2022: What’s New & What’s Next
by CEDC Staff
Chickasha saw no less than twenty new businesses open in 2022. Many are local community members who have seen the building momentum and decided the time was right to pursue their business goals, such as Brinks Downtown Boutique and L&L Emporium. Others, like Ben & Jay’s or Flower Shop Winery & Pizzeria, are people from outside Chickasha who believe in what we are doing. It’s been exciting to see the growth—throughout downtown and up and down 4th Street!
The growth isn’t slowing, either. Construction is well underway on the Roaster’s Market and HTeaO, and almost complete on Brandi’s Bar & Grill. Two new businesses are coming to the Chickasha Crossing retail center. A massive development is taking shape on previously vacant land near 4th & Grand. We’ve put together a full map to keep it all together:
New businesses that opened in 2022 (blue) and coming soon (green). Open map in fullscreen to see details.
In November, work was completed on Phase 1 of a downtown park, complete with 50-foot leg lamp. The project, spearheaded by the Chickasha Community Foundation, was funded by $1.4 million in private donations from local businesses and community members. The completed park will be a multi-million dollar venture, modeled after other successful urban parks like those in OKC and Tulsa. As planning commences for Phases 2 and 3, the community will be coming together to hammer out the collective vision for the new park.
The growing interest in Chickasha has translated to an uptick in tourism and sales. Site traffic on the freshly-updated Visit Chickasha website has skyrocketed, with over 4,000 users in 2022Q4 (Google Analytics). Foot traffic downtown in November and December was up 7.5% over 2021, including a 13.9% increase in visits from 25 or more miles away (Placer Labs). Since the beginning of the fiscal year in July, retail sales have surpassed $220 million, compared to $201M through the same period in 2021-22 and $174M in 2020-21.
