Reno Businesses - Some Closing, Some Opening

Businesses open and close every day in the Truckee Meadows, but most of those in the closing column seem to be bigger and more numerous those in the opening column. Plunging sales tax figures bear this out and a casual drive around town reveals a picture of emply store fronts and For Lease signs just about everywhere you look. The retail vacancy rate is around 15%, which is likely to go higher before it turns around. Washoe County unemployment is still 13% - those people aren't going to be boosting consumer spending any time soon.

Big business closings recently announced include a Safeway in south Reno and the Sports Authority store in Sparks. Preceding them over the last few months - Circuit City, Good Guys, CompUSA, Linens 'n Things, Gottschalks, Mervyns, Silver Club Casino, Bill's Lake Tahoe Casino, and probably more I don't know about. Small local businesses biting the dust include Dreamer's Coffeehouse, Cavanaugh's Furniture, Sasha's Boutique, Brickhouse Bakery, La Bussola, Etnyre Jewelers, and Heart of Reno Wedding Chapel, among others. New stuff open or expanding - Port of Subs, Subway, Olde Bridge Pub, Wild River Grille and Silver Peak are both growing, La Famiglia Italian Restaurant is moving into a new building, and The Knitting Factory opened a new concert venue in downtown Reno on New Year's Eve.

Most prominent in the opening column among big projects is the Legends at Sparks Marina. This shopping and entertainment complex, which formally opened in June, 2009, is home to dozens of new stores, restaurants, and nightspots. Scheels, the center's big anchor store, is reportedly doing well. The Legends has some big bucks behind it for advertising and promotion, but even so, how many of the tenants survive over time remains to be seen.

Source: Reno Gazette-Journal, NAI Alliance Commercial Real Estate Services.

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