Fulton officials have posted on the city's website conclusions drawn by The Retail Coach, a firm from Tupelo, Mississippi.
The findings for Fulton are broken down into 11 reports divided into four categories on the website, fultonmo.org.
"We put a lot of our presentation on our website," Mayor LeRoy Benton said. "They've defined our retail market and defined our community and gave us a list of retailers (to be courted). It's kind of interesting to look at."
The retailer match list breaks down suggested businesses that would be a good fit for Fulton into categories. A similar study was conducted for Holts Summit.
For example, five hotels were suggested for the Fulton area, as were two home improvement stores - Home Depot or Lowe's. The list of suggested restaurants includes 15 candidates including Applebee's, Cracker Barrel and Ruby Tuesday. Ross Dress for Less, Old Navy and three others were listed under "general merchandise," plus grocery, auto, shoe and other stores.
"A sit-down chain restaurant is something they talked about," said Bruce Hackmann, economic development director for the Callaway Chamber of Commerce. "An extended-stay hotel would be good. So we'll see where this goes."
The study also included city population and work force data and areas for primary and secondary retail trade such as sites along Interstate 70 and U.S. 54. Demographics of the Fulton community were also presented in the report, which said the estimated 2016 population in Fulton is 12,964 and rising slightly. That doesn't include college students, Hackmann said.
One of the most-interesting parts of the study addressed where spending gaps exist.
"The gap analysis shows how much is being spent in various categories and shows how much of that is being spent in Callaway County," Hackmann said. "It shows there's an 80 to 90 percent leakage. That's opportunity. If you can't buy a men's suit in Fulton, then there's an opportunity for that (kind of business)."
No one is suggesting local businesses should be replaced, Hackmann stressed.
"We're not trying to put any of our retailers into a disadvantage," he said. "We're looking for opportunities."
Speaking at Tuesday's Fulton City Council meeting, Benton basically said the same thing.
"There's about a 44,000 population in the market area," he said. "The study shows a gap and what types of businesses you should go for to full that void. As you know, our area's been underserved."
Hackmann said officials from The Retail Coach will begin recruiting immediately.
"They will actually reach out to some of those targeted businesses," he said. "Once they make contact, they will bring me into the picture to work the local response. They're in contact with me every week or every other week."
Using the firm's services gives Fulton and Holts Summit a unique advantage, Hackmann said.
"This whole project has to do with relationships they have," he said. "We don't know those people (who operate the targeted businesses). They can reach out and say, 'Fulton and Holts Summit are places you need to look at.' And we're anxious to see what happens."