Curtis Skaley of Spearfish makes it a priority to stop at the new Petco when he comes to Rapid City with his daughter Gracie, 2.

Gracie loves to look at the animals, he said.

They used to go to a pet store in the Rushmore Mall but started visiting Petco in the Rushmore Crossing development when it opened in October.

"We come in pretty much every time we come down here," he said.

The Skaleys are some of the thousands of shoppers migrating to new retail businesses in Rapid City as retail development migrates east, building big boxes along a newly opened stretch of development along Interstate 90.

That retail hot zone, fed by new roads and intersections, is the city's retail "beachfront," said Marcia Elkins, director of the city's Growth Management Department.

And it's making waves with the way Rapid City consumers shop and get around town.

The shift was foretold by four major construction projects: the modernization of Exits 60 and 61, the rebuilding of East North Street near where Menards now stands, and the completion of the "southeast connector" from Exit 61 around the city to U.S. Highway 16, leading to Mount Rushmore.

"We're looking at incredible growth in that area," then-Mayor Jim Shaw said four years ago.

Businesses then only drawn on maps now are open to shoppers, who test fly rods at Cabela's, deal on school supplies at Target, and settle in after a long day's drive at Exit 61 hotels.

The "beachfront" interstate property is a destination of choice for many businesses considering a move to Rapid City.

"We thought that's the way Rapid City was growing; that's the exit that goes out to Mount Rushmore," said Diane Heinis, a managing partner of the new 92-room Comfort Suites at Exit 61.

Although there are many ways to get to Mount Rushmore, including right through downtown, she said, "We wanted to be on the interstate, so it was just the perfect place."

Heinis' reason is a common one for those eying the quickly expanding areas.

"There's always been this demand for having frontage on the interstate," Elkins said.

The two remodeled exits at the city's eastern entrance see approximately 20,000 vehicles a day, according to a city study. And 70 percent of traffic to the city comes from the east, according to Charles Barker, the developer of the 69-acre Anamosa Crossing development at the corner of Anamosa and East North streets at Exit 60, near the entrance to Menards.

Interstate 90, the nation's longest, takes travelers from Seattle to Boston, but increasingly, it's used as a local road for Rapid City shoppers.

"It's easy to jump on," Elkins said.

Local use started around the exits farther west, Haines Avenue and La Crosse Street. Rushmore Mall, opened in 1978, helped anchor the area, which filled in with chain restaurants, a Borders bookstore, a Best Buy electronics store and Lowe's home improvement store.

The new development should only add to the Rushmore Mall's customer base, according to Karen Waltman, senior property manager there.

"As the retail landscape really changes and matures in the I-90 economic growth corridor, additional synergy is created," Waltman said. "The close proximity of these businesses to the mall makes it easy on the consumer to travel and meet their shopping needs."

The interstate has drawn businesses to the eastern I-90 frontier that wouldn't consider other locations in Rapid City.

Interstate access "was an absolute must-do" for big-box retailers Barker tried to attract to his Anamosa Crossing. Although he doesn't have Interstate frontage - his development is just behind Rushmore Crossing - he will benefit from the new exits and from the future connection of East North to La Crosse streets via Anamosa Street.

Barker said he and other developers were anxious to have those road construction projects complete.

"It seems like the wheels of government, … they move much slower than a lot of us developers would like," he said.

Anamosa Crossing is now ripe for new retail, with the August announcement that a new section of Anamosa Street is finished and that construction to connect it with La Crosse will begin this winter.

Barker said a 220-room Ramada Inn is already in the works, and On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina opened there this summer.

Two other major commercial developments, Rushmore Crossing and the Gateway at Rapid City, staked claims along the interstate frontier last year.

While dirtwork on the 900,000-square-foot Rushmore Crossing development began in summer 2007, the area sprang to life in late 2008 and quickly filled up with popular specialty stores and discount department stores.

Target and Scheels, two stores poached from the Rushmore Mall, built prime standalone locations in the new development.

Sam's Club is scheduled to move to its new store in the development in spring of 2010 from its current location on La Crosse Street, less than a half-mile away. That the company would build a new store and relocate such a short distance illustrates how valuable that property is in reaching customers.

An extension of the current strip mall portion of Rushmore Crossing is scheduled to start soon, as part of the development's next phase of construction.

One exit to the east, past a large industrial zone on the north side of Exit 61, sits Cabela's, Dakota Discount RVs and the newly-opened Tractor Supply Company farm and ranch store. They're all part of the Gateway development, which boasts "excellent freeway visibility" and "prominent location along I-90," on the developer's Web site.

The new location in the "beachfront" quickly paid off for Dakota Discount RVs. The store moved last year from a location on S.D. Highway 44 to a location across East Mall Drive from the newly-opened Cabela's store.

While things were slow at first, it is picking up, salesman Dick Schneider said.

"You need repeat customers, you want people coming back, which is what we're seeing now," he said.

The south side of Exit 61 is quickly turning into a hotel and meeting mecca. Five hotels are either open, under construction or planned, and a conference center, higher education center and expanded indoor water park are in the works.

Besides the new Comfort Suites, an 80-room Sleep Inn and Suites is now open, on the east side of Elk Vale Road and the south side of Cheyenne Boulevard, near the McDonald's restaurant.

Chris Connelly, co-owner of the Sleep Inn and Suites along with his brother, Mark Connelly, and mother, Beth Miller, kept an eye on the intersection over the years. He had spent time in southern California and remembered how prime interstate intersections would quickly reach critical mass.

"Out there, it takes a year to completely explode," he said. "Here it might take a little bit longer, but there's kind of a formula."

Across Cheyenne Boulevard, ISIS Hospitality is planning to invest between $25 million and $30 million to its Watiki Water Park Resort and its two adjoining hotels. The money will pay for a new 150-room SpringHill Suites by Marriott, a conference center, sports cafe and will double the size of the water park. The work should wrap up in 2011.

Rich Dunkelberger, chief executive of ISIS Hospitality, has been amazed to see the growth along the interstate at the Elk Vale Road intersection.

"Exit 61 is where you're going to see a lot of growth in the future," he said. "A couple of years ago, it was dust, there was nothing there."

Journal staff writer Barbara Soderlin contributed to this report.

Several new businesses are now open at Interstate 90 exits 60 and 61 and more are on the way.

Exit 60

- Menards

- Ramada Inn - coming to Anamosa Crossing

- First Western Bank

- Pizza Ranch - coming to Menards area this winter

- Petco

- Michael's

- Dress Barn

- David's Bridal

- Shoe Carnival

- Gordman's

- T.J. Maxx

- Eyemart

- Scheels

- Target

- Interstate Batteries

- Sam's Club - dirt work under way; coming to Rushmore Crossing in spring 2010

- Furniture Row

Exit 61

- Comfort Suites

- Sleep Inn and Suites

- SpringHill Suites by Marriott - coming to the WaTiki water park resort complex in 2011

- Fairfield Inn and Suites Marriott

- La Quinta Inn and Suites

- Watiki waterpark

- McDonald's

- Arby's

- Conoco with Don's Valley Market and Cheyenne Casino

- Le Grand Station Mobil

- Cabela's

- Dakota Discount RVs

- Tractor Supply Company