VestaviaVoice.com
October 2013
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Volume 1 | Issue 6 | October 2013
More than winning
Bringing it home Vestavia Hills working to stop losing retail dollars to other communities
Vestavia Hills High School head football coach Buddy Anderson eclipsed a major milestone last month, but his purpose on the field goes far beyond wins and losses.
Sports page 26
Pink and active
Defeating breast cancer may have left Peggy Honeycutt weak, but this Vestavia Hills mother had no intention of staying down. Read about her amazing story inside this issue.
Community page 16
INSIDE City ..................... 6 Business ............ 8 Food ................... 11 Community ....... 14
School House .. 22 Sports ............... 24 Faith .................. 27 Calendar ........... 31
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Vestavia resident Sara Robicheaux buys local whenever she can, but she finds that many of the specialty ingredients required in her recipes take her outside city limits to purchase. This pattern, known as “retail leakage,” is exhibited by residents in several areas of Vestavia Hills. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Hagler.
By REBECCA WALDEN In July, City Manager Jeff Downes began laying groundwork to bring an out-ofmarket restaurant to Vestavia Hills. What he discovered both delighted and frustrated him. “This restaurant wants to be in the Birmingham metro area, and they told me that Vestavia Hills is the epicenter of where they see their greatest opportunity,” he said. “But we have struggled trying to find a location to meet their needs. The sweet spot for a lot of places is 5,000 to 7,500 square feet. That’s where we fall short.” This and other information, gathered in his first 30 days on the job, has helped Downes dispel one long-held stereotype about the City
of Vestavia Hills – that retail businesses would rather locate outside city limits. “High-quality retailers do want to come here,” he said. “But right now, we have an inventory problem.” Limited space for businesses to locate is a key contributor to “retail leakage,” a term used when residents can’t get the goods and services they need in their communities and are forced to spend money elsewhere. Leakage represents a loss in potential tax revenue, and working to correct that means the city needs more bricks and mortar. “My family and I go out of our way to shop in Vestavia when we can, but that is not always possible,” said mother of three Sara Robicheaux, also dean of business programs
for Birmingham-Southern College. “Specialty stores are a huge source of our retail leakage. You don’t have to look farther than Homewood or Hoover, where you have wholesale and discount retail markets, to see part of what is contributing to the problem.” While she acknowledged the presence of Vestavia’s well-supported Walmart Neighborhood Market, Robicheaux, an avid cook and baker, added that she frequently makes trips outside city limits to purchase specialty ingredients not found in typical grocery stores. “We are missing out on a huge opportunity not having a gourmet grocery,” she said.
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