Retailers don't expand on enthusiasm — they expand on evidence. We help South Carolina communities and economic development teams recruit the retail their residents want by giving prospective retailers exactly what their real estate committees ask for: a credible trade area read and a sales forecast that shows a store here would perform. The same research the retailer would run on your community themselves — done first, and done right.
Communities tend to recruit retail by selling themselves — quality of life, available sites, a strong story about where the area is headed. All of it true, and none of it the thing a retailer's real estate team actually evaluates first. They evaluate the customer base: is there enough of the right demand, in the right place, to support a store that hits their numbers?
When a community can't answer that question with data, the conversation ends before it starts. Retail leakage — residents driving to the next community to shop because the options aren't local — is the clearest sign the demand exists and is simply going unmet. Proving that gap is where recruitment is won.
We define the real trade area for a corridor or site and quantify the demand inside it — including the leakage that shows where residents are spending outside the community today. That is the evidence a retailer needs to see local demand it isn't yet capturing.
.For the specific retailers a community wants, we can model what a store would actually sell here, using the gravity-model methodology those retailers use internally — historically within roughly 5 percent of actual performance. A forecast turns a recruitment pitch into a business case.
We identify which categories a community can realistically support and which gaps are fillable, so recruitment effort goes toward retailers that will actually say yes — not a wish list.
We deliver the work in a form your team can put directly in front of a retailer or a developer, so your community shows up to the conversation already speaking the retailer's language.
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Most of our community engagements run in coordination with the economic development relationships already in place — the South Carolina Department of Commerce, the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, the Upstate SC Alliance, the Central SC Alliance, the North Eastern Strategic Alliance, and the SouthernCarolina Alliance, among the regional partners across the state. These organizations do broad, excellent attraction work. We add the specialized retail research layer underneath it — the trade area studies and sales forecasts that retail real estate decisions specifically turn on. We complement that work; we don't duplicate it. You can read more about the underlying research methodology.
Updated June 2026 — South Carolina's growth is creating recruitment opportunities faster than communities can document them. Sustained in-migration into the Lowcountry, the Upstate, and the I-77 corridor means resident demand is building in places where retail supply hasn't caught up — and the community that can prove that demand first gets the store. Fast-growing communities around Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, the Grand Strand, and the York County corridor are especially well-positioned, but the same dynamic is playing out in smaller communities where leakage to a neighboring market is the whole story.
The communities winning retail right now aren't the ones with the best pitch. They're the ones that show up with the evidence.
We work with community leaders and economic development teams across South Carolina — from larger metros building a corridor strategy to smaller communities trying to land a first grocery anchor or fill a specific gap. Engagements range from a single corridor study to ongoing recruitment research support. The common thread is giving the community a research-grade case that a retailer will actually act on.
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As Business Development Director at CRE-360, Sarah applies a results-driven, collaborative approach to driving growth, strengthening client relationships, and expanding new business opportunities. Sarah brings 18+ years of diversified real estate experience. Holding an MRED from George Mason University and her broker licenses in both Virginia and Florida, she has led brokerage operations, managed multifamily and commercial assets, and supported national brands with market research, site selection, and leasing strategy.
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