Myth Busting - Costco & Trader Joe's Coming to Perry

This episode begins a series of myth-busting rumors and perceptions surrounding Perry.

Holly Wharton – City of Perry Economic Development Director – is here to answer one of the most frequently asked questions – Costco and Trader Joe's coming to Perry.

Learn more about the City of Perry Economic Development Department at https://perry-ga.gov/economic-development.

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Visit us at perry-ga.gov.

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Transcript

Tabitha Clark: 0:15

Welcome to the Inside Perry Podcast. Where you get an inside look at Perry Georgia's local government. We're glad you chose Perry, where people make the difference. Whether you stay a few hours or a lifetime, your time in Perry will be rewarding and unforgettable. I'm Tabitha Clark, communications manager for the City of Perry. This episode begins a series of myth busting rumors and perceptions surrounding Perry. Today we have Holly Wharton, City of Perry, Economic Development Director. She's here to answer one of the most frequently asked questions. Costco and Trader Joe's come into Perry. Well, welcome Holly to the Inside Perry podcast. We're so glad that you're here. And today we're talking about economic development, so that can mean several things obviously. So what exactly does, uh, economic development in Perry mean?

Holly Wharton: 1:08

Sure. Well, thank you for having me, Tabitha. So I'm excited to be here and share a little bit about our economic development department here in Perry. Most people probably think that economic development deals with business attraction and retention, and that is very true. I'm here in Perry as well, but within this department there's a few other things that some people may not necessarily always consider to be economic development. So the first one of those is our downtown program. So we have our Main Street Program. My department manages that program in all the reporting and requirements that is needed for that program. We also include our special events division. So a lot of people are familiar with Perry because Food Truck Friday. International festival and all those big events that bring people to our city. And we really like hosting these events because we view events, special events as a quality of life amenity that we provide. And that is a tool for economic development. So related to our special events is our tourism arm, and that is primarily facilitated by the Visit Perry Convention and Visitors Bureau. So I kind of work hand in hand with them though they operate underneath their own board, I do kind of serve as the city's liaison to them. And we work on promoting things happening at the city and the Georgia National Fairgrounds, chamber of commerce, things like that.

Tabitha Clark: 2:33

And the Georgia National Fairgrounds. As we're myth busting today, they are actually not part of the city as operations, correct?

Holly Wharton: 2:42

That's right. The Georgia National Fairgrounds is located within the city's municipal boundaries. However, they kind of operate as their own organization, so, things that are going on at the fairgrounds aren't necessarily related to things that the city's doing.

Tabitha Clark: 2:57

Talking about new business in Perry, we're constantly saying on this podcast, and everywhere we talk about Perry, actually, is about how much our community is growing. So not only does that mean new residents, it means new businesses

Holly Wharton: 3:11

Lot of times. Uh, new commercial development will follow new residential development to be able to support all the new residents. So, um, there's a few different ways you can kind of think about businesses coming to your city. The city could proactively recruit businesses may or may not be effective. It just depends on kind of what we're looking at and what we're trying to go after. Um, but a lot of times the growth will organically happen as national brands or local businesses find an opportunity in our town.

Tabitha Clark: 3:40

Obviously, when you think about like companies, whether they're big or. Even small businesses, they have a lot of different requirements that they have to have to even consider Perry, right?. Holly Wharton: Sure so a lot of national at a lot of different criteria when they're considering a new location. So, That may include a certain population threshold, may include a certain median income for an area, or if there's enough housing available for their, um, for their workers area. Our population is estimated to be about 23,000 right now. Mm-hmm. So we're still a little smaller than some of the bigger cities that get a lot of the new big stores. Right, right. And and it really, I mean, and that's obviously growing like we always say, but, but there's a lot of of things that go into having companies come here. It's not that they don't like Perry, it's just we're not quite there yet with the criteria.

Holly Wharton: 4:38

Sure, that's right. And, and maybe some companies are just expanding in the western portion of the United States and they're not looking in the East. So there's a lot of factors that are entirely out of our control, but we do the best we can to, to welcome newcomers and try to make the process as easy as possible.

Tabitha Clark: 4:55

Okay, so today's episode is, Also about myth busting. So we wanna kind of set the record straight on on a lot of things where people like, is so-and-so coming to Perry? Or I heard, so you know, this certain business is coming, so we are here to set the record straight. Right? We get the um, is this true question all the time, even though we've told several, several people that know it's not true, it's still circulating and I think people are just hoping so. That's right. Um, so let's go through the first myth that we're going to bust today. Costco,

Holly Wharton: 5:28

Costco. Oh, wouldn't that be great?

