Downtown retail: struggling, thriving, searching
Jan.10 2007 at 08:08 by Griff Wigley
Yesterday’s NDDC downtown forum focused on the state of retailing downtown.
Anne Bretts, managing editor at N.org, has blogged about it: What would lure you downtown? (It’s an opinion piece, with an invitation to start a discussion.)
Ray Cox has blogged about it on his citizen blog: Business, taxes and ??? and his Northfield Construction blog: A strong downtown.
Ross Currier has blogged about it: Building and Business Owners Discuss Downtown Issues. Ross emailed me this additional reaction:
We were all surprised by how many people turned out. I guess that the Forum lived up to its premise, that beneath the bright surface of downtown, there are some serious structural challenges. The fact that over 50 people showed up on short notice, early in the morning, to talk about these issues makes me believe that folks really value downtown.
During the hours following the Forum I received a half dozen phone calls and e-mails from building and business owners that suggested that we have coffee. I think that such a large gathering may not be the best environment for sharing intimate economic details but it certainly seems to have touched on an important topic and triggered a reinvigorated discussion. Based on the calls and messages that I received, it appears that these folks are not only willing to talk but willing to commit to work to implement ideas to achieve tangible results in the next 12 months.
Here’s the audio from the first 43 minutes (not part of our LG podcast).
Posted in Businesses
Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin January 10, 2007 11:09 pm
So what is next.? Anne Bretts suggested opening up an on-line forum. Is it better on-line or in person?. A sort of strategic planning forum could help I believe, as long as we find a skilled moderator who can keep the conversation at a high level. It seems to me that there is a big picture view missing in a lot of the conversations, as well as a city-wide vision to bring clarity to how each of the main components of the city’s components fit into a larger vision.
I would like to pose a series of questions, and see if it helps. In answering them, could you keep details out, can we craft a visionary picture without the details.?
1 - What is the city’s vision of how it wants to be positioned within the global economy.? What is the strategic positioning according to its assets (a high tech factory, a manufacturing region, a great destination for people from around the world?). Don’t quote the TIPS plan though, we already know (or should know) what it says. Tell it according to your vision.
2 - What is the city’s, and specially downtown’s strategy to assembly a mix of local attractions and businesses that can be marketed to this very large market (aside from the TIPS plan).
3 – How do Northfield’s DT compete with the other DT’s in our region, what is the business strategy to set it apart and make it the best choice to spend the evening and money? For example, the colleges define a lot of Northfield in a large way and represent a connection to the world (is it 130 or 140 countries that are represented?). How are these assets currently managed to maximize the $’s that they can bring to the city from around the world?. Should we be a place for foreign dignitaries to arrange their meetings in the U.S.? we seem to have things they would like?.
5 - Knowing what defines the city (colleges, downtown, ?) how is the city planning and systems aligned to generate the conditions for people and specially businesses to thrive. Are we strategically and competitively positioned and known as the friendliest, easier, faster, cheaper, and most welcoming place to do business (not a lofty goal for any city in the world, it is actually a necessity to survive in a global market).
We also know that Northfield is a very safe city, has a very competitive environment, a healthy employment rate, an educated work-force and lack of monopolies. All things considered, there is room for many businesses to be launched.
As you business planners out there would know, there are many other questions that need to be answered for a comprehensive citizen’s plan to emerge, but the ones above could be an interesting place to start and maybe then we can see the clear picture for our downtown. Are there other big picture questions that need to be asked without creating another or duplicating the comprehensive plan?
I am very interested in this topic, specially as I look into how to fit a Latino Enterprise Center within the long-term vision of the city, and as I look into assembling networks and partnerships that will allow me to accomplish such a goal I need your feedback on the questions posed above just as much as any regular business person would.
I am eager for your comments, personally, if we keep the conversation at a high level for a while, I can use a lot of your input as I continue to look how should the Latino community in Northfield develop. I would like to get a picture of what our position and participation should be 20 years from now within the city leadership, business ownership, economic influence, etc.
I know this is a loaded issue, I know there will be individuals who may wonder who the ?? is this guy to ask these questions. Look at it this way, I am a business person, I want to be successful in this city, I am still trying to get a clear picture future of where the city is being led. I want to see how best I fit in it, and most importantly, I depend on the city being successful (specially downtown), for me to ensure my own success as I am sure it is for all or most of you out there trying to run a business in town.
