May 3--Regency Center in Tyler has a jeweler and sewing center.

A Family Dollar, Ladies Time, rental business and auto-parts store call the intersection of Front and Beckham their home.

Sunset Place has a Hobby Lobby and Ace Hardware, while Cafe Frontera and Sprint anchor Troup Square.

All of those retail centers have something in common: 100 percent occupancy.

Last week, Burns Commercial Properties released its 2009 Retail Market Survey, which showed that 13 of the 45 retail centers had no vacancy.

However, they were more of the exception, with occupancy dropping to 89 percent from the previous year's 94 percent in Tyler.

Mark Whatley, a realtor for Burns Commercial Properties, said the statistics show that Tyler has not seen 100 percent immunity from the national economy's downturn.

"The decline (in occupancy) is simply a function of the economy," Whatley said. "We're going to continue to see some softness in the retail side of the market."

He said major retailers have taken nibbles at the empty properties that Linens-N- Things, Goodie's and Circuit City once called home before closing this past year.

"They're in the middle of the retail corridor," Whatley said.

However, the interest has been all browsing and window shopping, he added.

"There are a lot of people talking about stuff but not doing anything," he said, adding that the sites likely would be filled either by major retailers who have no Tyler locations yet or a local retailer looking for bigger digs.

Nine of 45 retail centers had occupancy between 90 percent and 99 percent, according to the survey. Thirteen had occupancy of between 80 percent and 89 percent.

Total retail center space in Tyler was 2.4 million square feet, with 263,559 square feet of that vacant -- almost double the 148,399 of vacant space seen the previous year. There was 40,759 square feet added from the previous year.

The survey also noted that while vacancy decreased, lease rates increased to $13.34 per square foot from $13.14, a 1.5 percent increase.

"The numbers obtained in the study indicate that while Tyler has not been immune to the country's economic slump, it is weathering the business dip much better than many cities," the Burns report concluded. "The occupancy rate is still at a high level when compared to historical figures.

"One reason the Tyler market is holding up well is due to the lack of construction of large retail centers containing a significant amount of speculative space.