On the north side of West Garriott near Oakwood sits a large, vacant building.
The 66,396-square-foot structure, once home to Homeland, is one of the retail spaces Brent Kisling hopes Enid Regional Development Alliance soon can fill.
Kisling, executive director of the alliance, wants to see Enid add to its two major retail districts, continue to develop a third and fill many of the closed storefronts throughout all three.
“We can continue to add retail in green spaces and can also fill our investment in downtown, and it will not compromise our successes in either (downtown or West Garriott),” Kisling said.
There are two major retail districts in Enid, Kisling said, with a third developing.
The section of West Garriott west of Cleveland is the city’s main retail district. The downtown area is the second.
A third retail district, Kisling said, is now developing on the north side of the city, near the intersection of Van Buren and Willow.
Two buildings in the West Garriott retail district that have remained vacant for a time are the Homeland building, located behind Arby’s, and the old Wal-Mart building farther west.
Most callers asking Kisling about vacant properties have inquired about the Homeland and Wal-Mart buildings.
“We haven’t had any serious hits yet,” Kisling said, but the alliance continues to heavily market the two retail spaces.
Tools of the trade
A new online tool Kisling and the alliance have developed can provide demographics and business information to retailers who are interested in moving into spaces in Enid.
The website was provided to Garfield County by Greater Oklahoma City Partnership, of which the alliance is a member.
The tool can be found by going to the alliance’s website, www.growenid.org, and clicking on Available Properties, then Retail Space.
The next page displays a map of Enid, showing green buildings on unoccupied retail sites in the city.
After clicking on a building, a list of information on the property is generated, including space available, the percentage of the space that is vacant and the number of restrooms and loading docks in the building.
Another option for each site is to view a demographics report, which displays things like total population, sex, age distribution and race distribution in a certain mile radius around the retail site.
All the information available on the site will help companies determine whether or not they want to come to Enid, Kisling said.
In addition to Kisling, Jon Blankenship, president and chief executive director of Greater Enid Chamber of Commerce, also takes calls from companies interested in moving to Enid.
“Most of the calls are about Oakwood Mall and the Homeland building,” Blankenship said. “We’ve even had some calls about the Wal-Mart property over the years.”
Other calls have been made about properties at Sunset Plaza and on North Van Buren.
“The more common thing is to field a retail inquiry about Enid in general,” Blankenship said.
He said the city is hoping to fill in Enid’s retail gaps in the coming years. New businesses specializing in electronics, furniture, apparel, sporting goods, as well as full-service restaurants, could all come to Enid over the next several years.
Target: Downtown
Kisling hopes new retailers continue to move into the downtown area.
“We have a beautiful downtown area most communities would beg to have,” he said.
While developing retail space all over the city is important, Kisling said the key to making Enid grow is developing a centralized commercial area with plenty of different retailers.
“Downtown probably has the most untapped potential in any area of the city,” he said.