A Pottery Barn Kids fits into the core of Main Street.
And the same goes for a facility under the Hard Rock Hotels and Casinos banner.
Several grocery chains could also work.
A committee is studying options for the future of the Main Street district, and Park City officials recently received a written update of the work that includes these and other brands. The update includes numerous concepts for Main Street and Swede Alley.
A consultant hired for the study issued the written update, including a section titled “Missing Assets.” The consultant used cell phone data for what is called a gap analysis, which resulted in a list of missing assets in the core of Main Street. The consultant created a list of what is collectively referred to as “Recommended Businesses by Relative Suitability.”
City Hall described the gap analysis in a statement, saying that the cell phone data was used “to track visitation patterns, visitation sources and visitor demographics. The tool shows relative matches for different types of future businesses in specific geographic locations that we want to investigate.”
The list, sorted by score:
- Pottery Barn Kids
- Woodmans Market
- Ballard Designs
- Market basket
- Hard Rock Hotels and Casinos
- Wegmans
- King Soopers
- Thumbling
- Market Street
- City Market
“Although this tool identifies national businesses, which are often chains, the advisory team has used this information to identify appropriate business types to add to the study area and does not recommend the specific inclusion of many chains,” the update said.
Should an attempt to attract a number of national or regional chains like those on the list ever occur, resistance would be likely. There seems to have been a desire for decades in City Hall and among rank-and-file Parkites to have the business fabric of Main Street shaped by local or otherwise unique businesses. City government limits the number of chains allowed on the shopping, dining and entertainment strip.
While some ultimately see benefits in having a grocery store on or near Main Street that could serve Old Town residents, the workforce and Main Street visitors, other businesses on the list, such as Pottery Barn Kids and Hard Rock Hotels and Casinos, may raise broader questions about what the community wants for the street’s future.
Discussions about Main Street are expected to continue in the coming months. The scope of any upcoming discussions about the list of companies is unknown.
City Hall said in a prepared statement that the overall goal of the work is to “take a holistic look at Main Street and its immediate surroundings and make plans for the next 10 to 50 years.”
The city administration said it wanted to, among other things, preserve the character of Main Street and increase economic dynamism.
