The city of Greenwood is considering hiring a retail consulting firm to help identify business opportunities in Greenwood.
“You can’t just sit here and wish it is going to happen. You have got to make things happen,” said Mayor Carolyn McAdams. “It is up to us to create opportunity for things to happen here.”
She told the City Council on Tuesday that a Birmingham, Alabama, group, Retail Strategies, had approached her about working in Greenwood.
The company would form a team that would identify market opportunities in the area and then create and execute a recruitment strategy, according to Retail Strategies’ website.
“They would start immediately. They would bring a team here and start assessing and looking at the area and the properties available,” McAdams said.
The mayor said she intends to ask the council during its Dec. 19 meeting about signing a three-year contract with the company.
McAdams said that the cost for the services would be around $120,000 for all three years.
“There are a lot of questions to be asked, and I don’t know that this is what we are going to do,” she said. “We will proceed with caution, and I am going to research it.”
The Retail Strategies team would gather input from the community about what is wanted and look for retail and restaurant opportunities in the city, McAdams said.
The mayor and Chief Administrative Officer Cynthia Stanciel would work closely with the team and also with Brantley Snipes, Main Street Greenwood executive director, and Angela Curry, executive director of Greenwood-Leflore-Carroll Economic Development Foundation.
Curry said that she has offered to help in any way needed.
“I think it is a great idea to engage the help of a retail consultant for our area,” Curry said. “We do have demographics that would be attractive to various chain retail, and it would certainly enhance our economy to recruit new businesses.”
According to the mayor, Starkville, Aberdeen and Cleveland have hired and worked with Retail Strategies.
This service would be an opportunity to introduce new businesses to Greenwood and a wider variety in shopping choices and to bring more people into Greenwood, she said.
•Contact Lauren Randall at 581-7239 or lrandall@gwcommonwealth.com.