Reginaldo.
#1
Griff Wigley January 10, 2007 11:59 pm
Reginaldo, I’m about to head to bed but I did want to react to your first paragraph:
I think something significant like this issue can benefit from a variety of approaches, eg,
Let a thousand conversations bloom.
#2
Ross Currier January 11, 2007 8:28 am
Reginaldo, thanks for your comments on these important issues. I have been assembling my thoughts along a different track, and plan to share them later today, however, your thoughtful and constructive participation in a true dialogue merits a response.
1. This will be no surprise to many people but I believe that Northfield should position itself in the world economy based on the so-called Creative Class. I’m not just talking about artists but all people who generate income from their brains. This group would include college professors, assorted doctors, financial advisors and game designers.
I’m not sure about America’s manufacturing place in the world and it seems that Northfield manufacturers have of late been selling out and cashing in. Furthermore, there doesn’t seem to be much structural support for the lower waged manufacturing workers in the commmunity or interest in making the investment to create that infrastructure.
Frankly, I perceive members of this Creative Class to be more supportive of Downtown and its businesses as well as more receptive to shopping local for the community benefit. But maybe that’s just a myth that I’ve created in my own mind.
2. I think Downtown Northfield has a split personality. Some if it wants to be an on-going festival to attract tourists and some of it wants to be a good value supplier of hammers and slacks to the residents.
It was clear from among the over two dozen recommended actions for the next twelve months that we received from the attendees Tuesday that the Chamber, the City, the CVB and the NDDC need to better coordinate our efforts. We’re on it. See my blog at http://www.nddc.org
By the way, after our coffee Monday morning, I had hoped to see you at the Forum on Tuesday, although I know that you had a scheduling challenge. I look forward to next month when we can discuss the challenges that face entrepreneurs…Latino, Anglo…whatever their historic family origins..in more depth.
3. I’m not sure that viewing the economic competition as being between our downtown and other downtowns makes sense. Perhaps for some of the tourist market we compete with St. Paul residents. Most of the business owners downtown seem to view their competitors as the malls and the internet. However, the topic might merit further discussion.
4. I agree with you about the colleges playing a big role in defining the community and the economy. I will say, and I need to make clear that I’m speaking as an individual and my remarks may in no way represent the views or opinions of the NDDC Board of Directors, that after observing, from a very close range, two of the major economic development entities in the city for the past four years, that the colleges do not get the respect that they deserve. I think it’s partly due to the fact that they don’t bend trainloads of metal to manufacture their income and partly due to a reason with which I’m sure you are personally familiar.
5. Based on my experience and reinforced by the discussion on Tuesday, being the lowest cost supplier would not appear to be the best strategy. Northfield’s successful businesses seem to highlight quality and service while stressing the importance of listening to their customers. Three of the retailers that are closest to me, Krin Finger, Joe Grundhoefer, and Linda Schneewind, have often emphasized the importance of attracting and retaining high quality workers who can gather and share input from customers that leads to on-going improvement in their business processes.
Thanks again for your comments. I look forward to further discussion on related issues next month.
#3
kiffi summa January 11, 2007 8:32 am
I am personally apalled by the general lack of understanding of the ECONOMIC fragility of the DT, although it should have everything going for it as far as looks, location, etc.
I am also appalled by the lack of “speaking out” by Most of the building/business owners who attended the meeting. Are they having economic problems or not? Why are they so “afraid” to speak in public, with a peer group, about these common problems? Why do all the issues only come out in private discussions or e-mails?
What is it with all these quietly suffering souls? The old aphorism is:Misery loves company.
I’m dead serious when I say that a lot of business/building owners hang in there with an almost philanthropic zeal, because of their passion for the DT, but come on guys…….share the angst, and lets do something about it.
And no, this should not be an on-line discussion…….talk about “dead horses”!!!!!!!!!! It needs to be face to face, immediate exchange.There’s a lot to be learned by looking at a person while they’re speaking.
