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FLATHEADBEACON.COM NOVEMBER 26, 2014 | 33
BUSINESSMONTHLY Where Does
RETAIL
Retail Go Next?
As developers continue to snap up land on Highway 93 North, major retail businesses may have to branch out to new areas
BY MOLLY PRIDDY
In business, there’s always the question of supply and demand – does a customer have a need for a product, and if so, is there enough of the product to meet that need?
Supply and demand applies to many of the aspects in the busi- ness world, and in Kalispell, the demand for land in the north side of town is high, while the supply is steadily dwindling.
Kalispell’s north end is dominated by large national chain stores packed in on either side of U.S. Highway 93, a booming, bustling retail center in the Flathead Valley.
In the last year, multiple major businesses cut ribbons and opened their doors to the public. Michaels, an arts and crafts store, along with PetsMart, MacKenzie River Grill and Pub, Boot Barn, Ulta and Verizon
have filled in the storefront spaces around the Cabela’s Outpost. A Chick-Fil-A restaurant is also expected to open.
Other major anchor stores include Costco, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes and Target, and like a gravitational force, these major business- es draw other retailers to the same area.
The activity has effectively produced a retail boom, but the lack of land in the same area has planners and real estate professionals look- ing at where development will go next, once all of 93 North is full.
Tom Jentz, planning director for Kalispell, said the space around Cabela’s is “all but spoken for,” and the same company that developed
See Retail PAGE 35
Kalispell’s north side.
GREG LINDSTROM FLATHEAD BEACON