Murphy – With completion approaching on downtown’s infrastructure projects, Main Street Murphy has released data to show economic performance as well as potential opportunities.
Downtown Murphy is home to more than 30 retailers, more than 20 food and drink establishments, three arts organizations, banks, real estate offices, government offices and churches. It also features a museum, movie theater and music venues, while upper floors include residences.
Downtown had $5.8 million in private investment in the 2024-25 fiscal year, including six building improvements, three facade improvements and 800 volunteer hours.
Information from Placer AI Data, which tracks cellular usage, showed 1.9 million annual trips to Downtown Murphy from about 329,200 visitors, averaging 5.82 visits per person. Data collected shows that 81% of visitors live within 30 miles of Downtown Murphy.
The average time spent downtown in Murphy was 91 minutes.
‘Retail gap’
Data collected by Claritas Data showed opportunities for growth in downtown Murphy. It calculates how much money was spent by local people outside the area that could have been spent locally – known as a “retail gap.”
The biggest gaps were in, believe it or not, restaurants. While Downtown Murphy has more than 20 restaurants in and around its core, it lost $19.1 million to full-service restaurants outside the area and $22.6 million to limited-service restaurants outside the area.
The projected growth for restaurants in downtown between today and 2030 is $3.3 million for full-service restaurants and another $2.6 million for limited-service restaurants.
Other “retail gaps” include, according to the report:
- Family clothing, $5.7 million gap, with projected growth of $126,594.
- Pharmacies, $4.7 million gap with $$1.7 million in projected growth.
- Electronics, $3.4 million gap with $524,156 in projected growth.
- Sporting goods, $2.8 million gap with $345,668 in projected growth.
- Beer, wine and liquor, $2.4 million gap with $559,569 in projected growth.
- Home furnishings, $1.9 million gap, with $513,824 in projected growth.
- Groceries, $1.3 million gap, with $5.3 million in projected growth.
Downtown’s role
Laura Lachance, director of Main Street Murphy, said industry site selectors rank quality of life as the second most important reason in their decision to locate industries, behind only labor costs.
“Industry will not locate in our community without a strong downtown,” she said in a report to the Murphy Town Council in November. “New home buyers rank Main Street Village Centers with retail services and cafes for gathering and socializing as their No. 3 desire in a community.”
Lachance is retiring from her role at Main Street Murphy at the end of the year. The hiring of her replacement is already under way, Mayor Tim Radford said.