The population of El Paso County continues to grow, with many people choosing to live east of Colorado Springs, in places like Falcon and Peyton. The rising cost of rent on residential properties has caused concern for some, but the cost to rent a commercial space is a major concern for small business owners like Cathy Barbee of Falcon.Barbee said she owns Forget Me Knot Boutique, a clothing business she runs from her home because she has not been able to find affordable retail space in Falcon. Big-name companies and national franchise stores that have corporate money to fall back on are the only businesses that can afford the rent, she said.CBRE Group, the largest commercial real estate services and investment firm in the world, released a report on the Southern Colorado retail market view, including Falcon, for the first half of 2018. It confirms Barbeeís fears. The report states the following: ìColorado Springs will continue to see attention from national retailers who are closely following the population growth, which is currently concentrated in the East and Northeast submarket.îAdditionally, the report indicates that new construction will continue to attract national and regional retail tenants. ìColorado Springs retail, being such a healthy market, will undoubtedly continue to receive investor interest,î the report states.Barbee said an individual who does not have that corporate financial support cannot survive in the Falcon commercial market. ìI have maxed out all of my credit cards,î she said. ìI cannot get any more credit because I have too much debt. I have all this inventory to sell, but nowhere to sell it.îShe has tried to sell her clothing online but storing her large inventory is not feasible on a long-term basis, Barbee said. There is too much to keep in her home and storing everything in her garage would eventually cause the materials to smell or accumulate dirt, she said.Jeremy Kniffen, owner of Liberty Tax Service in Falcon and secretary of the Eastern Plains Chamber of Commerce, said the biggest problem is that there is not much commercial space available in the area. ìLandlords are in a position to ask what they want because they know there is no other place to go if people want to stay local to Falcon,î he said.When he found a spot in the Safeway shopping complex, Kniffen and his wife/business partner had looked at several other locations, but the prices were ìastronomical,î he said. They were fortunate to find the space they did at the time they did, he said.ìI would not want to be a true mom-and-pop business coming into this community,î Kniffen said. ìWe ran our tax business out of our home for several years; and, when we decided to have a physical location, being part of a franchise, having a national business backing us was the only way it was going to work.îBarbee said she has gone as far as trying to work out a subletting situation, where she could share the space with other vendors and split the cost of rent. However, the rental agencies she contacted were not willing to split up the rent; if any of the vendors left, Barbee would be left paying their portion in addition to her own, she said.ìI called everywhere that had signs up all over town (Falcon), and some wanted $3,500 and others wanted $5,000,î Barbee said. ìI started this business because I noticed all Falcon had was Walmart and Big R. Those are not normal clothing stores for most people. I thought a boutique would work out good.ìI think the community needs a place that has fun shops to look in, to walk up and down the street and spend the afternoon just having fun or even window-shopping. But they (landlords) have made it so expensive, no one could ever make that work.îKniffen said the chamber of commerce would certainly reach out to landlords on behalf of businesses if those businesses voiced their concerns to the chamber. By coming to meetings or reaching out in some other capacity, the chamber would have a better understanding of each individual situation and be able to help in any way they can, he said.ìOur primary mission is to promote business growth in this part of El Paso County,î he said.While Kniffen said he thinks the rental prices will go down as more commercial spaces are built, Barbee said it will likely take three to six months from the time she opens the doors of whatever space she might find before she turns a profit. She would have to go further into debt before she even built up a good customer base.ìEvery time I am at a vendor event, people come by and say they would like to support local businesses and buy from local businesses, but they cannot support us because they cannot buy from us,î Barbee said.
