DYER | The Redevelopment Commission has entered into a marketing study contract with Mississippi-based The Retail Coach to help pitch the community, especially Calumet Avenue, to developers.

But the commission gave itself some leeway in the agreement as well, including a clause allowing it to bow out of the contract after the first phase if it finds the need to do so.

Whether or not it bails may depend on the kind of information unearthed by Retail Coach, which has been hired to determine what kinds of stores and restaurants would be interested in, or lured to, Dyer.

"I will be painfully honest with you," C. Kelly Cofer, Retail Coach's chief executive officer, assured the commission.

The first phase is the discovery phase. During the second phase, Retail Coach would actually court retailers and restaurants identified in the first phase.

Town officials have hoped that restaurants and retailers never before seen in Northwest Indiana would come to Dyer, particularly along the Calumet Avenue corridor, which has yet to develop. Because such prospects have yet to arrive on their own, Dyer has talked of recruiting some. Officials hope the marketing study will help them determine likely candidates.

But if Retail Coach finds that the likely Dyer candidates are the chain stores and other shops common to the area, the Redevelopment Commission will likely tell it not to go ahead with the marketing phase.

Dyer will agree to pay not more than $57,000 for the firm's services, a sum which would be cut in half if the board elects not to go forward with the second phase.