Business Improvement District Leaders Express Optimism Amidst Challenges

By: Anne Artley

Despite competition from e-commerce outlets such as Amazon, leaders of Long Beach business improvement districts expressed a positive outlook for Long Beach retailers during the rest of 2018.

This forecast echoes the national perspective. According to Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist for the National Retail Federation, the three-month moving average for March, April and May for retail sales increased 4.6% over the same period a year ago.

Kleinhenz said this number is slightly ahead of the projection for the year, which had been an increase of 3.8% to 4.4%. “There have been sizable job gains, a pickup of wages and consumer confidence is elevated,” he explained. “People’s willingness to spend is consistent with consumer confidence data. . . .The ability to spend is there. Income and take-home pay are up because of the tax plan. Unemployment is at a long-time low; consumers have fairly good access to credit. It looks good going forward for the remainder of 2018.”

Read more on the Long Beach Business Journal