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Show The Utah Enterprise Review , January 26, 1977 Page 4b Tracy Mortgage Names Manager Continued from page lb But John Ruppel, downtown ZCM1 store manager, is setting out to prove Robson I think downtowns wrong. share of the market is going to improve, and we intend to go after that very thing, Ruppel declares. Judi Garrett, a veteran of almost ten years in the real estate and mortgage busi- ness, has been appointed branch manager of Tracy Mortgage Companys Farmers Office at 530 West 500 South in West Bountiful. She has earned a realtors license, and attended real estate and A.I.B. banking classes at the University of Utah. She began in 1968 as a secretary in the real estate division. Retail Outlook Healthy Oakley Evans, president of ZCMI and Wayne Bentley, downtown Penney s store manager, are slightly more conservative than Robson in their speculations about increases in retail sales vol C C may be added to that list for suburban stores. Evans sees 0 soft goods, (apparel, home furnishings) as the fastest selling line of merchanise for his store, adding the teenage consumer will probably be spending more money than other groups of buyers. Evans says Salt Lake and Utah counties have the most growth potential for retail sales volume this year. Strong Car Sales In another area of retail M hi IV D C rens clothing ume. Evans predicts a ten percent growth in sales value, half of which w ill be due to inflation. We expect a real gain of five percent, he says. Bentley expects a gain of between 7 and 10 percent The figure this year. depends on whether Carter successfully stimulates the he explains. economy, But we are definitely exand buying for pecting a gain, he said. Bentley sees women's and men's fashions as the fastest selling items in the downtown store, and child 3 sales. Max Lunt, executive vice president of Utah Automobile Dealers Assoc., predicts 11 million cars will be sold in the state in 1977, a slight increase over the number sold this year. Lunt thinks the trend toward greater diversity in car sizes and shapes will continue and that no manufacturer will be producing a smaller or lerger car than Unless already exists. y there is a gas scare, the will not be very car he says. popular, The only retail businesses that may suffer this year are those directly related to tourism. The Utah Travel Council is anticipating a 10 to 15 percent increase in dollars generated by tourism during 1977, with hopes Utah tourists will be staying in the state longer this year than they have in the past. If Utah tourists add six hours to their average length of stay, Utah retailers gain an average of $30 million in revenues, the Council estimates. r, According to Anne itty-bitt- Brill-inge- publicity director, during the last tourist seatravelers son, spent $146.8 million in Utah. Utahns vacationing outside their own communities spent an additional $77 million. And $98 million was spent by business travelers, totaling non-reside- nt NEW STANDARDS in the Audio Visual Field $321.8 million spent by all tourists in the state. Thayne Robson is not attempting to predict the future for the tourism industry, saying it depends too much on weather and energy prices. Real Estate ELM0 16 CL & & 16mm SOUND PROJECTOR While retail sales volume is expected to increase by about ten percent, real estate sales may rise by 24 percent. RONEO-VICKER- S L-2- 00 SPIRIT DUPLICATOR - According to Robert Wilkinson, president of the Salt Lake area Board of Realtors, sales of all real estate in the valley could reach $400 million this year, up 24 percent from the $322 million 1976 total. FORMERLY DESERET BOOK BEEHIVE AUDIO VISUAL PHOTOGRAPHIC CORP. Supplying Your Audio Visual ond Photographic Needs 60 EAST SO. TEMPLE SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 641 1 1 PHONE . 531-147- 4 And, thinks he, residential sales volume could comprise 19 percent of that increase, from the 1976 total of $268.3 million to a 1977 total of $320 million. The average price of a home will probably appreciate by between 10 and 13 percent, he speculates, up from the 1976 average price of $39,401. Wilkinson points to the r post-wababy boom as the greatest impact on the present housing market. The same group of youngsters that forced cities and states to build schools ten years ago are now homebuyers, he says, and they are probably making up 40 percent of the market for single family dwellings. This is a mobile Continued on page 9b |