Consultants tell Parlier City Council they have eight active retail prospects and a large local spending gap

The Parlier City Council heard a retail-recruitment update Thursday from consultants at Retail Strategies, who described the firm’s data-driven approach and several active prospects for the city.

“Together we are your retail recruitment team,” consultant Brooke Hill told council members, saying Retail Strategies has represented the city since 2022 and uses the same demographic and mobility data national tenants use when making site decisions. She said the firm both refreshes market data annually and maintains ongoing national broker outreach.

John Mark Buser, the team’s real-estate lead, described the typical retail deal timeline — often two to three years but sometimes much longer — and explained the stages from market approval to letters of intent, real-estate committee review and lease or purchase agreements. “Retail recruitment is a long game,” he said.

Consultants showed example analyses for local stores and trade-area visits, noting that some Parlier locations rank in the middle or upper tier of comparable stores in the Fresno–Visalia market. Hill also summarized a gap analysis Retail Strategies prepared for the city: using their custom trade area, the firm compared retail demand and supply and identified an area retailers often consider as potential market opportunity.

Council members asked for specifics on tangible progress since 2022 and whether the consultants had pursued health-care operators such as dialysis clinics. Retail Strategies replied that it had contacted more than 70 prospects, that about eight remained active, and that it recently coordinated a letter of support through city staff for at least one prospect. The presenters said they have reached out to dialysis providers and continue to follow up with franchisees and developers.

In public comment, residents raised concerns about land prices and property holdouts, which councillors and consultants both described as recurring constraints that can delay or complicate deals. The presentation closed with the firm offering to provide line-item data and to continue working with city staff on site-specific negotiations.

The council did not take any formal action on the presentation; staff said consultants would share detailed slides and the gap-analysis report with city staff after the meeting.