A Pottery Barn Kids fits in the Main Street core.
And so does an establishment under the banner of Hard Rock hotels and casinos.
Several grocery chains also could work.
A committee is studying possibilities for the future of the Main Street district and Park City leaders recently received a written update of the work that includes those brands and others. The update includes numerous concepts for Main Street and Swede Alley.
A consultant hired to assist with the study issued the written update, including a section titled “Missing Assets.” The consultant used data from cellphones for what is known as a void analysis, resulting in a list of missing assets in the Main Street core. The consultant crafted a list of what are collectively referred to as “Recommended Businesses by Relative Fit.”
City Hall described the void analysis in a statement saying the data from cellphones was used “to track visitation patterns, source of visits, and the demographics of visitors. The tool reveals relative fits for different kinds of future businesses located on specific geographic sites that we wish to study.”
The list, ranked by scoring:
- Pottery Barn Kids
- Woodman’s Market
- Ballard Designs
- Market Basket
- Hard Rock Hotels and Casinos
- Wegmans
- King Soopers
- Tom Thumb
- Market Street
- City Market
“While this tool identifies national businesses, many of which are chains, the consultant team used this information to identify appropriate business types to add to the study area and does not recommend the specific addition of many chains,” the update says.
Resistance would be likely if there ever were an effort to attract a clutch of national or regional chains like those on the list. There has generally appeared to be a desire for decades at City Hall, and among rank-and-file Parkites, for the Main Street core’s makeup of businesses to be weighted toward locally owned or otherwise unique businesses. The municipal government limits the number of chain franchises allowed on the shopping, dining and entertainment strip.
Although some could ultimately see benefits of a grocery store on or just off Main Street that could cater to Old Town residents, the Main Street workforce and visitors, other businesses on the list like Pottery Barn Kids and Hard Rock Hotels and Casinos could spur wider questions about what the community desires for the future of the street.
The discussions about Main Street are slated to continue in coming months, and the extent of any upcoming talks about the list of businesses is not known.
City Hall said in a prepared statement the overall goal of the work “is to take a holistic look at Main Street and its immediate surroundings and plan for the next 10 to 50 years.”
The municipal government said it wants to preserve the character of Main Street and enhance the vibrancy of the economy, among other goals.