NEWBERRY COUNTY — Time is running out for residents to complete the 2020 Census. As this deadline fast approaches (Sept. 30), many may wonder why they need to fill out the Census.
While there are a vast amount of reasons that everyone should complete the Census — according to 2020census.gov, the results determine the number of seats each state has in the House of Representatives. They are also used to draw congressional and state legislative districts.
The website further states that over the next decade, lawmakers, business owners, and many others will use 2020 Census data to make critical decisions. The results will show where communities need new schools, new clinics, new roads, and more services for families, older adults, and children. The results will also inform how hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding are allocated to more than 100 programs, including Medicaid, Head Start, block grants for community mental health services, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP.
The data could also help Newberry expand, if there is a good response rate in Newberry County.
Since December 2015, the City of Newberry has contracted with Retail Strategies to recruit retail businesses into the City of Newberry — they have helped recruit businesses like Starbucks and Firehouse Subs.
Jeff Sommer, portfolio director with Retail Strategies, said there are multiple aspects that go into their approach, as far as recruiting retail into their client cities.
“Data is definitely a strong component of that, it lets you understand where you are as far as the market goes compared to other markets,” he said. “We have an outside vendor that we use to pull data, and they pull it from multiple resources, usually federal government agencies — probably a dozen different agencies that they pull the data from.”
Sommer said their outside vendor has ways of pulling data from cell phone usage, social media usage and all sorts of other data sources. They will then compile that data and that is what Retail Strategies will use to look at a market.
“Definitely very important people are participating in the Census because the federal government is going to be collecting that data and if it is skewed, if people aren’t participating, if it is not accurate, not up to date, we don’t get a good read of what this market is doing,” he said. “We want to see growth in the market, and retailers and businesses, that are looking at markets, they want to see growth.”
Sommer explained that if the Census data from 2010 showed ‘X’ and that information has gone down (like population) by 2020, he said that is a negative.
He said one of the biggest talking points Retail Strategies uses when talking to retailers is growth. For example, he said they will tell retailers, “hey, this market has a four percent growth rate over the next five years,” or “this market has a double-digit growth rate of 12 percent over the next two to four years.”
“Really important that people participate in the Census because the federal agencies that collect all this data give that data out to private companies, like us, so that we can use it to showcase markets,” Sommer said.
One question many people in Newberry County ask is, “what about a grocery store?” According to Sommer, grocery store retailers are going to want to see population density, so if Newberry shows huge growth from the last Census, that would be a positive.
“However, the national brand grocers have very sophisticated technology to analyze the market. They can look at data that is up-to-date on what the population is,” he said.
Also involved in their decision is distribution, according to Sommer. He said if they have a grocery store 100 miles away, they will ask if it make sense for them to do a store in Newberry if it cost ‘X’ amount for their trucks to get there.
Sommer further explained that a lot of times grocery stores look at markets, population of course being a factor, but it is also income and proximity to their other stores.
“So, if it is a brand doesn’t have a location in South Carolina it is going to be tough for Newberry to pull that first location. Most likely, they are going to target Greenville, Charleston, Columbia, larger markets first and build out multiple stores there and then go to smaller markets like Newberry,” Sommer said.
However, Sommer said answering the Census always helps, because it will put Newberry “on the map” and keeps the data up to date — especially if there is growth, which Sommer said again is a positive.
“It is always helpful showing more growth, maybe the change in the family make-up happens. Maybe more families in the area as opposed to 10 years ago, maybe higher incomes — I know there have been job announcements there with Samsung,” he said. “Have more families come into the market because of the jobs and are they making more money, that will most likely show up on some of the Census polling questions and that’s always helpful.”
Sommer stressed that it is always good to have the most up-to-date data.
“Anything residents can do, be willing and ready to participate, give information, is good. That always helps in the recruitment process, whether it is recruiting industrial jobs or large employers or recruiting traditional retailers. Everybody wants to the most up-to-date data,” he said.
The question now becomes what can you do to make sure retailers have the most up-to-date data? Do your Census, if you haven’t already, and you can get started now by visiting 2020census.gov or call 844-330-2020. If you have your paper form, mail that in by following the instructions in the packet.
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