meet twin goals of increasing retail retention and attraction, along with boosting the City's retail sales tax base, San Jose engaged BAE and a retail broker to study the city by retail trade area and identify missed retail opportunities. BAE developed a comprehensive GIS-based retail leakage analysis tool, which can be updated by City staff, to estimate existing sales by 42 retail districts, and identify merchandise categories with high leakage, indicating opportunities to fill in retail offerings with new stores. The analysis has guided San Jose in several other initiatives, including its Strong Neighborhoods Initiative and its overall economic development strategic planning.