Lots of shops in store for N. Utah

Jake Boyer, managing partner of The Gateway, said few developers or retailers would, in a fit of whimsy, simply plop a project down on a community. To invest in such an undertaking, the numbers have to be there. Even so, the retail game is, at least in part, anticipatory.

"I don't think retailers would be making the commitment if they didn't think they could be successful, and I don't think developers would be making that kind of commitment if they didn't feel they could be successful," Boyer said. "Does that mean that every single center will end up going like gangbusters? Probably not."

In the end, though developers put together what they believe is the best mix of offerings, Boyer and Thredgold maintained it is the market — the consumer — who will decide what succeeds.

"I think it's just like any other business," Boyer said. "I think that people continue to develop over time what they think is the best model for shopping. And it is a bit of 'survival of the fittest.' Here, the customer's dollar speaks louder than anything else. As long as consumers are willing to shop in a certain area, then retail will continue to burgeon."

In the realm of shopping centers, Thredgold said, "it seems like we almost go through a generational transition. Twenty or 25 years ago, ZCMI Center and Crossroads were new and very nice, and drew a lot of people downtown. Then, as they became more dated, there was more expansion down south. Layton Hills Mall did very well in the north. And then all of the sudden, it seems, you need $1 billion in reinvestment."

But with the stable-and-growing local economy, and the likelihood it will continue, Thredgold said the odds are better than they've been in the recent past that these developments can succeed.

"Ultimately, the market decides whether there's too much of something, or not enough," he said. "You don't really know anything until the market speaks, the market being the consumer."

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