Regional residents and tourists are coming to Alexandria to shop, making it one of the top three statewide for its “pull factor” for similar-sized cities.

Alexandria’s taxable retail and service sales increased 12.7 percent between 2009 and 2012, reaching a total of about $324 million, making the central Minnesota city of 13,000 one of the top regional non-metro shopping hubs in the state and continuing the city’s retail boom.

General merchandise stores were reportedly the largest taxable sales contributors in the local economy, making up about 31 percent of all taxable sales.

The largest increase in sales was in the building materials category, which totaled about $63 million in 2012.

The retail trade analysis was released by the University of Minnesota Extension Service using data from the Minnesota Department of Revenue sales tax information.

“The way I would interpret this study is positive,” said Coni McKay, executive director of the Alexandria Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce.

“Although the Department of Revenue sales tax collection reports are always two years behind due to timing of collections and reporting, I believe that the local retail environment has gotten stronger since 2012 here in the Alexandria Lakes area,” McKay said.

“The Alexandria area continues to be a strong regional center, and there are several key factors that contribute to our region’s long-term vitality — one of those factors being our diversity in what we can offer in retail and services,” said Jason Murray, executive director of the Alexandria Area Economic Development Commission.

Economists expect larger cities to have more sales due to a larger customer base, the study indicated.

Comparing the taxable sales totals of Twin Cities’ suburbs with non-metro towns won’t necessarily produce an accurate picture of how Alexandria compares. To compensate, the retail trade analysis measures each city’s “pull factor” — it’s a measurement of sales activity, which compares local taxable sales per capita to that of the state.

Alexandria’s pull factor is 2.58. Per capita taxable sales in 2012 were estimated to be $24,900 locally and $9,670 for Minnesota.

That means Alexandria is pulling customers from outside the community and it’s one of the highest pull factors in the state.

The study summary noted: “Alexandria continues to be one of the strongest retail centers in Minnesota outside of the Twin Cities metro area. All the tracked retail and service category sales exceeded the expectations of a regional trade center.”

Non-metro cities with similar populations to Alexandria had the following pull factors: Bemidji, 2.21, Fergus Falls, 1.72, Monticello, 1.23, and Marshall, 1.53.