Earlier this year during one of Sand Springs Chamber Open Forums, Mayor Bob Walker posed the question to our community "What are you doing?" All of our community leaders, Mayor Walker, and myself are questioned daily why Sand Springs does not have some of the same shopping opportunities as some of the other communities surrounding Tulsa. In most cases, it is just plain economics.

The question retailers typically ask themselves would be; "Is the risk worth the reward?" Any new business has to take a great deal of risks to open a new site. As a matter of fact, along with their lenders, they have all of the risks. Of course, the reward comes in the customer base they build over time. Some residents believe, "build it and they will come." But, this scenario seems to really only work in the movies.

Most retailers look at the demographics, numbers on paper, for a town. Our community is a little more unique when it comes to only looking at the demographics. Our median income levels and population are well below what most retailers look for in their site locations. However, Sand Springs is unique in several ways. One, it has a great deal of discretionary income at its disposal, which many retailers don't seem to realize. For example, approximately 1/3 of the home owners in Sand Springs do not have a home mortgage payment. I would venture to say that this is not true in Jenks, Bixby, or Owasso. If you are among the 2/3's, like I am, can you imagine what you could do with the money you spend on your house payment each month?

The other factor is the population. While our town can only muster about 18,000 residents on a good demographic number, we have many more thousands of people in the market area. This area includes everything to the west and a lot in the other directions as well. Owasso's retail growth stems from what is called a funnel affect. Owasso caters to potential customers to the north of Tulsa. Sand Springs has this same funnel affect to the west of Tulsa.

Several stores have already recognized this opportunity. Our research indicates that we have some of the top producing retailers in their respective company for the Tulsa Metro area. These include Rib-Crib, McDonalds, Wal-Mart, QuikTrip, and others. Obviously, many of you shop at these locations. But, you also shop at many retailers in the Tulsa Metro area.

The Sand Springs Area Chamber of Commerce is undertaking a grassroots economic development venture for our community. We want you to "do something for Sand Springs." On our website, we have a list of many retailers (click here) in the metro area, along with their contact information. If you shop at any of these, we would like for you to send them an e-mail letting them know of your patronage. Include your desire to possibly have one of their stores located in Sand Springs. All businesses like to receive positive comments and the perception of the opportunity to provide their products to a community of supporters just might be appealing to them. If needed, a sample e-mail (click here) has been provided by us for your use.

Your individual e-mail probably will not initiate a business to rush right out and establish a new site in Sand Springs. However, yours and may others will certainly garner their attention to take a look at our area. This will not be an overnight success. But as many of you know; the answer to "how do you eat an elephant" is "one bite at a time." Who knows, if we have a whole community taking the bites, maybe we can eat an elephant.

Thanx,

J.C. Kinder
President