First, the good news
- August 24, 2014
- / Shannon Nickinson
- / economy,report-pensacola-metro-2014
Patrick Elebash saw something downtown last Christmas that he had never seen before. Shopping bags. Lots and lots of shopping bags. From lots and lots of stores. The 32-year-old is the fourth generation to work in the family’s jewelry store that has been part of downtown Pensacola for 95 years. “We’ve always been a destination shop, but this last Christmas, I saw people with bags from Scout or Belle Amie,” Elebash says, referring to other, newer additions to downtown’s retail landscape. “For the first time it seemed to me that people were coming downtown to knock out multiple gifts for multiple people. “I don’t ever remember seeing it like this.” The renaissance of Palafox Street didn’t happen overnight. Its transformation into one of the 10 “Great Streets in America,” according to the American Planners Association, is a sign of how far Pensacola has come. The vibrancy and excitement about downtown is one of the best stories our community has to tell about our changing fortunes. Other bright spots in the Pensacola metro include:
- A booming financial services sector, spurred by the $250 million investment that Navy Federal Credit Union is making in Escambia County.
- A tourism industry that rebounded after the 2010 BP oil spill and is expanding efforts to tap new markets.
- A bubble of technology- and knowledge-based businesses in Gulf Breeze that includes boutique specialty medical care at the Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine; Avalex Technologies, a producer of digital mapping and display; and email provider AppRiver.
- The region’s potential in niche manufacturing businesses such as Offshore Inland and ST Aerospace, which are linked to industries that are expected to grow over the next 10-15 years.