Westfield Fox Valley Mall anchors the Aurora/Naperville retail corridor along Route 59. (Chronicle Media photo)

Despite the rise in online shopping and Amazon convenience, brick and mortar retail shopping is alive and well in Aurora.

According to a recent retail analysis by Melaniphy and Associates, Aurora and Naperville’s Route 59 shopping corridor experienced stronger retail sales in 2016 than any of its suburban competition.

The Fox Valley Mall core market area, which splits sales receipts along the Route 59 corridor between Aurora and Naperville, drove more than $5.5 billion in retail sales in 2016, proving that people enjoy doing their shopping in person just as much as they do online.

“Even though we’re continuing to monitor the e-commerce side of things, which is becoming bigger and bigger, we still need to understand that 90 percent of retail sales deal with brick and mortar stores,” said Aurora Chief Development Services Officer Bill Wiet.

“This kind of retail market is still here and striving, and we’re working with our partners to ensure that continues,” he said.

According to the analysis, Aurora ranked first in the Chicago suburbs in the apparel and accessories retail category, something Wiet attributed to the expansion of the Chicago Premium Outlet Mall and the Fox Valley Mall revamp.

The outlet mall alone is approximately 2-million square feet of shopping paradise, catering to customers throughout the Chicagoland area.

“We are committed to working with our economic development partners to strategically place new developments and bring new projects to fruition quickly while continuing to reinvest in existing properties,” said Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin. “The development of our retail corridors is a top priority. When retailers are looking to get a foothold in the Chicago area market, we want them to think of Aurora first.”

In Naperville, news of the Route 59 retail corridor’s success was great to hear, although not surprising, said Rachel Mayer, Naperville’s Finance Director.

“Obviously our retail sales from a city prospective play a huge role in financial stability,” Mayer said. “We pride ourselves on the diversity of our retail environment.”

The expansion of the Chicago Premium Outlet Mall is one of the key factors in making Aurora tops in apparel and accessories retail in the suburban Chicago market. (Chronicle Media photo)

While the city doesn’t separate retail numbers by particular corridor, Mayer said retail endeavors have been going “exceptionally well.”
“We’ve seen growth in our numbers that are 4 percent higher than the previous year,” she said. “We’re doing quite well right now.”
Since road construction along the Route 59 corridor completed in November 2015, retailers have had better access to the popular shopping area.
With a full year of construction-free shopping under the corridor’s belt, retail sales appear to be doing quite well, both Wiet and Mayer said.
Over the past three years, Aurora has added more than $1.3 billion in overall construction value, strengthening its efforts to market commercial development opportunities that still sit in the Fox Valley core market along the Route 59 corridor at the  Chicago Premium Outlet Mall.

This has helped increase retail sale by $90 million in Aurora over 2015 sales.

Wiet said the city is still looking to breathe life into older buildings along the corridor as well as look into retail shopping options in the downtown Aurora area.

“The new administration is taking a real look at the Lake Street and New York Street corridor to create development opportunities there,” Wiet said. “It’s all about corridors and those strategic locations.”

The importance of retail is vital to a striving economy, and having a robust retail market is one goal the city is working toward, in addition to remaining an industrial marketplace.

“It’s all about diversity,” Wiet said, discussing Caterpillar’s upcoming leave from the Aurora area and the impact that will have on the city’s finances.

“Cat is a big employment loss, but would be even more so if this was strictly a ‘Caterpillar town’. We will feel it less in Aurora where the economy is spread out over retail and industrial markets,” Wiet said. “I feel we have a diverse economic base to grow all of these things so one loss won’t bring the community down.”

Mayer said Naperville hasn’t felt any similar losses, compared to the impact of Caterpillar leaving the Aurora area.

“It’s been a few years since we’ve had any major hits,” Mayer said. “We’ve had good businesses coming in and so significant ones leave.”

The Fox Valley Mall core market area still has several commercial development opportunities, including frontage along the 150- acre vacant property at the intersection of Route 59 and 75th Street opposite developments anchored by Whole Foods, Nordstrom Rack and Walmart.

And investment continues along the Route 59 corridor, with anchors like Aurora Marketplace, Yorkshire Plaza, and a Meijer Superstore positioned for more growth and rehabilitation, driven by 1,400 units of adjacent residential development nearing completion.

— Aurora, Naperville economies cashing in along retail corridor  —