The North Pointe Specific Plan could incorporate a new mixed-use shopping area trend.

“Retail is becoming more experience related,” Planning Director Ken Zuidervaart said at the recent Ripon Planning Commission.

He attended the International Conference of Shopping Centers (ICSC) in Monterey earlier this month.

It was there that he noted that designers are taking malls and removing the surrounding parking while creating more of a village design theme with higher density housing nearby.

Zuidervaart was referring to the types of stores that create neighborhood theme such as incorporating dentist and doctor offices as well as salons and grocery shopping all within walking distance.

“This is something that Ripon is trying to create in the North Pointe Specific Plan,” he said. “We need to hold firm on our design concept for this area.”

The North Pointe Specific Plan is the 310-acre area that’s currently being in north Ripon near the Mistlin Sports Park.

The core of the project will consist of a mix of retail, office and multi-family housing with a coordinated village-like character.

As for the type of business?

At the convention, Zuidervaart told commissioners that a survey was conducted on all the different generations of people, from baby boomers to generation “Z” — those born in the mid -990s to the mid-2000s.

Most, he added, would rather support a store that they can “get behind.”

One of example of that is the Venture-based outdoor clothing and apparel retailer Patagonia.

Yvon Chouinard, who is the founder of Patagonia, commits 1 percent of total sales to environmental groups via One Percent for the Planet, which, in turn, encourages businesses to commit 1 percent of their annual net revenue to those nonprofit organizations focusing on conservation and sustainability.