Barbara Colonna knows which Trader Joe's stores are within a reasonable driving distance from Roanoke. She named several locations, including Northern Virginia, Cary, N.C., and a new Charlotte, N.C., location for the specialty grocer.

Each time she shops at a Trader Joe's store, Colonna asks if the chain will come to Roanoke.

"I call it a cross between Fresh Market and the [Natural Foods] Co-op at Sam's prices," she said. "It's pretty high quality and pretty darn cheap."

Colonna, a Roanoke resident, logged on to a new retail Web site this month created by the city of Roanoke to vote for Trader Joe's and other stores that she wants to come to the Roanoke Valley. Her other choices are Kohl's, Whole Foods Market and Chipotle.

Other people also voted. As of Friday, the top two retailers were department store chain Kohl's and The Cheesecake Factory, an upscale eatery that serves lunch and dinner and at least 30 varieties of cheesecake.

Roanoke's economic development office launched MyRetailRoanoke.com earlier this month. It's a Web site on which people can vote for the shops, restaurants and grocery stores that they want here. City officials hope the site will help lure coveted retailers to the area.

As of Friday afternoon, 1,599 people had registered on the Web site and 9,961 ballots were cast. The city will tabulate the votes and begin contacting some top retailers after March 6, a month after the site's launch.

But though this Web site has generated community interaction, there is no indication that any of these sought-after chains will land in the Roanoke Valley.

Some of the coveted companies said there are specific factors they consider when scouting out new locations, and a Web site that gauges a community's interest is not one of them.

Last year, one trendy restaurant chain, The Cheesecake Factory, eyed 1,500 new locations across the country. It chose only 21.

The choosing is selective; requirements for high-end household income and population sometimes exclude Roanoke from serious consideration.

An area must have a population of 250,000 within a five-mile radius of a potential Cheesecake Factory, said Howard Gordon, senior vice president at the California-based company.

The chain also looks for communities with an average household income of $50,000 to $70,000, he said.

Roanoke's metropolitan statistical area does not meet these standards. Its median income is $39,000, based on data gathered by the Census Bureau in 2000, which is the most recent report. The population is 292,925, according to a 2005 estimate by the Census Bureau.

Gordon said The Cheesecake Factory receives phone calls from all over the country with requests for restaurants in certain communities.

But the chain's target population and income figures must be in place before it will consider a new spot.

"It would be nice if it [a factor] was just that everybody wants us there," Gordon said.

Kohl's, a discount department store chain based in Wisconsin, also said a Web site such as the one Roanoke has created would not make a difference in where it chooses a new location.

The retailer's No. 1 consideration is whether a city houses a large group of families with children, said spokeswoman Courtney Rogaczewski.

She would not reveal specific income or population criteria.

Rogaczewski also said that Kohl's eyes communities near cities where it already has stores. A new Kohl's opened last year in Lynchburg. But Rogaczewski said the chain isn't planning a Roanoke Valley store.

Several other retailers that made the Roanoke Web site's top 10, including Trader Joe's and Costco Wholesale Corp., a warehouse retailer, would not comment on their criteria for new locations.

However, it's not unusual for economic development representatives to be involved in luring retailers, said Doug Chittum, Roanoke County's economic development director. In the 1970s and 1980s, economic developers were taught to stay away from retail recruitment.

Nowadays "a lot of communities are having to realize the importance of the tax revenue it [retail] brings," Chittum said.

But some cities draw major retailers without having to work at it. They may have a decent tax climate, good schools that attract more residents and a variety of jobs that pay well, he said.

"What people can do to help promote retail isn't directly related to calling Kohl's and getting them to come here," Chittum said. "The communities that are experiencing a level of growth get these retailers."

Meanwhile, Roanoke hopes to draw at least 10,000 users to its Web site by March 6, said Lisa Soltis, a city economic development specialist. Visitors who register on the site are asked to enter a household income. Soltis said she's unsure if the city would release a report of these income figures.

When asked about the likelihood that some retailers might not consider Roanoke given its demographics, Soltis said the latest census report doesn't correctly capture the area's profile.

"The landscape of Roanoke has changed a whole lot," she said. "I feel like individuals have moved into the area ... they demand different amenities that they had in other areas."