One of Broomfield's 2009 priorities is to attract small, locally owned, unique retailers and city staff did just that when they cut a deal with Herb's Meats and Specialty Foods using tax incentives that the city is hoping will attract others.
Broomfield City Council on May 26 unanimously approved a proposed plan to give tax incentives to the butchery, which is slated to move from Boulder in July and open in Broomfield in early August.
Herb's, which opened in Boulder in 1976 and features hormone-free, all-natural meats, including bratwursts and Colorado lamb, has seen a slow decline in sales in recent years and a 30 percent drop in sales from last year.
Broomfield residents and husband and wife owners Kristine and Rich Grass said they're hoping more visibility and approximately half the rent will help the bottom line.
The store is currently an inline retailer at Baseline Road and Broadway Street at Basemar Center in Boulder.
It will be relocating to Depot Hill Shopping Center at U.S. 287 and 10th Avenue in Broomfield, a storefront that is more visible.
Kristine Grass said talking to her customers solidified the move. She said many of them weren't from vegetarian-friendly Boulder and were driving from cities including Arvada, Westminster and Broomfield.
An added perk to doing business in Broomfield is the city is providing a 50 percent rebate on personal property and use taxes totaling $2,834 over four years, providing Herb's maintains at least four employees, although Kristine said she would love to get the business back up to the level of the store in the 1980s when the business employed 13 full-time staff.
She said the rebate was a nice bonus, but not big enough to be a determining factor in the couple's decision.
Giving incentives is standard when enticing big corporations to town, city officials said, but at least one council member thought it was unorthodox to offer rebates to such a small business.
Broomfield city manager George Di Ciero said even though it's not the norm, incentives have been given in the past to smaller business, although not as small as Herb's.
Broomfield Economic Development Corporation President Don Dunshee said later the rebated money isn't money leaving the city.
"If they wouldn't move in, we wouldn't get any personal property tax," he said of the 2,300-square-foot space, which was vacated last summer by a gas station and convenience store.
The city estimates it will add $41,500 a year in sales tax to its coffer from the store based on projected annual sales, although Grass said later she estimates that figure will be higher.
Other councilors, including Broomfield Councilman Randy Ahrens, applauded the approach.
"If that's what it takes to get some other people to relocate here then I think it makes sense," he said, pointing out vacancies, specifically along 120th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard, which could potentially be filled with other specialty retailers using similar incentive packages.
Dunshee said there are three or four lease negotiations for vacancies at Broomfield Town Centre on the northwest corner of 120th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard, but he won't release names until the deals are finalized.
"I'd love to have a half-dozen or a dozen small, unique retailers and it's a little difficult right now because the retailer world is sluggish to say the least," Dunshee said.