Northeast Ohio Regional Retail Analysis
Executive Summary
Overview
RETAIL INVENTORYThe seven-county region has more than 27,000 stores and 135 million square feet of retail floor space.
More than 200,000 persons, or 20% of the region’s work force, are employed in the retail sector. These employees generate more than $67 million annually in local income tax revenue.
Convenience and shopping goods and services, which exclude car dealerships, hotels, commercial amusements and office space, total 79.2 million square feet.
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Map 1. Total Retail (Square Feet) SOURCE: Northeast Ohio Regional Retail Analysis |
There are more than 37 square feet of convenience and shopping floor space per capita in the region. While there are no national figures available for an exact comparison, the amount of floor space per capita for shopping centers typically is in the 20 to 30 square feet range in other metropolitan areas.
There are more than 10 million square feet of vacant retail space in the Northeast Ohio region. The vacancy rate of 7.4% is slightly more than might be expected for a region of its size.
A total of 10.1 million square feet of new retail has been recently constructed or proposed for the region.
| Area | ALL RETAIL | SELECTED CATEGORIES** |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number Stores |
Square Feet |
Number Stores |
Square Feet |
|
| Cleveland* | 4,153 | 16,068,314 | 2,712 | 9,976,638 |
| Suburban Cuyahoga | 10,982 | 59,248,908 | 7,853 | 38,897,805 |
| Geauga | 1,089 | 5,072,549 | 635 | 2,993,315 |
| Lake | 3,279 | 16,047,772 | 2,133 | 10,695,496 |
| Lorain | 3,712 | 18,109,386 | 2,287 | 10,747,254 |
| Medina | 1,554 | 7,714,024 | 1,039 | 4,910,803 |
| Portage | 1,393 | 5,361,630 | 963 | 3,701,129 |
| Northern Summit | 1,381 | 9,071,890 | 973 | 5,564,391 |
| Total | 27,543 | 13,693,890 | 18,595 | 87,486,831 |
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Table 1. Total Number of Stores and Retail Square Feet
* Cleveland Data only contains information for surveyed nodes |
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The region is saturated in the convenience and shopping goods categories by more than 6 million square feet.
There is an overwhelming amount of vacant land, 77 square miles, zoned for more retail in the region. If all 49,500 acres zoned for retail were developed, more than three times the amount of existing retail development could be built in an already saturated market. Such flexibility in choices for retail developers could prove to be a serious threat to existing retail centers throughout the region.
There are 14 communities in the region which have at least 2 million square feet of retail space; 9 are in Cuyahoga County, 2 each in Lake and Lorain Counties and 1 in northern Summit County.
While the population of suburban Cuyahoga County decreased by 9.2% between 1968 and 1998, the amount of retail floor space increased by 90.9%.
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Graph 1. Total Retail Space of the Top Five Communities in Each County in the Retail Study Area SOURCE: Northeast Ohio Regional Retail Analysis |
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