Given Philadelphia’s status as one of the largest American cities, one might assume it would automatically be a priority market for retailers. But getting it onto retailers’ radar screens took a lot of work, at least with regard to the downtown area known as Center City. And the work continues today.

To boost awareness of retail opportunities in Philadelphia and help trumpet the renaissance that Center City has enjoyed in recent years, the mayor’s office, the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau and others teamed up to promote the city and attract retailers. And they turned to ICSC as a cornerstone of their program, called the Philadelphia Retail Marketing Alliance, which Mayor Michael Nutter unveiled in September at ICSC’s Pennsylvania, New Jersey & Delaware Idea Exchange. The city plans to keep bringing its message to ICSC meetings through this year.

“All of the efforts that we are doing this year in terms of advertising, PR and direct mail are centered around ICSC’s major conferences,” said Michelle Shannon, marketing and communications director for the Center City District, the campaign’s lead agency. “We are putting together plans raising Philadelphia’s visibility immediately prior to each of these conventions.”

This multi-agency initiative was a long time in coming, Nutter says. Coordinated economic development initiatives paved the way for the city’s residential and hospitality resurgence, but none of those efforts had focused on retail until now, sources say.

“The retail opportunities for the city are strong and growing, and we just want folks to know it,” Nutter said. “In many cases, they may know a little bit about Philadelphia from 20, 30 years ago and may not have seen the transformation over the last 10, 15 years. Tourism, especially international tourism, is up. A lot of that is driven by our art-and-culture sector. When folks get here they want to have the retail and the dining experiences that go with being in Philadelphia.”

The Philadelphiaretail.com Web site was launched as a centerpiece of the effort. The site contains a database listing vacant retail properties, the names of the corresponding brokers and information about government incentives available for development.

“We’ve made it easier for folks to engage in development activity here in the city and created a new gap-financing program, because the credit markets seized as a result of the recession,” Nutter said. “We want to make it as easy as possible for people to get into and do business here.”

Recent years have brought scores of retail names to the city, but Philadelphia remains underserved in some important ways. The city has fewer grocery stores per capita than any other city its size, according to the National Grocers Association.

Meanwhile, new mixed-use developments, such as the planned Philly Live complex, are set to bring more retail opportunities to the city. All of this underscores the need to work with ICSC and its members, the mayor says. “We’re very positive about the organization,” Nutter said, “and the opportunities that it brings to bring people together.”

PIDC is pleased to take part in the Philadelphia Retail Marketing Alliance; a proactive approach to attracting new retailers and encouraging new start-ups in Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, a private, not-for-profit corporation, was created in 1958 by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and the Commerce Department of the City of Philadelphia to promote economic development and job creation throughout the City.  PIDC provides financing programs and real estate products to business and developer client groups in all neighborhoods of Philadelphia and is managing the redevelopment of The Navy Yard.

For further information on PIDC, contact Peter S. Longstreth, President, Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, 2600 Centre Square West, 1500 Market St., Philadelphia, PA 19102-2126, phone (215) 496-8181.