Retail, Restaurant, Hospitality Demand | Consumer Research
Retail
Urban | College Campus
The Challenge
University of California, San Diego (UCSD) is one of the country’s premier universities, with an enrollment of over 42,000 students in 2022. As UCSD continues to grow and implement new academic initiatives, the university also continues to expand its real estate portfolio, including retail, to support its teaching, research, medical, and public services missions, and its ability to deepening its ability to serve the San Diego community more broadly. In addition to the offering of over 50 retail outlets on campus, the surrounding area is home to a large and growing presence of retail options, most notably Westfield UTC. Strong life sciences employment and this retail growth has driven the established and affluent resident population in the surrounding La Jolla community and the broader San Diego region. UCSD seeks to take advantage of its growth and attractive surrounding neighborhood characteristics to provide a comprehensive retail offering on campus to better serve its key stakeholders.
Solution
With the above in mind, UCSD engaged RCLCO to evaluate the retail, restaurant, and hospitality demand for UCSD. RCLCO identified economic and demographic drivers of growth, how they impact the quantity and quality of demand for retail, restaurant, and entertainment uses, and where that demand most desires to locate. Our work was based on detailed demand analyses and forecasts, retail trade area analyses, a review of current and historical retail performance and development activity, a thorough retail competitive landscape analysis guided by anonymous “foot traffic” data from cell phones, and an evaluation of the campuses’ competitiveness to attract each type of use.
Impact
The interrelationship of these analytical factors along with detailed insights gathered through surveys, focus groups, and interviews informed RCLCO’s conclusions and recommendations regarding future potential for retail development on the UCSD campus. RCLCO presented the full retail market analysis to UCSD in February of 2024, and the final report is being used to inform the university’s retail strategy and guide future implementation.