(Click on the image for the briefing)
- Too many shopping centers (241) in county and too many are strip/convenience or neighborhood type.
- Too much inventory suppresses rent and encourages "Mom & Pop" stores to move to better centers.
- Lower-end stores at better centers discourage higher-end shoppers from shopping there and higher-end stores from moving there.
- The lack of higher-end retail causes consumers to spend $1.4 billion annually out of the county. That's the cost of MGM National Harbor!
- Response from local officials: Retail location decisions are made by private enterprise, not government. Fort Washington has the demand and the income but not the population density to attract higher-end retail.