Sarasota Herald-Tribune seeks retail reporter

At a time when the retail industry is desperately trying to figure out what its future looks like, one thing is certain: Southwest Florida remains a mecca for new brands and experimentation because our people have money and love to shop.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune is looking for an engaging and enterprising reporter/columnist who loves retail as much as our readers. Home to what will likely be one of the last enclosed malls built in the United States, Southwest Florida has a host of retail projects underway even as developers in other markets rein in.

This is a beat that produces stories for the front page, our business section and our weekly business publication. It requires considerable finesses and digging. The folks that make decisions about stores just love to control the flow of information about their projects and hate it when their plans surface “ahead of schedule.”

It is a beat that requires a reporter well-versed in cultivating sources, spotting national trends, dissecting regulatory filings, handling statistics, using good old-fashioned gumshoe reporting to find great stories and writing them in an engaging fashion. An ability to produce a continuously flowing column in an authoritative style is a must, as is an ability to tell stories and communicate with readers on digital platforms.

This reporter also should be handy with a camera. For someone willing to work hard, there is no better retail beat in the nation, one that has a long lineage of reader devotion and one that has helped build many fine careers in journalism. Sarasota County is a community known for the best beach in America, a bustling downtown and suburbs and for its dynamic arts community.

Applicants should send a cover letter outlining their approach to the beat, a resume and their best clips to business editor terry.galvin@heraldtribune.com and executive editor matthew.sauer@heraldtribune.com.