I have always been frustrated by the “timidity” of the NDDC, which is an ADVOCACY org, but let’s face it…. The NDDC is the only game in town.And may the great spirit bless Ross Currier for working unendingly; may the great spirit also give a nudge, no a shove, to the NDDC board to create an ACTUAL membership. I know why they say they don’t,,but WHY in 6/7 years can’t they figure it out? That old excuse of having made a “deal” not to compete with the COC is a leaky bucket. GIVE every business and building owner in the DT a decal for their window, and see if the donations start coming in. Wouldn’t the NDDC like to be able to say “we are 200, 400, whatever, STRONG………..rather than we have 20-50 attendees at our morning forums?
#4
Peter Waskiw January 11, 2007 9:22 am
Reginaldo,
Thankyou for your insight. I have a few comments that may help. These are my big picture views for the City and region. For me, these comments help place your points in line and suggest that, if any real economic benefits are achievable, an understanding of the problem needs to occur first, before we move forward - forgive my approach.
Here goes….My wife and I were talking recently about some of the very issues you raised in your remarks. Katie (my wife) said “Pearls only become a necklace when they are strung togetherâ€. ‘Wow’, I said, ‘Lets get a really long piece of string and tie the hospital, commercial, cultural, recreational, library, residential, entertainment, government buildings, all together’. ‘No, that’s not what I meant’ she said, ‘you have to concentrate and connect the physical environment together, like pearls on a nick lace. ‘I see’, I said.
How would that work for Northfield, I thought? Build a path, no…already thought of… too much money and then there are the skate borders, no. What about fancy smancy (not a real word) lighting, may be….but people would always be looking up and running into things. What about seats, we can always use a good seat or two, but again the skate borders and there’s always, well an endless debate about where to put them.
Putting my planning hat on, I starting to think (dangerous I now), and thought and thought, until I realized something, what makes a pearl necklace a pearl necklace..one, two or three pearl, well if anyone knows about pearl necklace’s then they weel tell you that it takes a bunch of pearls with a very good clasp and good piece of string, in other words….economies of scale.
Yes, something I remember, something about economies of scale, what was it? It was something about the how there is correlation between the physical size of a community and it economic scale or characteristics. Yes, that was it, internal and external economies of scale.
I also remember seeing something about this in an Economic Development and Literature Review and Practice (you gotta love that word ‘practice’) called Third-Tier Cities: Adjusting to the New Economy.
The report discusses the necklace concept not the pearl approach. See, economic development is not really about having trendy vision documents, pretty walkways or street lighting or benches (these are nice to have) but real hard economic planning comes from an understanding of the problems and ways to fix them.
Let me explain, the report states reasons why small cities (Third-Tier) can have failing economies. I’ll spare you the read, try it later when the kids are screaming, the dogs barking and the TV’s turned up real load, you’ll get more out of it that way.
On Page 11, the report states six primary challenges facing smaller cities affecting their ability to compete and thrive in the New Economy. These are:
• out-of-date infrastructure;
• dependence on traditional industry;
• transformation of their human capital base;
• declining competitiveness within their regions;
• weakened civic infrastructure and capacity; and
• more limited access to resources.
The best 14 pages I’ve ever read!
From page 25 however, wow, what a read. It discusses ‘building on opportunities’ and mentions five reasons why some third-tier cities are thriving and what makes a difference. These are:
• enhancing local amenities;
• building on institutions of higher education;
• engaging in regional collaboration;
• creating an effective civic infrastructure; and
• promoting diversity as strength.
You gotta like that last two! To sum up, if Northfield has the pearls to create a necklace, than the string that ties it together is……you’ll all have to read the report (or at least from page 25 onwards) to understand it. http://mtauburnassociates.com/Reports/thirdtier.pdf
‘You should never try to ‘hit’ two birds with the one stone’, so I decided to try and ‘hit’ three.
Griff,
“Retail business owners have long understood they can’t compete with Wal-Mart and the other big-box stores that set up in the suburbs, compete on price, and steadily drained customers from family-owned downtown stores. America’s downtowns, if they thrived at all, did so by evolving in the 1980s and 1990s into districts of restaurants and entertainment, and clusters of specialty stores that filled niches – candy, healthy bread, sports equipment, used books, gifts, custom clothing, kitchen ware, and the like.â€
Here is one idea I’m sure you’ll love. We could call it the “e-commerce zone†or ECZ for the zoning ordinance. Although, you would have to be careful that you don’t allow any more than 5 unrelated computers to be in the same premises.
http://mlui.org/growthmanagement/fullarticle.asp?fileid=16965
#5
Norman Butler January 13, 2007 6:09 pm
It seems that we were all talking at cross-purposes on Tuesday morning at the NDDC meeting.
