There is No "Store of Stores"
"When are we getting a _________?"
I get a lot of questions that go like this, “When are we going to get a _____?”, or “Why did you let [insert business] open up there?”
I wanted to demystify this a little bit today.
A version of this was also published in the Simpsonville Sentinel in 2023.
Many people tend to think that “the city” (any city) picks and chooses who opens up shop in their city limits. And while of course a city has a vested interest in advocating for a healthy business economy to meet the needs of its community - there is no “Store of Stores” that cities have access to where they can pick anything they want for their town. Instead, it’s a balancing act - property rights, community vision, the free market, existing laws, and the appropriate size and reach of government.
All commercial entities, and especially household names, look at a few things when they decide to locate somewhere - number of people nearby, traffic counts, demographic data, land, and other factors. If the right number of people live in a certain radius and they have the spending power needed for that particular business to make a profit, then that business will often look at opening up a shop around those people. At that point, they begin looking at properties that meet size, location, and price specifications for their store. There are other factors of course too - competition, ability to finance, etc - but related to selecting a property, those are the bare bones.
In order for things to move forward from there, someone has to sell their land to the business. The City does not own every piece of land in the city limits that currently is vacant - private citizens or companies do, and they do not, and should not, need the City’s permission to sell their property.
None of these things involve the City’s legal authority - it is all the free market. The City’s authority enters this conversation only in the context of laws - zoning laws in particular.
If a property is already zoned commercial, it is the owner’s right to build whatever is allowed under that zoning. If the zoning needs to be changed though, or a variance is needed from one of our building codes - then the Planning Commission, Board of Zoning Appeals, City Council, or a mixture thereof, do get involved and decisions are made.
For example - when Starbucks came to Fountain Inn a couple of years ago, they selected a property that was already zoned Commercial. They didn’t need any City Council approval, though they did need a variance for their sign which was granted by our Board of Zoning Appeals.
Fun fact - around that time, Starbucks actually changed their “corporate formula” to expand into smaller markets. That’s why you saw a couple of Starbucks open up around Fountain Inn, Laurens, Clinton, and other pockets of the area in 2022-2024.
Aside from approving, or not approving, rezoning requests or variances, the City also can change the zoning laws themselves. Fountain Inn has done this along Highway 418 in our “418 Overlay District” (a “bonus” set of zoning laws specific for just that corridor). For instance, in 2021 we made a change to only allow things like gas stations and car washes if they are 2,000 feet apart from the same use. The effect? The new QT and Big Dan’s Car Wash are the last gas station and (only) car wash you’ll see on that side of the interstate on 418, unless the law is changed.
So the next time you drive by a vacant lot and think, “Why doesn’t the City put a ______ here?”, remember that there is no “Store of Stores”, there’s a free market, zoning laws, and property rights - all on that one site.
These posts are super helpful GP. I only wish more of our citizens would read and understand.