HUTCHINS, TX AREA � Retail Gap Analysis

Overview

All members of a community have money to spend. Every household is a con�sumer of retail products since it must buy food, clothing, and other everyday items. Those retail dollars either stay within the local economy or they leave the local economy. If dollars remain in the local economy, the benefits associated with them will also remain.  

Gap analysis is a technique for identifying the strengths and weaknesses in a local retail market. Essentially, the analysis estimates how many shoppers are coming to a com�munity to purchase retail items.

Survey Area Map

Retail Categories

 Building Materials, Garden Supply and Mobile Homes

Making up the building materials category are lumberyards, hardware stores, paint stores, nursery stores, garden and lawn supplies, mobile home dealers and other miscellaneous materials stores. This sector holds a strong lure for farmers, many who will conduct other shopping in town, along with keeping local do-it-yourselfers in the community to shop.

General Merchandise Stores

The general merchandise category consists primarily of department stores (i.e. Wal-Mart, J.C. Penney, Sears) and variety stores (i.e. Dollar General, Family Dollar). Comparable to anchor stores in a shopping mall, these department and variety stores, play an important role in communities and are strong attractants to shoppers.

Food Stores

The food store category is comprised primarily of grocery stores, but also includes bakeries, meat and fish markets, fruit and vegetable markets, dairy product stores, candy and confectionery stores and miscellaneous food stores. This category is extremely important to a healthy retail sector as customers spend more money in grocery stores and shop there more often than any other type of store.

Automobile Dealers and Gasoline Service Stations

New and used car dealers, auto supply stores, gasoline service stations, boat dealers, motorcycle dealers and recreational vehicle dealers make up the automotive retail category.

Apparel and Accessory Stores

Apparel stores are made up of men�s, women�s and children�s clothing stores as well as shoe stores. Small towns have a challenge of sustaining these types of stores due to the extreme competition from department stores and stores in larger cities. In today�s environment, apparel stores exhibiting strong customer service and a family-oriented atmosphere will have the best opportunity for success in smaller towns.

Home Furniture, Furnishings and Appliances

This category includes furniture stores, floor covering stores, major appliance stores, music, video, CD stores and consumer electronics stores.

Eating and Drinking

This category consists of restaurants, taverns and bars and is a rapidly growing part of most economies since more and more people are eating away from home.

Miscellaneous Retail

This miscellaneous sector includes different �specialty� retail business that could not logically be categorized into the previous retail groups. Drug stores, sporting goods stores, book stores, liquor stores, sporting goods, hobby and craft stores, game shops and jewelry and others are included in this category.