136
THE COUNTY ECONOMY
PLANNING ISSUE
With a full supply or
oversupply of retail space,
older shopping centers and
highway commercial areas will
need to reinvent themselves.
Jobs of County Residents
Jobs in the County
County Businesses
Downtown and Main Street Areas
Office, Industrial, and
Brownfield Areas
Retail Commercial Areas
Tourism
Agriculture and Farm
Preservation
Employment Forecasts and
Economic Trends
What’s New
Retailing in Montgomery County has continued evolving:
•
The Plymouth Meeting Mall and King of Prussia
Malls have added restaurant clusters, while the
Montgomery Mall and Plymouth Meeting Mall have
added supermarkets. In New Jersey, the Echelon
Mall has been reinvented with the addition of a main
street, apartments, offices, and other uses.
•
Retail along the Route 422 Corridor exploded over
the past decade, when over 4,000,000 square feet of
space was added. The more notable new centers
include the Philadelphia Premium Outlets, the area’s
first suburban outlet center, the Providence Town
Center, a main-street style lifestyle center, and
Upland Square, a power center.
•
The food business has changed. Old standbys
Clemens and Genuardi’s are gone. New names
include Wegmans and Bottom Dollar Food, while
Giant Food, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s all grew.
Discount stores, like Target, have added food;
discount wholesalers have expanded; and drug and
convenience stores increased their food presence.
•
Many new banks, drugstores with drive-throughs,
and convenience stores with gas have been built.
REGION
2012 RETAIL
SQUARE
FOOTAGE
ESTIMATED
2010 RETAIL
DEMAND
ESTIMATED
2040 RETAIL
DEMAND
COMMENTS
Ambler Region
1,630,000 sf
1,750,000 sf
1,940,000 sf
Go to Montgomery, Plymouth, and Abington for regional shopping
Central Perkiomen Valley
670,000 sf
910,000 sf
1,110,000 sf
Go to Route 422 Corridor for regional shopping.
Conshohocken/Plymouth Meeting
3,060,000 sf
1,100,000 sf
1,280,000 sf
Contains 1,020,000 square foot mall and large IKEA store.
Eastern Montgomery County
6,090,000 sf
2,870,000 sf
3,030,000 sf
Contains two enclosed malls with 2,530,000 square feet.
Horsham-Willow Grove
2,900,000 sf
1,680,000 sf
1,910,000 sf
Go to Abington for regional shopping.
Indian Valley
810,000 sf
1,000,000 sf
1,260,000 sf
Go to Montgomery for regional shopping.
Main Line/King of Prussia
6,820,000 sf
2,730,000 sf
2,960,000 sf
King of Prussia malls have 2,800,000 square feet.
Norristown Region
3,770,000 sf
2,170,000 sf
2,450,000 sf
Go to Plymouth and King of Prussia for regional shopping.
North Penn
6,180,000 sf
2,350,000 sf
2,670,000 sf
Contains 1,120,000 square foot mall.
Pottstown Region
2,720,000 sf
1,380,000 sf
1,700,000 sf
Go to Limerick outlets and North Coventry for regional shopping.
Spring-Ford
3,550,000 sf
1,100,000 sf
1,320,000 sf
Contains 600,000 square foot outlet center.
Upper Perkiomen Valley
590,000 sf
420,000 sf
540,000 sf
Go to Quakertown for regional shopping.
FIGURE 105:
Retail Supply and Demand by County Regions
Retail Commercial Areas
Montgomery County has much retail space and remains a
regional shopping mecca. Since 2000, the county has added
6,500,000 square feet of shopping center and big box space,
for a 2012 total of over 29,200,000 square feet. This is
about 36 square feet per person, while the national average
is 23 square feet per person for shopping centers. The
county has about 9,600,000 square feet of other retail space,
for a total of approximately 38,600,000 square feet.
The dramatic increase in retail space occurred while retail
expenditures per household declined and more shopping was
done online. Based on expenditures of approximately
$16,000 per household, the county only needs 19,600,000
square feet of retail space to meet its residents’ needs.
However, Montgomery County is a regional draw for
shoppers, which explains some of the excess supply.
Nevertheless, if all the enclosed malls and the outlet center
were subtracted from the county’s total square footage, the
county would still have over 30 million square feet of space.
With so much retail space and with new space likely to open
as retailers seek to enter the market or improve their
businesses, older commercial centers will need to change to
remain competitive.