Some people spoke as if it was about bringing more people downtown (benches, sidewalks, etc), others about bringing more customers into your business (listen to your customers, link to websites, make gift certificates, etc), still others about envisioning a future downtown.
Based on these varied interpretations of the purpose of the meeting, various participants offered themselves up as consultants and mediators and suggested future sessions to focus further on their issues.
I understood it to be about downtown restaurants and how to attract more downtown and enable them to locate start-up, survive and thrive. I tried to illustrate the difficulties of making a restaurant business work these days downtown Northfield (indeed, any small city in the USA) initially from the point of view of the Profit & Loss Account; that is, Operations which focus on Sales, Cost of Goods Sold, and Expenses. These make it difficult enough to cash flow restaurant businesses, particularly ones with smaller, more limited customer bases. (And there are many people in Northfield always willing and able to help with these matters, especially when it comes to generating more sales).
However, there is also the Balance Sheet and most significantly the Debt Service incurred from borrowing to build a kitchen (etc.) in a 100+ year old building with all the current Building Codes, ADA requirements, architectural and legal costs, material & labor costs, limitations of size (number of seats), parking, etc.; not to mention the big competition on H3 now and tomorrow.
The key issue is about Building It and then Surviving while trying to cash flow what is inevitably an enormous debt relative to the size of the restaurant and its customer base. It is all about RISK and trying to find ways to reduce it.
The City has financial instruments to lure large, financially well-arranged businesses and experienced developers to Northfield. These are not risk reduction measures, merely incentives to locate here. Why feather their nest and ease their passage, yet not consider the small businessperson, the entrepreneur who is eager to open a business downtown?
Bardwell-Smith is trying to encourage a shoe manufacturer in Faribault to open a store on Division. Victor Suma has tried to do the same with a variety of businesses in and around the Twin Cities and Southern Minnesota, for example Nerstrand Meats in Dennison. But apart from singing the praises of Northfield in general and downtown in particular, they have no recourse to any City resources – and these two examples would not be taking big risks as I see it.
What of the enthusiastic, optimistic, hard-working yet relatively impecunious entrepreneur? The EDA loans are targeted at building owners not business owners and, like all loan-givers, needs collateral. And business owners in general face far fewer start-up difficulties and financial challenges than wannabe restaurateurs.
Perhaps now is the time to give grants to building owners to build kitchens in their small historic buildings and then pass the debt on to the tenant but, and crucially, over 15 years instead of 5 years.
‘Never be the one to build the kitchen’; ‘you need 85 seats to make a go of it’; ‘the buildings are too small and too old to house a restaurant’; these and many more adages argue against creating a vibrant downtown filled full of fun, food, drink and entertainment if left solely to the restaurant entrepreneur. The risks are too great.
Yet with the imagination and the will especially in City Hall these cautions, these risks, can be reduced to the point where they are worth taking.
#6
Ross January 14, 2007 9:53 am
Norman:
We have similar views of the purpose of Tuesday’s Forum. Perhaps that was because I invited you to serve on the panel, and had an ulterior motive. Thanks for your service and your comments.
Perhaps you and I are more focused on the microeconomic analysis of the individual businesses and others were thinking more of the macroeconomic analysis of the world around these businesses.
You and I are focused on the bottom line, or net income. Certainly anything that has a potential benefit to the gross income portion of the equation, like a surge strategy for marketing, could help the bottom line. However, gross income is only part of the equation and you and I also are concerned about the expense portion of the equation, including real estate taxes, cost of financing the business and paying for maintenance and upgrades (or business expansion).
The City does have some financial tools available for small businesses but if they are structured to avoid risk with a caution that exceeds that of the private sector, they will be of limited use. Your pushing at the boundries of the (financial tool) box strikes me as the direction we need to move on this topic.
