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October 12, 2007

A plan to recruit businesses to your retail district

Managing a town center/main street of local, independent businesses can sometimes be comparable to herding cats, so cities are grateful that organizations like the National Main Street Center provide experience in helping them prosper. Their plan for recruiting new businesses follows a four-part plan, presented here with a cooltown edge:

Assess: What have you got?
- Take a two-hour tour of the retail district as if you're seeing it for the first time and identify the good, the bad and the ugly;
- Create an online inventory of the buildings and businesses and display graphically what you have; complete a market analysis to find out what's supportable;
- Identify the trade area (where your customers are coming from) upon which to establish a beta community to really assess what the creatives want.

Agree Who should work together?
- Utilize beta communities to bring together the most progressive, creative, entrepreneurial - they are the 10% influentials that the other 90% listen to;
- Interview and survey stakeholders (key business and property owners, city officials, developers) to document what they prioritize;
- Work with property owners to agree on leases that help define the desired, unified vision for the retail district.

Plan
- Establish a Strategic Merchandising Plan (SMP) - the intentional selection of goods and services that are place in the most suitable locations available;
- Communicate whether current occupants fit the vision or not, and what both current and future vacancies could be filled with;

Act
- Prospect successful entrepreneurs that are interested in establishing new venues (ie VIBEs).
- Provide marketing programs for common themes (ie entertainment, furniture)
- Allow beta communities to crowdsource and crowdfund those new or repositioned businesses.

Read the August issue of Main Street News for many more details.

Image source: dezso.

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October 11, 2007

The four sizes of urban retail-entertainment districts

When people talk about a retail entertainment district they either have in their neighborhood, or visited elsewhere and want in their neighborhood, it helps to be able to classify the scale. Thanks to New Urban News and retail consultant Robert Gibbs, here's a little retail primer (with a cooltown perspective):

Corner stores
Location: Within residential neighborhoods
Size: 1500-3000 s.f.
Offerings: Beverages, grocery items, sandwiches.
Minimum required population: 1000 households within walking distance.

Convenience centers
Location: Within residential neighborhoods
Size: 10,000-30,000 s.f.
Offerings: Food, personal services, local offices
Typical venues: Coffeehouse, cafe, deli, bakery, ice cream shop, bank, dry cleaner, florist, market, laundromat, mail center, liquor store, pharmacy
Number: 5-10 small, ground floor businesses
Minimum required population: 2000 households within walking distance.

Neighborhood centers (see image)
Location: Along major transportation corridors in between neighborhoods
Size: 70,000-90,000 s.f.
Offerings: Supermarket, full range of food, goods and services
Typical venues: Supermarket (45,000-60,000), restaurants, bars, shops, including a destination like a live music venue, small theater, microbrewery
Number: 20-40 small, ground floor businesses
Minimum required population: 6000-8000 households within walking/biking distance.

Industrial retail centers (rather than Community centers)
Location: Industrial districts away from residential neighborhoods
Size: 250,000-350,000 s.f.
Offerings: Big box types
Typical venues: Multiplex theater, supermarket, home improvement, office, books, sporting goods, discount department stores
Minimum required population: 50,000 people

Image source: Amersfoort, Netherlands main street by Captain Chaos

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October 10, 2007

Magic Johnson presents 'design-your-own' lofts

There's more interesting twists to this story than you may first think. The post-Lakers career Magic Johnson is known for in the business world is bringing urban retail to economically-disinvested neighborhoods.

Unfortunately, his somewhat industrial economy approach has been to do so with clusters of national chains like TGIF's and Starbucks (see his website for immediate evidence), not the most effective means of supporting the local economy and culture (as otherwise indicated in the top picture of his website).

However, there's a sign that he may be shifting to a more knowledge economy-oriented approach to development. First, he's investing in loft development in Charlestown, Boston via the $54 million, 146-unit Mezzo Design Lofts, providing housing for where many knowledge workers want to be - downtown. Second, the development emphasizes collaborative social spaces, from courtyards to patios to balconies, another creative, entrepreneurial must. Finally, future home buyers get to customize their loft interiors, a service previously provided mainly to single-family home buyers. Maybe by his next project he'll work on making them a bit smaller and more attainably priced.

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October 9, 2007

U.S. mayors following the European lead on bicycling

Inspired by the huge political, social and economic success of Paris' bike sharing system, U.S. cities are looking for ways to instill a more profound biking infrastructure and culture. In Europe, a woman in a dress on a bicycle is the norm, while in the U.S. it's a curiosity.

In a USA Today article, Big cities try to ease way for bicyclists, several cities are at least talking about big changes to support a more authentic biking culture:

New York City is creating the first ;a href="http://www.streetsblog.org/2007/09/20/nyc-gets-its-first-ever-physically-separated-bike-path">special bike lane on Ninth Avenue with a planter separating cyclists from motorists and parked cars. Mayor Michael Bloomberg promises 200 miles of bike lanes by 2010.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has a goal of 5% of all trips shorter than 5 miles to be taken by bicycle by 2015, and already launched a pilot based on Paris' bike sharing system in July.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom plans to have at least 10% of all trips in the city to be made by bicycle by 2010, and the City will make a decision next month on whether to implement the Paris bike sharing system (which by the way, was started in Leon, France).

Here's another way to look at the force behind this trend - 99.99% of all buildings in the U.S. are designed to be accessible by the car as a priority. How about 1% of them being developed to be accessible by bike/foot as a priority? It's happening, slowly...

Image source: Leopold Estaban. You know the picture wasn't taken in the U.S., otherwise the sidewalk would be lined with cars.

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