Bethany Fuller | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | April 28, 2008

From the niche stores downtown to the big boxes off bustling highways — the retail market in Iredell County has definitely changed in the past few decades.

To the average person, an obvious sign of business growth are big-box retailers like Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy, which have popped up on River Highway in Mooresville over the past couple of years.

In the past five years, the number of businesses in town has gone from 1,513 to 2,223, according to Mooresville’s finance department. Statesville has seen a slight decline—from 1,888 to 1,742, according to the city’s finance department.

Ellis Kelly, who has owned the Merle Norman Cosmetics store in Mooresville for the past 43 years, said the new shops and people haven’t changed the area’s friendly atmosphere.

“As a business owner, it was great to see Mooresville go from a sleepy mill town to a vibrant community with diversified industries,” she said.

Greater Statesville Chamber of Commerce President David Bradley said Statesville has seen more small business growth rather than big boxes.

“The biggest area that developed was (U.S.) Highway 21,” former Greater Statesville Chamber of Commerce president Danny Hearn said, referring to the Crossroads shopping center where Wal-Mart is. “The development of it got away from the planners.”

Bradley said big boxes move to a community based on its population and median income.
In 2005, Iredell County’s median household income hit $47,360, according to the Greater Statesville Development Corporation. Bradley said Statesville is nearing that mark.

“When Target and Kohl’s come — they would say growth is happening,” he said.
Bradley said the N.C. Department of Revenue changed its sales-tax reporting methods, which distorts the numbers making it look like retail sales have gone down.

Mooresville and Statesville have taken steps to welcome mixed-use development in recent years, approving rezoning for projects like Larkin off Exit 45 and Langtree at the Lake off Langtree Road.

Commercial development has shot up rapidly in the past 13 years. According to the Iredell County Department of Licensing and Inspections, the number of commercial building permits has risen from 93 in 1994 to 623 in 2007.

“We’ve had a lot more growth in the commercial sector where people want to live and work here,” Lake Norman Realty president Abigail Jennings said. “Now versus five, 10 years ago, Exit 36 is just overflowing with businesses.”

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