Carole Baker can always tell a healthy community by how well its retail sector is doing.

She came away very impressed with Jonesboro after getting a first-hand look at The Mall at Turtle Creek.

“It’s a beautiful mall,” said Baker, director of land development for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. “There are great retailers in that mall. It’s been many years since I had been to Jonesboro. I was so impressed. There is a lot of great potential in this area.”

Baker was part of a group from the Arkansas Chapter of the International Council of Shopping Centers who were in Jonesboro on Tuesday for the organization’s regional membership meeting.

The International Council of Shopping Centers is a 70,000-member trade association made up of retailers, developers, lenders, architects, marketing representatives and leasing agents who work in all areas of the shopping center industry.

The group had a chance to see the Jonesboro market and network and discuss common issues they are having.

“When you talk about ICSC, you’re talking about the folks that really shape the retail industry in the United States,” said Curt Green, director of the Arkansas-Oklahoma ICSC.

About 12 percent of the nation’s economy is either directly or indirectly tied to the things ICSC members do, he said.

“We’re a barometer for what is happening in the nation,” Green said. “And right now everybody is staying busy. If you call any of us we’ll tell you we have to talk to you tomorrow because we’re so busy.”

Bruce Burrow, chairman of Burrow Halsey Realty Group and a partner in MBC Holdings which developed The Mall at Turtle Creek, said that since opening in May 2006, The Mall at Turtle Creek has drawn more than 10 million shoppers, created 900 jobs, and topped $225 million in sales.

“It’s been a huge success,” Burrow said. “We’re very proud of the mall.”

The 750,000-square-foot mall is a hybrid design that combined the charms of Main Street shopping with attractive exterior store fronts, sidewalks with brick pavers, street lamps and a grassy area studded with sculptures along with the comfort of indoor shopping and the convenience of drive-up stores.

“We were the only enclosed mall built in the U.S. last year,” Burrow said.

The Mall at Turtle Creek features more than 100 retailers including Target, Dillard’s, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Best Buy and Barnes and Noble. It was the only mall in Arkansas to be included in the U.S. Shopping Centers of Interest travelers pocket guide.

More importantly, Burrow said The Mall at Turtle Creek has tapped in to a larger trade area than they expected. Shoppers from Crittenden County, which is just across the river from Memphis, are coming to Jonesboro to shop rather than shop in Memphis. It was estimated that around $100 million in sales was leaving the area for stores in Memphis.