Fayetteville Retail: Skibo Road, Cross Creek, and Beyond

I’ll be honest. When people think “retail” and “Fayetteville” in the same sentence, they usually picture the same thing — Skibo Road congestion, fast food joints, and big box stores. And yeah, that’s part of it. But the retail picture here is more nuanced than that, and there are some genuinely interesting opportunities for sellers.

Skibo Road is still the spine

Skibo Road from Morganton Road down to the All American Freeway is probably the densest retail corridor in Cumberland County. Traffic counts are consistently high. The mix runs from national chains to small local shops. Cross Creek Mall — even though malls nationally have had a rough go — still anchors this area and drives traffic to surrounding strip centers and outparcels.

I’ve looked at several retail properties along Skibo Road and the valuations are interesting. Good locations with strong traffic command solid prices. But the buildings are getting older, and that’s where sellers sometimes run into a reality check. A 1990s-era strip center with deferred maintenance on Skibo Road might have great traffic but the building itself needs work. Roof, HVAC, parking lot. That stuff gets deducted.

Beyond Skibo — where else retail works

Raeford Road has developed into a solid secondary retail corridor. Yadkin Road too, especially the stretch between Bragg Boulevard and Cliffdale. Hope Mills Road (NC-59) heading south has neighborhood retail serving the growing residential base down there.

The Ramsey Street corridor going north toward Sanford has some retail activity, though it’s less dense. And the emerging corridors along I-295 are starting to attract retail developers as traffic patterns shift.

The tenant quality question

This is where Fayetteville retail gets a little complicated. The median household income here is lower than Charlotte or Raleigh. That means certain national tenants won’t come to this market. But the ones that do tend to perform well because there’s less competition.

The service-oriented tenants are what I look for. Barber shops, nail salons, tax prep offices, phone repair stores, medical offices. These businesses aren’t getting disrupted by Amazon. They need a physical location and they need foot traffic. A strip center full of these tenants is actually a pretty stable investment.

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What concerns me is restaurant-heavy retail. Restaurants fail at crazy rates everywhere, but in a market with lower incomes, the failure rate is even higher. I price restaurant-tenant buildings more conservatively because I know there’s going to be turnover.

Selling retail in Fayetteville

If you own retail property here, the sell-versus-hold decision comes down to a few things. How old is the building? What condition is it in? Are your tenants stable? And how much of your time is the property eating?

I hear from a lot of retail owners in Fayetteville who are spending 10-15 hours a week managing a property that nets them $40K-60K a year. At some point, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. Especially when you factor in the growth this market is experiencing and what that means for current valuations.

I buy retail properties across Fayetteville. Small strip centers, standalone buildings, outparcels. If you’re thinking about selling, let me take a look. I’ll give you a number that makes sense for both of us.

Curious what your retail property is worth? Call me. 704-600-3839.