Palm Beach to interview four firms in effort to boost retail
Palm Beach Daily News
Palm Beach s effort to resurrect its struggling shopping areas moved forward Tuesday as a special committee agreed to evaluate four firms offering to improve those places.
An appointed committee of town officials and residents unanimously agreed to interview four companies on Friday that would help the town plan how to fill empty storefronts and simplify town rules that might be blocking shops from opening.
Dozens of storefronts have been rendered vacant as pandemic-related shutdowns of non-essential businesses put even more stress on shops already struggling to keep up with online retailers.
Palm Beach Daily News
Palm Beach is searching for a retail consultant that can help enhance shopping on the island with suggestions on filling dozens of empty storefronts and streamlining town code that might be blocking some stores from opening.
Town Council members agreed during a development review meeting Wednesday to issue a request for proposal to companies it hopes can turnaround what Planning and Zoning Committee Chairman Michael Ainslie called “the biggest crisis the town’s retail sector has ever faced.”
“We have over 40 vacant stores on Worth Avenue, its vias and the adjoining streets, including South County Road,” Ainslie said. “We also have an empty Neiman Marcus store that will never reopen as a department store again.”