Retail Space In South Fort Collins Filling Up

New tenants plan to move into two long-vacant big-box stores at Harmony Road and College Avenue, boosting one of Fort Collins' major intersections and filling some of the city's 800,000 square feet of empty retail space.

Harbor Freight Tools, a longtime tenant at 105 W. Prospect Road, has signed a lease for about half the former Circuit City building, or about 14,000 square feet, on the northeast corner of Harmony Road and College Avenue. The move doubles its retail footprint and provides more visibility, said Realtor Debbie Tamlin with SullivanHayes Commercial Real Estate in Fort Collins.

Sitting empty behind Circuit City is Linens 'N Things, which closed in December 2008 when its parent company went bankrupt.

A national retailer is interested in signing a lease for much of that building, according to David Spriggs, a Realtor with Legend Retail Group of Denver, which is marketing the building. Spriggs declined to name the store.

"We've picked our horse ,and we're going with it," Spriggs said.

Harbor Freight will occupy about half of its building, leaving 14,000 square feet vacant at the Circuit City site.

Tamlin has a second retailer interested in sharing the building with Harbor Freight, although there is no signed lease yet, she said.

The move to one of the city's busiest and recently reconstructed intersections with more than 70,000 cars passing by each day is part of Harbor Freight's new business model intended to compete with home-improvement stores Lowe's and Home Depot, Tamlin said.

"They have not been a drive-by location that people think to stop and see what they have," Tamlin said.

Harbor Freight, tucked next to Chuck E Cheese at College Avenue and Prospect Road, "was more of a destination location," Tamlin said.

The new location "will give them a higher presence of mind that they're here in Fort Collins. They didn't get that before. You saw it if you took your kids to Chuck E Cheese, but that's not the time to think about buying a new drill."

If Legend Retail nabs a new tenant for Linens 'N Things, it will help fill a large percentage of retail space that has languished unoccupied for almost two years and boost retail activity at the intersection that has suffered under the weight of three large, empty buildings including Walmart, Circuit City and Linens 'N Things.

"Getting any of that vacant space retenanted along College is only going to have positive effects," said Josh Birks, the city's economic adviser. "Harbor Freight is the shifting of one place to another, so it's not as positive as some of the other national tenants considering the space, but filling vacant space ... can only do good things."

The Harmony/College intersection is a key component of the recent midtown corridor study that looked at redevelopment opportunities along College Avenue from Prospect Road to Harmony Road.

BY PAT FERRIER • PatFerrier@coloradoan.com • October 19, 2010

September Retail Sales Rise For Third Consecutive Month

Washington, D.C. ( October 15, 2010 ) The Commerce Department reported Friday that retail sales rose 0.6% in September, the third month in a row of sales gains. In August, sales rose 0.7%, the biggest advance since March.

Excluding autos, sales rose 0.4% in September after a 1% August gain. Auto sales, which had fallen 0.5% in August, rose 1.6% in September, the best showing since March.

The furniture category had a strong showing, as furniture retail sales rose 0.5%, the best showing since July. Electronic and appliance stores posted a 1.5% rise, the best since February. Sales at hardware stores rose 0.6%, the biggest increase since April.

Sales at general merchandise stores, which includes department stores and the big discounters such as Wal-Mart and Target, were flat in September. But the zero gain followed a 0.5% jump in August, which had been fueled by back-to-school shopping and discounting by many retailers.

Sales at specialty clothing stores dropped 0.2% in August after posting a 0.5% rise in July.

Even with the solid overall gain in September, economists remain concerned that consumer spending will not rebound until households have the income growth to spend at a faster pace. And the income growth will not come until businesses start hiring back laid-off workers at a faster pace.

Unemployment has been at or above 9.5% for a year and two months, the longest stretch since the Great Depression.

Retail sees promise - Strong September sales bode well for important holiday season

By Mae Anderson
The Associated Press

NEW YORK» Americans proved in September they are willing to spend, as long as the price and the product are right. Stores including Abercrombie & Fitch, Limited Brands and Macy’s posted strong September sales figures, helped by customers lured to malls by back-to-school discounting. That strength was partly offset by erratic weather in the last week of the month, including a heat wave on the West Coast and tropical storms on the East Coast.

The results are a positive sign that shoppers will be willing to spend during the upcoming holiday season. “I think the doom and gloom that many of us anticipated for the quarter appears unfounded,” said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Richard Jaffe. “Credit goes to the U.S. consumer and the U.S. retailer for sleuthing out what she wants and giving it to her.”

The International Council of Shopping Centers’ index of September retail sales rose 2.6 percent, near the low end of its forecast that ranged from 2.5 percent to 3 percent growth.

But the number is stronger than it appears, since retailers were up against year-ago results that were the first positive numbers in a year, making comparisons more difficult.

Mike Niemira, ICSC director of research and chief economist, said he expects holiday sales to rise 3 percent to 3.5 percent, slightly better than results in September, which is the third-largest sales month in terms of volume.

Still, results remain moderate compared with pre-recession performance. Analysts do not expect any major sales surge until unemployment, housing and consumer-confidence sectors markedly improve.

“Our holiday projections are not for a gangbuster season,” Niemira said.
A hot August and a late Labor Day helped push more back-to-school sales into the month.
In Denver, some young shoppers acknowledged that they had postponed some of their back-to-school purchases.

Breanna Seaton, a student at East High School, said she waited because there tend to be more sales in September.

Outside Forever 21 in downtown Denver, other shoppers agreed. “I’ve been barely starting to get stuff for school,” said Claudia Adame, a college student in Denver.

Nationally, top performers were stores that offered attractive prices or unique items that consumers feel are “must-haves.” Bright spots included teen retailers and luxury stores.