Entrepreneur Magazine released their Hot Trends for 2005, reflecting an ever evolving economy and culture.  What’s hot, and how it applies to CoolTowns…

Authenticity.  Homemade cheese.  Levi’s.  What’s more real than a Mom & Pop shop, a local pub, an independent bookseller, a diner?

Age 35.  Apparently more of us want to be at the age where you’re old enough to run your own business but young enough to still be a little silly.  That’s called freedom, and the most prosperous places provide a

read more…

The Renaissance in Florence.  Silicon Valley.  Japan post WWII.  New York City at the turn of the century.  Paris and Impressionism.  Some rather extreme bursts of creativity over about 40 years at a time.  Coincidence?  Historian Peter Hall doesn’t think so, and outlines the common elements in his stellar book, Cities In Civilization.

1. Disorder. As Chris Gibbons, who pioneered economic gardening puts it, economic growth happens at the edge of chaos.

2. Clustering. Popularized by business

read more…

Successful downtowns require a successful retail district.  Today, that retail district must be developed as a retail entertainment district to survive and thrive.  So, who should that district focus on?

Again, we quote our star of the week, retail entertainment expert Michael Beyard, “The ability to reach market segments that are easily overlooked - including women, members of generations X and Y, and even baby boomers, who are getting older but not �aging� - will determine whether

read more…

The conflicts: Museums and performing arts centers are struggling amid public budget cuts and a rather stuffy image.  Meanwhile, downtown retail districts are having difficulties maintaining its local culture as well as attracting large crowds (as the old theaters once did).

The opportunity:In the words of retail entertainment expert Michael Beyard, “Retail entertainment offers these institutions an opportunity to broaden their markets and compete more effectively for consumers� time and

read more…

Main streets are no longer the department-store-oriented retail districts they used to be.  Now they must be entertainment retail districts to survive and thrive, which is consistent with our shift to an experience economy.  Here are the new retail categories as the industry resource Urban Land Institute sees them.

Fun and leisure - interactive sports, sports bar, coffee bar, outdoor cafe, billiards/bowling/games;
Nesting - home entertainment, furnishings, and electronics;
Health and beauty -

read more…

Argentina’s economic woes aren’t too different from struggling small towns and city neigborhoods throughout the U.S.  However, entrepreneurs are realizing that there’s a path to prosperity that begins in their own backyard, and it focuses on the empty feeling travelers may get of experiencing the tourist sites without enjoying an authentic taste of the day-day culture.

Here’s an except from a Fast Company magazine article that documents the tremendous value in marketing Argentina’s

read more…

Hey, give Genevieve Gorder (and her designer cohorts) some credit here.

Formerly of Trading Spaces, she’s the host of a new show with similar ideas called Town Haul on TLC/Discovery Channel that is dedicating six episodes to helping invigorate a tiny town, Jeffersonville, NY, pop. 500.  This is more documentary than reality television, and I know other towns wish they were chosen instead, but listen to the naysaying ‘professionals’:

“The credibility of serious professionals who have

read more…

Usually, unfortunately, honestly, yes.  Planners are often from the left, economic development the right.  Planners look 5-20 years ahead.  Economic development reps focus on the now.  Planners have policy backgrounds, academic debate and focus on, well, general plans.  Those in econ dev have business educations, think entrepreneurially and concentrate on site/company specific projects.  These of course are generalizations, but guess what?  It won’t matter to the cities that forge ahead, as

read more…

Just a few banners applied here to a restored historic building help bring it to life.  SOHO in Manhattan, NY utilizes them more effectively than any place I’ve seen - you could just feel the creativity in the air (the neighborhood’s rep) as you walked through a parade of them, flapping casually and colorfully with the breeze.

...and as mentioned in yesterday’s blog, they bring some cold hard cash and identity to the downtown as well.  It also helps give the impression that the area is

read more…

They’re worth at least that much a year in cash to a main street, but that’s just the beginning.  Just ask Sylvia Allen of Allen Consulting, who is a guru at attracting sponsor dollars for main streets and has the following tip:

Simply putting up attractive vertical banners throughout a small downtown will bring in a good share of revenue to market its merchants, not to mention providing a tremendous amount of identity.  People often identify a mall as a single, one-stop destination, but they

read more…