Bad news for the Richmond retail industry: It’s shrinking.
Richmond saw the largest one-year decline in retail jobs out the 100 largest metro areas, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The number of retail jobs fell 6.22 percent over the past year, according to the data, which was analyzed by the Charlotte Business Journal.
As of June 2011, there were 61,800 retail jobs in the Richmond metro area.
The number of retail jobs in Richmond also fell over a five-year period, by a factor of 8.31 percent, coming in at 75th on the list.
Elsewhere in the state, the Virginia Beach-Norfolk metro area also showed poorly. As of June, the area had 79,900 retail jobs, a 13.34 percent decline over five years (rank: 96) and a 5.44 percent decline over a one-year period (rank: 99).
Only 14 markets saw positive growth in retail jobs over the past five years. Over the past year, 62 metro areas had positive growth.
A complete database is available via the Charlotte Business Journal.
Bad news for the Richmond retail industry: It’s shrinking.
Richmond saw the largest one-year decline in retail jobs out the 100 largest metro areas, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The number of retail jobs fell 6.22 percent over the past year, according to the data, which was analyzed by the Charlotte Business Journal.
As of June 2011, there were 61,800 retail jobs in the Richmond metro area.
The number of retail jobs in Richmond also fell over a five-year period, by a factor of 8.31 percent, coming in at 75th on the list.
Elsewhere in the state, the Virginia Beach-Norfolk metro area also showed poorly. As of June, the area had 79,900 retail jobs, a 13.34 percent decline over five years (rank: 96) and a 5.44 percent decline over a one-year period (rank: 99).
Only 14 markets saw positive growth in retail jobs over the past five years. Over the past year, 62 metro areas had positive growth.
A complete database is available via the Charlotte Business Journal.
Business follows rooftops and if you don’t provide rooftops, business doesn’t come. Or stay. The building industry has been telling Richmond officials this for years as they’ve driven business away and they simply refuse to believe it. Here’s proof. Anyone think they’ll listen?
I think we’ve known for a while that Richmond has had too much retail space in comparison to the metro size. Just another necessary correction before we see stability and/or growth again IMO.
Richmond has been WAY over-retailed for far too long. It’s about time there is some downsizing.