Updated business directory lists 796 retail, service firms

QCDC released the Quad Communities retail/business inventory to the general public on September 21, 2005, at the 43rd & Cottage Grove TIF Advisory Council community meeting. Building from the Quad Communities business directory that was released by QCDC in September 2004, this revised retail/business directory lists 796 businesses in the Quad Communities commercial trade area , which includes the entire communities of Kenwood, Oakland, Douglas, Grand Boulevard and Hyde Park.

The directory contains listings for nearly 800 businesses in the local trade area.

Photo: Eric Young Smith

Of those 796 business, 140 are located within the QCDC service area, which includes a subset of the Quad Communities commercial trade area and is bounded by 35th Street on the North, 47th/51st Streets on the Southeast and Southwest, Lake Shore Drive on the East, and approximately Vincennes Ave. on the West. The vast majority of the 656 businesses that operate outside of the QCDC service area are based in the Hyde Park community.
Even with the broader range of goods and services available in Hyde Park (i.e. eating and drinking, medical office, hospital, clinic, financial institutions) there are still significant gaps that need to be addressed within some key retail categories ( i.e. grocery (full service), clothing store, electronic, computer or appliance store, drycleaning). The key findings of this business directory affirm the results of a retail study conducted on the trade area by MetroEdge, an urban market research firm, which quantified over $450 million of retail dollars being spent outside of the trade area.

The Quad Communities retail/business directory was created with information from yellowpages.com, Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC), and the Hydepark Chamber of Commerce Directory. All of the raw data from these three sources was verified by ten graduate students hired by QCDC to conduct surveys, field visits, and cold calls to all trade area businesses. These interns will continue to collect commercial data in the community and QCDC will regularly update and re-release the business directory information.

"We encourage all trade area residents, business owners/professionals, community stakeholders and others to help us in creating a comprehensive directory of commercial/retail businesses for this community," said Bernita Johnson-Gabriel, QCDC's New Communities Program director. "If people have additional information about new and existing businesses, they should send it over and we will add it to the next edition of the Quad Communities retail/business directory."

The business directory includes the business name, address, zipcode, business type, restaurant type (if applicable), and phone number on about 796 businesses.

"Commercial/retail businesses are a critical part of any community," said Johnson-Gabriel. "These businesses supply residents and the daytime population with products and services, they provide employment, help generate taxes which are used to improve and enhance public safety and infrastructure, and serve as an important attraction for visitors, tourists, and guests."

The Quad Communities retail/business directory will be used in three critical ways:

Work with developers of mixed-use and commercial property in the area to ensure that existing retail goods and service gaps are filled,
Support existing business owners with resources and technical assistance that will enable them to stabilize and expand,
Collaborate with existing commercial building owners in order to attract quality retailers to sites that are currently vacant.

This directory also provides a convenient and powerful way for residents and businesses to identify and support local providers of goods and services.

Download directory here

To download a summary of the Quad Communities retail/business directory information and a map of the commercial trade area in Adobe PDF format, click here.

To download the full Quad Communities retail/business directory information with the summary and commercial trade area map in Adobe PDF format, click here.

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