See you downtown,
Ross
#7
Tracy Davis January 14, 2007 10:34 am
Norman, et al,
I have some comments and a couple of disclaimers. First the disclaimers: 1) I love downtown, want to see it thrive, have worked (at a personal cost) to do what I can to help that. 2) The opinions below are not known, sanctioned, or endorsed by the City, Boards, or Staff. Can I say that just once and have it apply to any post I make?
People who believe it’s a piece of cake to have a successful retail business in Northfield if only you “give people what they want” simply do not understand the market realities they claim to espouse. (It’s a little bit different for some of the hospitality businesses, especially those who cater to the college crowd, because they do have critical mass.) There are precious few downtown businesses whose owners actually live on the income from those businesses; most are second incomes, labors of love, or tax losses. And it’s not because they aren’t open evenings and weekends; it’s due to larger market forces. Independent retailers nationwide are going the way of the dodo unless they are fortunate enough to live in an area which appreciates the distinctiveness of independent retail. Northfield, unfortunately, often does not. Independent retailers have their own set of challenges, not the least of which is that they are not owned by large corporations which can afford to run at a loss for three to five years until the market is established.
But I guess I’ll save my “independent retail” rant for another post. Here’s what I really wanted to say.
The Economic Development Authority, which is about 15 years old now, is charged with increasing employment and growing the tax base. Downtown entrepreneurial businesses are almost always mom-and-pops, often with no full-time employees beyond the owners, and the tax base is the same whether the buildings are owned, rented, vacant, whatever. So in terms of where to put resources, and be accountable to the public for the expenditure of its tax monies, it simply does not make sense for the City/EDA to put money into incentives for small downtown businesses which are typically undercapitalized and high-risk to start with. It’s pretty straightforward.
On the other hand (the one I use most often), I believe that our newly adopted Economic Development Plan recognizes the significance of a vital downtown, and provides justification for use of resources to build and enhance that vitality. If we want anything to happen, then we as downtown businesses and building owners and partner organizations like the NDDC and the Chamber should probably be the ones to propose new programs to the EDA and City staff; and any new programs must be clearly tied to the E.D. Plan goals and recommendations.
And please, can we not get into discussion about “the City/EDA/Staff should craft the programs” or do this-and-that…? It’s government, for cryin’ out loud, and they don’t move very fast. Entrepreneurs who know how to get something done are in a much better position to propose, lobby, and shepherd something through the approval process.
So - to kick that off - What are some specific things that might be done to help downtown businesses? One thing I can think of is to ask the City to work with the County (or State, if need be) to re-evaluate how taxes are calculated and/or buildings valued downtown, or any other creative solution to the fact that
1) property taxes on the buildings are high, resulting in
2) high rents, with the effect that
3) not many businesses can generate enough sales to cover rent/mortgage and pay the owner anything because
4) Northfield does not have the critical mass (population base) necessary to support most of these operations.
Ideas, anyone?
#8
Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin January 14, 2007 6:13 pm
I like this discussion. It is nice to have all of these details that are coming out, they are great for business planning and management, weather it is for managing an existing businesses, for suggesting changing in the city’s investment policies and focus, or for evaluating how to introduce a new business into downtown.
Since I don’t have a business in downtown yet, I can still think from the outside, just as I am sure you did before you decided to locate your business there. As you did before, I am now looking into the larger picture, how does what I want to do (weather it is a restaurant, copy center, office supply store, coffee shop, etc.) fits within the long term plans and vision for the city. It is this vision that I believe guides the policies (building codes, investment policies, etc.) that the city is implementing, including the city’s investment in promoting NDT to the region and the world. It is the vision and how it breaks down into city-wide strategic planning and plans implementation that defines weather the customers that I need will, first, will come to my business and second, pay the prices that I need in order to make a profit. For others, it may be phrased as “weather the customers are coming and paying the right price for existing products and services.â€
I can understand that it is difficult to leave our businesses and step outside to look back on how it fits the larger picture of what is going on around it. Specially if the larger picture is not properly articulated in a short and concise way. All of us, weather aspiring business owners or established ones, need to step out of the box and re-generate our ability to imagine our businesses in relation to the direction of this constantly changing world. This is a constant challenge, is not done once or twice, but constantly, I see elements of this process coming out in the discussion, but these elements need direction (a larger picture direction).
