Target: 300 miles.
That’s the maximum number of miles that any Braum’s store can be from the Braum Family Farm in Tuttle, Oklahoma, said Amanda Beuchaw, public relations director for the company.
Abilene’s distance? Just over 270 miles.
But that doesn’t mean the chain’s famous ice cream and hamburgers are coming here, at least not for the foreseeable future.
The 300-mile limit is so that delivery trucks can make their route in a single day, making the trip every other day, to make sure the store’s products are fresh, Beauchaw said.
“We just haven’t gotten out that far west yet,” she said. “It is a possibility, but I know we’re not looking at any locations in that (area).”
In addition to location, real estate, restrictions and a city’s “vetting process” for new businesses play a deep role in whether or not Braum’s chooses to come to a location, she said. All Braum’s stores are family-owned, not franchised.
“It has to be a perfect storm usually as far as the property and regulations as far as placing a business in a city,” Beauchaw said.
While Abilene has seen its fair share of chain restaurants and stores come to town, there's always the possibility for more. And while some highly-wished-for chains like Chipotle do eventually come to town, others at the moment remain only possibilities.
When the Reporter-News asked what Abilene needed, readers responded with a variety of their favorite restaurants and stores found in other cities. Popular restaurants named often were Applebee's, Panera Bread, Braum's, Cheddar's, B.J.'s Restaurant and Brewhouse, Torchy's Tacos, Alamo Draft House, and Chuy's, just to name a few.
On the retail side, stores mentioned most often wereSuper Target, Costco, Trader Joe's, Cabela's, another H-E-B or a Central Market, ALDI and a Burlington Store. Burlington has announced it was opening a store in Abilene next year.
Factoring in
DougPeters, president and CEO of the Abilene Chamber of Commerce, said that retailers and restaurants, look for critical mass, “rooftops” and other demographic factors like household income in the market before coming to a particular area.
“Many times, those national chains know the markets and have long-term location strategies, usually based on shareholder expectations,” Peters said.
Kent Sharp, CEO of Abilene’s DCOA, said that that most major chains often claim they "know your city better than you know your city,” something that he said he’s been told by many corporate real estate people at such companies.
“Bean counters have big ol' spreadsheets with dozens of data points — per capital income, average household income, population, poverty rate, ethnicity, etc.,” Sharp said. “When those metrics satisfy the decision to locate, the business is coming to town.”
Conversely, if those metrics do not meet the company's model, “you can't incentivize the company with enough dollars to come to town — generally speaking,” he said.
“There are exceptions to the rule obviously, but those are fairly rare,” he said.
Joseph Fackel, executive vice president for Alabama-based Retail Strategies, said that in addition to the challenges presented by demographics, co-tenancy is a “critical input” – defined as the other retailers and restaurants within or adjacent to a site being considered that drive traffic and promote cross shopping.
Access, signage and visibility are other factors, he said.
“The retail/restaurant industry is incredibly volatile at this moment in time with changing demographics, cannibalization of existing stores, online shopping (not as big an issue as most think in terms of brick and mortar expansion), changing customer tastes and shopping patterns and concepts that have not adapted to those changing tastes,” Fackel wrote in an email.
Concepts that have failed to adapt can easily be seenin the casual dining segment, he said.
Applebee's, for example – is “getting clobbered by fast casual concepts such as Chipotle,” he said.
“The other major deal killer is the economics of the real estate component,” Fackel said. “Is the rent appropriate for the square footage and condition of the shopping center? Is the price of the land in line with the market? Is a property owner willing to sub-divide large tracts for development?”
While the topography in Abilene is conducive to development (for example, it is fairly flat), there are places where the topography renders sites useless or too expensive to develop because of high site preparation costs.
“There are a million different ways for a transaction to go south,” he said.
The Perfect Storm
The list of requirements for a chain to come to a specific area can be lengthy and somewhat byzantine.
One franchise some would like to see come to Abilene is Panera Bread, the popular bakery-café.
But its franchising restrictions make it highly unlikely to ever come to Abilene.
According to the company’s website, franchisees must be ready to adhere to an “aggressive development schedule,” developing market areas that require the franchisee to open 15 bakery-cafes, typically, in a period of six years.
Applicants must meet other stringent criteria, including experience as a multi-unit restaurant operator, a net worth of $7.5 million, liquid assets of $3 million, infrastructure and resources to meet the development schedule, real estate experience in the market to be developed, while being a “cultural fit” and having a “passion for fresh bread.”
Applebee's, another popular chain, generally wants franchisees to build multiple restaurants within a defined area within a defined period – usually three at a minimum.
Popular competing grocery chain ALDI looks at a familiar litany of factors – population density, proximity to competition and traffic patterns – in determining where it would like to place stores, said Scott Huska, ALDI Denton Division vice president.
“We want to be conveniently located in vibrant shopping areas for our customers,” Huska said.
The company does not currently have a specific site in mind for Abilene, he said, but right now it is looking in “all the major cities in North Texas.”
The rising demand for ALDI is fueling significant expansion, he said. By the end of 2018 there will be nearly 2,000 ALDI stores coast to coast, he said, with 1,600 stores in 35 states presently serving more than 40 million customers a month. The closest store to Abilene is in Brownwood. Another is in Wichita Falls.
And while many have longed for a second H-E-B location in Abilene, often on the south side of town, the Texas-based chain remains coy about its plans here.
H-E-B is “continually evaluating opportunities to serve customers across Texas" but has no plans for a second store here at this time, said Julie Bedingfield, who simply added that the decision is governed by “many factors.”
Megan Boyd, a member of Target’s public relationsteam, similarly said that the chain is currently focused on key growth markets and college campuses, growth markets being mostly major metropolitan areas.
Abilene’s store is being renovated, she said, with the enhancements to be completed by May.
“The remodel includes a new Starbucks, updates to our apparel department, as well as new lighting, fixtures and paint throughout the store,” Boyd said.
While those chains may or may not ever come to Abilene or expand here, Beauchaw gave some passingly small, but not totally unrealistic, hope that someday fans of the Braum'smeaty burgers or Cappuccino Chunky Chocolate ice cream may have their day.
Typically, city councilmen or other entities that watch real estate locations in a community “contact our real estate department and let them know” about potentially good locations.
It’s no guarantee, she said.
“But it’s the best way to get an ear as far as our business,” she said.
So perhaps someday, maybe those 270-odd miles will be just enough.
