Canton stepping up efforts to attract retail

By Jodi Schwan

The community of Canton has partnered with a national firm to recruit more retail and will promote the city at this week’s RECON in Las Vegas.

Canton is working with Buxton, a firm that has helped more than 7,500 communities use data-driven insights in economic development.

Canton is about 20 minutes south of Sioux Falls and home to more than 3,000 people.

“Part of what we’re out here for really is just to learn and figure out what we need to be doing to attract retailers,” city manager Amanda Mack said of attending the world’s largest retail real estate convention.

Canton has a Dollar General and a few chain restaurants but little other national retail.

“We’ve identified a host of retailers we feel like would be a good fit for Canton and that Canton would be a good fit for their market, so we have some individual meetings scheduled with those retailers,” Mack said.

“I’m excited for that and terrified at the same time, but it’s really just to learn and get an idea of what we need to do to do a better job of recruiting retail.”

Buxton compiled data showing where business is “leaking” out of Canton to retail in surrounding areas.

“It’s a three-year partnership, so this year they’ve given us 10 retailers they identified as low-hanging fruit, where they have stores in similar communities with similar demographics and trade areas,” Mack said.

If retailers are willing to consider the larger trade area, Canton could draw between 22,000 and 23,000 customers, Buxton has told the city.

“So they don’t really look at Canton proper as just the retail area, but that 20- to 22-minute drive time,” Mack said. “And that makes the population pretty big, really.”

Want to stay in the know?

Get our free business news delivered to your inbox.



Canton stepping up efforts to attract retail

The community of Canton has partnered with a national firm to recruit more retail and will promote the city at this week’s retail real estate convention in Las Vegas.

News Tip

Have a business news item to share with us?

Scroll to top