“Big Box” Stores and Steamboat: A Blessing or a Curse?
Last week, the Steamboat Springs newspaper conducted a survey about bringing “big box” stores like Home Depot, Target, and Costco to the Yampa Valley. The results were pretty evenly split. Half want them, half think they will wreck Routt County.
Steamboat Springs is a unique place. Travel today has become so homogenized that you can eat at the same restaurant, shop at the same stores, and buy the same products whether you are in Des Moines, Albuquerque, or Baltimore.
Well, you can’t do that in Steamboat Springs, and that is what visitors love about our valley. We may have eight Starbucks, but we don’t have a mall. If you want clothes, choices are cowboy wear from FM Light and Sons, outdoor wear and fleece, Norwegian sweaters at Moose Mountain, Under Armor and bike shorts. Need shoes? You better like Dansko, Merrill, and Born.
And there lies the problem.
Shopping in Steamboat is a distance sport. Target is 90 miles away. Costco and Home Depot are 90 miles in another direction. The nearest real mall is in Denver.
Our local economy is financed by a sales tax, as is a portion of our school budget.
Not having larger stores takes taxes from Steamboat Springs and lets places like Avon and Silverthorne build bike paths and community centers from the money every single person I know spends out of town.
Balancing small town appeal with the need for sales tax revenue is a problem many resort towns in Colorado are facing.
Eagle, Colorado, for example, may be getting a large shopping area with big-box stores called Eagle River Station. It is a huge complex that will require a new exit off of I-70 and will include a large anchor store, five smaller “big box” stores, a school, and over 400 homes.
One of the reasons for building the shopping center is for the $1-$2 million in sales tax revenue. Colorado has low real estate taxes, and Eagle (being a residential bedroom community of Vail) doesn’t generate enough income to sustain the town.
As the population of Routt County increases, especially west of Steamboat with Steamboat 700, the need for shopping options will increase. We’ll see how the town council decides to balance Steamboat’s charm vs. lost sales tax revenue.
Posted: March 31st, 2008 under Community Events.
Comments: 3
Comments
Comment from Jay
Time: March 31, 2008, 8:32 pm
We just spent ~$600 in Silverthorne this past weekend. I would have gladly spent the money here but Steamboat doesn’t have the retail options our family needs.
Comment from Eliese Pivarnik
Time: April 2, 2008, 3:50 pm
I agree, Jay. I have three kids, and Steamboat is limited as to what they offer. Everyone I know combines sports trips (like the track meet in Eagle this weekend, or hockey games in Denver) with shopping trips.
Comment from Mike Varoz
Time: April 8, 2008, 6:11 pm
Eliese,
Because we do real estate in resort towns we often see both side of the fence; as it were. I know we have these same issues here in Summit County, Utah. As Park City continues to grow in popularity outlining towns like Heber, Midway and the Kamas Valley see changes in their future and not all are welcome. Park City’s battle is to stop (or allow) our Wal-Mart from growing to a Super Wal-Mart. It seems the battle never ends.
Although our town has continued to grow - I am proud that programs like Park City Leadership (parkcityleadership.org) reminds us that change is going to happen, but consideration must be given to what is lost when Western Resort Towns give up the idenity that makes them loved. Local’s suffer, in more ways than just losing the idenity of the town.
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