City boasts high incomes, lots of customers
By Kay Anderson -- Kids Today, 2/1/2006
Charlotte— Dubbed the Queen City, Charlotte sits just north of the South Carolina border in North Carolina, in the heart of NASCAR country and home to the National Football League's Carolina Panthers.
In 2005, the Charlotte metro area had a slightly higher proportion of its population under age 12 than the nation as a whole. Statisticians at New York-based Easy Analytic Software Inc. expect that proportion will increase by 2010. They project a 7% increase in the number of children under the age of 12 living in the Charlotte metro area. Nationally, their projections call for a slight decline (0.2%) in the under-12 age group.
The area offers retailers a potentially lucrative market. Charlotte's median household income is about $6,000 higher than the national median, according to estimates by EASI's statisticians, and it is projected to increase by more than 25% by 2010. It's one of the nation's most prosperous metro areas; only 59 of more than 900 metros have a higher median income. At $124,173, the median value of owner-occupied housing is almost $8,600 higher than the national median. On the other hand, the median rent of $557 is only $18 above the national median.
More than half of the area's 25- to 34-year-olds — a group in their prime child-bearing years — have an income greater than the median household income, making them a deep-pocketed target for savvy retailers.
Locations visited:
Bellini
Looby Loo
Baby Town
USA Baby
Slumber Kids
