Many national chains can be found in Carson City such as these within the Southgate Shopping Center.
Just what is Carson City lacking when it comes to keeping dollars at home? The Buxton Leakage Study — a study of unmet demand of products locals may buy elsewhere — commissioned by Carson City in 2015 shows we are self-sufficient with a few minor “holes.”
This study also confirms our status as a bona-fide and self-sustaining retail community, for not only do we keep our dollars at home, others shop here “in our strong clusters of store that have broad geographic appeal.”
Our strong retail: Auto dealers and parts, electronic stores, home building stores, sporting goods and various smaller retail outlets.
Where we could use more diversity: Furniture & Home furnishing, clothing and clothing accessory stores and specialty food stores. While we have several national chains providing family clothing, we don’t have specialty clothing stores, hence we travel to Meadowood Mall or Sierra Summit for specialty clothing.
Next time you shop at Costco or any of the larger stores in South Carson, make it a game to count the California license plates. It’s harder to identify the cars from Douglas or Lyon Counties, but this is where they shop and that is why our sales tax figures continue to be robust.