Curb Appeal – Why National Brands Keep Choosing Carlsbad

Carlsbad has been growing steadily for nearly two decades. Industrial growth has remained strong in potash mining and nuclear, while oil and gas has grown exponentially. Manufacturing has grown in conjunction with the industries reinforcing Carlsbad’s position across the state.

Commercially, our market has seen dozens of new businesses open their doors. Since 2010, Carlsbad has added more than 10 new hotels, over a dozen new restaurants, 16 new retail stores, and two gyms. And that’s just the ones the Carlsbad Department of Development has played a role in recruiting. Local growth has blossomed as well, with new businesses opening and entrepreneurs bringing their ideas to life.

In many cases, new businesses see record-breaking opening weeks, even selling out of inventory faster than expected. When new businesses open their doors, they very often have the single biggest opening days or weeks over any of their other stores in the state. So, what makes Carlsbad such a great opportunity for new business? Let’s explore further.

Carlsbad – The Misconception — and the Opportunity

In our last article we touched on census numbers. At first glance, Carlsbad appears to be a small, rural market without interstate access or proximity to a major metro. These facts alone often disqualify larger commercial entities from giving us consideration for a future location. But that’s exactly where the opportunity begins.

First, the fact that Carlsbad is small opens up a couple of positive possibilities. Typically, smaller markets do not have many nationally recognized chain stores. You normally would not find a full-service Wal-Mart in a smaller city, but you would find a smaller version. Many nationally recognized brands are not yet in the market, and that gap signals opportunity. When site selectors look at a market that is barren of such options, that piques their interest to the point where a closer look is warranted.

Next, if nearby markets have businesses that are not in Carlsbad, the chances go up in favor of one locating here. It makes sense logistically because Carlsbad would be on their supply routes already, and they can see how many consumers from here are buying from them historically. When consistent consumer spending comes from this region, it signals a strong opportunity for local expansion.

Finally, if a business is looking to expand in a region and they see a city in which their competition has not entered the market yet, there’s a clear advantage in being first — capturing market share and building customer loyalty early.

Open for Business

While outside businesses routinely do their own market research on where to expand and grow, the other half of the equation is what we do. The CDOD serves as the lead business recruiter for both the City of Carlsbad and Eddy County. Our team works directly with companies, developers, and industry leaders to position Carlsbad competitively — coordinating sites, data, local partners, and decision-makers to streamline the process.

Marketing Carlsbad to recruit new businesses is a strategic operation. Armed with the information about what our market has and what it needs, we put together our approach. We create collateral materials geared towards specific targets. What works for recruiting a new industrial company looks very different than what works for a new restaurant. We research the appropriate contacts or groups to reach out to when looking to begin the conversation on coming to Carlsbad. We will set up Zoom meetings, conference calls, or in-person meetings. We make sure we have the right people in the room from our perspective. That is, the decision makers on things like property, utilities, zoning, and permitting. We attend tradeshows and meet with business contacts there. We follow up consistently with the goal of never having the ball in our court. In other words, we never want companies to be waiting on us – we want to be efficient and thorough, so they always have everything they need in the process. 

The goal is simple: remove barriers, move efficiently, and make it easy for companies to choose Carlsbad. We always ask what else we can do for them. Finally, having pro-growth leadership within the CDOD, the city, and the county makes a huge impact and shows prospects that we are indeed open for business.