Let’s engage the planning process now that the city has launched it and is asking for our participation, and let’s shape the future of Northfield according to what makes the most sense for what we plan to do or are doing already, specially if we want to influence the city’s investment policies and how it manages image and promotes the city so that in the future, we don’t need to complain about what the city does wrong, but about what “we” did wrong if something does not work.
Griff, would you run a poll on “how much is Reginaldo getting in trouble”? I only know a few of you so I don’t know how my contributions may be too much “out of the box”.
Gracias.
Reginaldo.
#9
Griff Wigley January 14, 2007 6:28 pm
I kind of like Peter’s idea of an ECZ: e-commerce zone, esp. since we’ve been pushing for ultra high-speed broadband and wi-fi downtown.
This is a great article he linked to:
Internet Sales Help Downtown Smart Growth Revival: Online entrepreneurs compete with big-boxes
http://mlui.org/growthmanagement/fullarticle.asp?fileid=16965
Both Bookfellows and Monkey See, Monkey Reads are doing reasonably well, apparently, because of a large percentage of their used book sales coming via the internet. Are there other stores on Division who are doing the same?
#10
Tracy Davis January 14, 2007 7:02 pm
When I was retailing out of the Oriental Rug Gallery, only 35% of my sales were local (Northfield). Another 25-30% was metro area, and the rest was Internet sales.
#11
norman butler January 14, 2007 8:33 pm
Reginaldo. Do not worry about thinking outside the box. I’d be happy seeing more people thinking inside the box.
And beware of envisionaries for they seek your money.
Joking apart, I beg to differ with Ross regarding the difference between micro- and macro-economics. Au contaire, the Balance Sheet, the risk-taking, the debt-service is macro, whereas fine tuning the P&L, focussing on increasing sales, bringing more people in the door, better marketing..all of this is micro…for the individual entrepreneur, provided of course they are not completely clueless.
However, from the City-as-a-whole point of view, bringing more people downtown is macro..for without success in this regard we are all at a loss. Micro to the City is who gets the support, who gets the grants, loans..positive regard
For the moment, let’s call downtown Old Town and the H3 development New Town (Peter Waskew’s notion). Old Town is competing with New Town (mall city), and also Old Town is competing within itself. New Town developers, savvy corporate people that they are, are intuitively careful - even if they don’t talk to each other- about competing within itself (one steak and chops place, one upscale big box, one economy big box, one hardware and builders merchant, one…). Old Town people, optimistic, enthuiastic, naive as we are have no such caution.
The City goes with the flow, aids and abetts New Town, shakes its head at the antics of Old Town…’cos whilst being genuine are perceived as…well let’s say either headstrong (good grief..they opened that store in that building!) or timid (my, my..all they do is talk..talk..talk)..emotional…not at all corporate.
I heartily endorse Tracy’s view of the mix, motivations and results of downtown businesses.
Most (90%?) scrape by, and are tax write-offs, pin-money earners, hobbysists or people who love Northfield and want to make it better (or a mixture of these motivations). All are valuable beyond description..to the life, love, and longevity of downtown Northfield. Yet it is difficult.
Most people think..assume..we are all making loads of money (this alone takes a lot of suspended disbelief). I refer you to Victor’s post a while ago on this subject which was restaurant specific. $1000 per day average is what you need to make a go of it ($350,000 per year gross sales with the owner working in the business). Less than that, you’re stuffed. More that that you’re hopefully looking forward to the year as it unfolds (weather, events, The Economy, house prices…).
However, paradigms exist (a bit like visions)and they also shift. But they cannot do so, unless and until, we start talking plain and honest to each other.
BTW, I talk not from the state of my affairs, my businesses, my needs, or myself, but from my experience…for what its worth.
Northfield is a gem. Northield Downtown (Old Town) is the Jewel in the Crown. Not through accident or design, action or inaction, should it be dimiinished.
#12
Ross Currier January 14, 2007 9:24 pm
Hey Tracy:
Thanks for weighing in. The rant on being an independent business person that you cut short merits further exploration. I was just, somewhat surprisingly, interviewed over the phone by a group of reporters at KRLX and they seem most interested in the local business owner vs. national chain owner slant on this topic.
