By Ken Alltucker
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Some cities aren't waiting for chain retailers to leave. Instead, they're evaluating retail trends to guard against business churn.

The city of Springdale, for instance, is home to the 1.3 million-square-foot Tri-County Mall, Greater Cincinnati's largest. There's another 3.2 million square feet of non-mall shop space in Springdale and Sharonville, according to Grubb & Ellis West Shell Commercial.

Even though it's the largest retail destination in Greater Cincinnati, the city has embarked on a comprehensive retail study to freshen its look and offerings.

Springdale will pay $10,000 to Cincinnati-based Marketing Developments Inc. for an analysis of the city's retail-driven economic base. Recommendations could include new signs or a better gateway look.

"We're doing this to stay current and retain our market share," Beth Stiles, Springdale's economic development director, said.

Springdale has faced the problem of empty big-box stores. Grubb & Ellis reports that the vacancy rate of Sharonville and Springdale combined (excluding Tri-County Mall) is 15.3 percent, higher than Greater Cincinnati's overall 10.5 percent vacancy rate.

A big contributor to the vacancy rate is empty shops at the Kemper Commons center facing Interstate 275, according to Dave Ebbesmeyer of Grubb & Ellis. The shopping center's mammoth 300,000-square-foot Roberds Grand store has been empty for years, though Ashley Furniture recently announced it would take a 72,000-square-foot chunk of that space.

The 130,000-square-foot Great Outdoors shop also has been vacant.

Stiles said it's "always a concern" that other cities might poach Springdale's shops, but Springdale leaders think that the city's retail base remains strong with annual sales of about $1.3 billion.

"The effort in Springdale is to be proactive to make the recruitment and the shaping of the community a planned effort rather than a reactionary effort," said Stan Eichelbaum, president of Marketing Developments.

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E-mail kalltucker@enquirer.com