Developers disagree, citing increased retail demand and available land.
Retail saturation, whether it exists or not, has become a point of contention. Dennis Lord, an economic geographer at UNC Charlotte, will discuss the factors that drive retail saturation in a free public lecture Thursday, Feb 24. According to Lord, the Charlotte region mirrors other areas in the country where retail space is growing at a fast pace. In fact, retail space has grown at a faster rate than the population and per-capita income. That's a difficult question to answer.