County not luring shoppers

Study: Residents spend more out-of-county than they draw to local businesses

Mike Buck, of Austin, Texas, toted a Weaver’s bag down Massachusetts Street on Friday, enjoying a little downtown shopping before today’s Kansas-Texas football game.

“It’s really nice,” Buck said of downtown. “We like it because there’s a lot of local shops.”

His wife, Wendy, proved equally enamored: “There’s some great local shops. We got some ice cream and coffee.”

The Bucks might be more unusual than you think.

A study released this week by a Kansas State University economist shows that Douglas Countians spend more retail dollars out-of-county than they draw in to local businesses.

The county’s “trade pull factor” was slightly below the break-even point, said David Darling, an economist who tracks pull factors for all 105 Kansas counties. And with Lawrence surrounded by Topeka and Kansas City, he said, it may be hard to improve the situation.

“From my perspective, Douglas County will always be constrained by the competition on either side,” Darling said. “The reality of the competition is such that one should aspire to a realistic goal — don’t expect to be Shawnee County.”

Despite the report, local retailers are expecting the upcoming Christmas shopping season to be successful for them.

A new report shows Douglas County is slightly weak in terms of keeping local people spending their dollars in town rather than going to Johnson County. Friday at World Market in Lawrence, Donna Tindall, Wichita; Kansas University senior Paige Wilson, Wichita; and Tindall's daughter Tara Tindall, Wichita senior, check out some baskets and holiday gifts. Retailers are hopeful for good holiday sales.

“It looks like it has a lot of promise,” said Maria Martin, president of Downtown Lawrence Inc. and owner of Southwest and More, 727 Mass. “We’re all hoping for it to be just a fantastic promise. What I’m basing that on is a good feeling.”

Tess Bricker, supplies manager at Arizona Trading Co., a vintage clothing store downtown, also expects the season to go well.

“It usually does,” she said. “People don’t tend to buy presents here, because we’re a resale store, but they’re out-and-about anyway, so they tend to come in.”

Darling’s report, released this week, assigned a “trade pull factor” number to each county — with a rating of “1.00” representing a perfect balance of $1 of spending brought into county for every $1 residents spent elsewhere.

Douglas County had a rating of 0.96, slightly below break-even. Shawnee County had a 1.18 rating, meaning it attracted 18 percent more retail money than it sent elsewhere; Johnson County had the state’s highest rating, at 1.45.

The good news for Douglas County is that its rating was far better than the state average rating of 0.68 for all 105 counties. The ratings were based on a study of sales tax data for the state’s fiscal year 2004, which ended in July.

Only 14 counties attracted more retail dollars than they sent away. Martin said that Douglas County should be on that list.

“I think if that (report) is true, then I would hope that people who live in Lawrence and Douglas County would consider starting here before they travel somewhere else to shop,” Martin said. “We can’t find everything here in Lawrence, but you can certainly find quite a number of things.”

Trade pull factors for Lawrence-area counties:¢ Johnson, 1.45¢ Shawnee, 1.18¢ Douglas, 0.96¢ Franklin, 0.79¢ Leavenworth, 0.61¢ Osage, 0.38¢ Jefferson, 0.31 A rating of 1.00 means the county attracts as many dollars as its residents spend elsewhere. A lower rating means more money goes elsewhere; a higher rating means more money is being made.Source: David Darling, Kansas State University economist