Columbus Chamber's Retail Report Shows Regional Economic Growth Optimism Moving Forward in Columbus, Ohio

    COLUMBUS, OH, December 17, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- At a Retail Summit hosted by Franklin County, a Columbus Chamber expert provided an update on the status of the retail sector in the county. The summit provided an overview of the importance of retail to the economic growth of the county.

According to Bill LaFayette, Ph.D., vice president of economic analysis at theColumbus Chamber, the region's retail sector is expected to grow over the next decade.

"Because the Columbus MSA did not fully participate in the boom, the recession has affected employment to a much smaller-than-average degree," said LaFayette. "The expectation among economists is that the labor market will turn sometime during 2010 - although even an increase in earnings among current workers will be positive for retail sales."

Preliminary employment estimates show that Columbus MSA employment declined 1.9 percent between December 2007 (the beginning of the recession) and September 2009, compared to a decline of 5.2 percent in U.S. employment. Retail employment also performed better than average in the same time period, falling 4.5 percent compared to a 5.6 percent decline nationally.
The decline in Franklin County retail, specifically, has been more severe since 2001, than at the regional level. For instance, Delaware County recorded an increase of 78.8 percent, or 223 establishments, from 2001 to 2008, while Franklin County experienced a decrease of 6 percent, or 237 establishments.

According to LaFayette, this decrease is likely due to the spread of the urbanized area of Columbus into adjacent counties and the development of retail corridors outside of Franklin County, such as Polaris Fashion Place in Delaware County and the Route 256 shopping developments in Licking County. These newer developments were at the expense of existing developments within the county, such as the Morse/161 and Brice Road corridors.

The Chamber's economic indicators report shows that the collapse in retail employment during the early years of the 2000s stemmed from massive overdevelopment during the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1990 and 1997, Columbus MSA retail employment grew 19.2 percent (19,000 jobs), compared to 9.2 percent growth nationally. From December 2000, to the beginning of the recession in December 2007, retail employment declined 26,300 (18.1 percent), which brought employment back into a reasonable range.

"Columbus MSA retail was already overdeveloped in 1990, and the high growth of the early and mid-1990s made a bad situation worse," said LaFayette. "After the 2001 recession, regional employment growth was half the national average, translating to weak growth in personal income. The return of regional retail to a more reasonable level of development suggests that retail growth in the Columbus MSA is possible once the economic recovery becomes solid."

For more information about the Columbus Chamber, and a detailed report and visual representation of this information, visit www.columbus.org.

About the Columbus Chamber of Commerce

The Columbus Chamber of Commerce leads and supports economic growth and development in the Greater Columbus community. It supports a membership of 2,700 businesses. Learn more about Columbus at www.columbus.org.

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