Tabitha Clark: 5:30

It would be great. But I mean, the money that I would spend if it was here. So I kind of have a love hate idea with this.

Holly Wharton: 5:37

Yeah. You and me both. Um, so I guess I will bust that one. Uh, right now. And say that no cos Costco is not coming to Perry, or at least not right now. So, um, looking at Costco's website, you can find a list of future locations that they're opening here in the coming future. And based on that list, they're, um, primarily expanding in the Western United States. Mm. With new locations coming to Arizona, Colorado, and Oklahoma. And they also seem to be expanding in the, um, Asian market with a couple of locations going in China and Japan.

Tabitha Clark: 6:15

So we might have to go a little far for the new Costcos, right?

Holly Wharton: 6:18

We might.

Tabitha Clark: 6:19

That's okay. Well, we will keep hoping because it all, it could always change, right?

Holly Wharton: 6:23

That's right.

Tabitha Clark: 6:24

That's right. So no Costco, at least right now. So another favorite, um, that keeps getting brought up is Trader Joe's. Do you have any good news for me there?

Holly Wharton: 6:35

Unfortunately, I do not have good news about Trader Joe's, though I would be the biggest supporter of Trader Joe's coming to Perry. Um, so just doing some research on this company, on Trader Joe's and their expansion strategies. And so while they don't have any specific criteria outlined on their website, there's been some research done that has found that their median income in counties with a Trader Joe's is typically $10,000. Above average. Mm. Okay. So if we think about that, trader Joe's are typically located in very high income cities. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, I know there's one in Buckhead. It's a little tricky here. So just looking at Perry's median income, it's in the mid 60,000 range. The US median income is about 70,000, so we're a little bit behind in the median income criteria for Trader Joe's. Okay? So not right

Tabitha Clark: 7:32

now.

Holly Wharton: 7:32

Not right now, but there's hope.

Tabitha Clark: 7:34

Oh, okay. What you got?

Holly Wharton: 7:36

Yeah. So, um, on Trader Joe's website there is a location request page where you can enter your city for, um, consideration for future Trader Joe's location. So I have already done that for Perry.

Tabitha Clark: 7:50

So there you go.? There's one.

Holly Wharton: 7:51

There's one. We've got our fingers crossed. We'll see if they get in touch with me.

Tabitha Clark: 7:56

So if you're listening and you want a Trader Joe's, you go to the Trader Joe's website and just. Click, type in Perry and click on it several times and maybe we can get like a whole bunch of Perry in there.

Holly Wharton: 8:07

Yeah, well round the troops.

Tabitha Clark: 8:08

All right. Awesome. I love it. I love it. So basically, so nothing on the big front right now, but we do have several uh, you know, smaller businesses that are continuing to come into Perry, like you said, downtown is booming. We're also seeing a lot of booming, um, around Perry Parkway right outside the, the main hub of the city. So even though we're not getting a Costco right now, or a Trader Joe's right now, uh, we're still seeing a lot of good quality restaurants retail specialty services that are coming to Perry.

Holly Wharton: 8:41

That's right. The, uh, Perry Parkway corridor is gonna continue to develop with high quality commercial there, with new, um, food service coming soon. Um, and downtown Perry is always gonna be the jewel that it is and we get interest almost daily in something new, um, looking for, um, property or opportunities in downtown Perry. So as we have space available, we're gonna be looking to put new businesses in there.

Tabitha Clark: 9:07

Absolutely, so Holly, tell us how, if people are interested in starting a new business or just have general economic development questions, how do they get in touch with you?

Holly Wharton: 9:15

Yeah, so you are welcome to call me or email me at any time. My contact info is on our website and I'm happy to meet with you anytime.

Tabitha Clark: 9:23

Awesome. Sounds good. And we'll also put that in the show notes for people that are looking. So Holly, keep doing an awesome job by helping the City of Perry not only grow residential, but also economically and with our business community. And not only bringing in new business, but supporting those businesses that are already here and thriving.

Holly Wharton: 9:42

That's right. We have some great businesses here in Perry and. It's my job to help keep them happy and keep them around for a long time.. Tabitha Clark: Well, I think you're for joining us and we look forward to the new and, and establishing growth.

. Holly Wharton: 9:55

That's right. And we'll, we'll let you know if we hear anything from.

Tabitha Clark: 9:58

Thanks for listening to Inside Perry, your inside. Look at Perry's local government. Take a look at the show notes for more information about today's episode. If you'd like inside Perry, we encourage you to subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family. We'd also love for you to leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. We look forward to seeing you around in our amazing community. Where Georgia comes together.