I’m not so sure that it wouldn’t make sense for the EDA to invest in downtown businesses rather try to lure the next Toyota plant. I’m currently reading a book called Small Mart. The author argues that the track record indicates that investing in locally owned businesses instead of spending to lure new businesses has resulted in much higher and steadier returns when studied over the long term. Unfortunately, I’m too focused on working to have a handful of businesses survive 2007 to try to bring about a paradigm shift at the EDA.
I agree with you that the new Economic Development plan recognizes the potential economic power of our authentic downtown. However, as you know from your final meeting, in focusing on their top priority, the EDA plans to spend approximately $350,000 on a new business park in the northwest part of the city and approximately $12,500 on promoting downtown.
I applaud your efforts to bring our attention to the many components that contribute to economic survival for a small businesses. I also praise your suggestion that a financial tool should be evaluated by the people for whom it is intended.
I believe that this discussion will reach a new level of detail in the next few days.
Thanks much,
Ross
#13
Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin January 14, 2007 10:10 pm
Nice material. So far 7 of us have participated in this discussion. There were more than 50 participants I believe at the last NDDC forum. Shall we see if we can get others to express themselves. As I said before, a good conversation on-line could produce the material we need to shape some planning, but we need more folks, specially people with Tracy’s detph of knowledge and Ross’s ear on DT heart’s beat. Anybody else interested in Northfield’s downtown.? This feels like an on-line strategic planning session. We are still on the brainstorming, venting, general discussion stage. It would be nice to take what has been said and frame it into a list along the lines of the SWOT or a similar analysis, but we need more (many more) contributors.
Reginaldo.
#14
Peter Waskiw January 15, 2007 12:32 am
If they can do it, why can’t we.
http://www.gvsu.edu/marec/index.cfm?id=F3B9BDCE-C5C8-E1B2-B4673FDCA00CD0EA
By thinking about the following questions we can start to strategize what Northfield people need to do to accomplish something of this magnitude.
What would block Northfield from doing a similiar project?
What individuals are/not in place politcally and organizationaly to “make it happen”?
What incentives are/not in place politcally and organizationaly to “make it happen”?
#15
Peter Waskiw January 15, 2007 11:41 am
From ‘Smart City Radio’ a show on
“The Potential of Creative Industries as viable economic development engines.”
This is an extemely relvant topic for Northfield. I suggest that these types of strategies be fully explored and developed in the ‘revision’ the Comprehensive Plan.
http://www.smartcityradio.com/smartcityradio/past_shows.cfm?showsmartcityID=302&PageNum_getsmartshows=2
Any thoughts?!
#16
Jerry Bilek January 15, 2007 3:31 pm
Okay,
I was at the NDDC forum and my business has been mentioned in the discussion so I’ll weigh in. I just opened Monkey See, Monkey Read July 24, 2006. Before that I opened Goodbye, Blue Monday 16 years ago with two partners. I also had a hand, a small one, in River City Books.
Ross brings up good points in Small Mart(I think he bought it at my shop). EDA should really look at the cost/benefit of business incentives. The NEC(Northfield Enterprise Center), an EDA funded organization was no help to me. I think Northfield needs the NEC, but it needs to work.
Griff is correct, the internet is a big part of my business. 20% Sept-Dec. I don’t count August since I was not selling online yet. I think more downtown businesses could do a lot online. Restaraunts not so much, but retailers for sure. My estimate is 25-30% of my 2007 sales will be online. Currently less than 15% of my inventory is online. As of 3:00 today I have sold 1 book in the store and have 15 online orders. Yes, it’s a holiday, yes it’s a monday, yes, it snowed.
Yes, many downtown businesses are hobbies etc. Mine is not. It is my only income and I had to turn a profit from day 1. It is a very small profit, but I pay my bills and drive an old car and could use some new socks.
If my store front fails, I will go 100% online as a friend of mine in MPLS will do in April. Pioneer Press ran a story about Loome Antiquarian in Stillwater. Property taxes are running him out of business.
I cannot control my rent or property taxes, so I look to Anne Bretts comments at the forum for inspiration. Marketing, Marketing, Marketing. Bring so many customers downtown, businesses would be foolish not to open here. I look to the Rare Pair, Oolala and River City books for inspiration. Professionally operated small retailers in Downtown. There are others, but I like these.
The article about Manitowoc Griff linked is good. I have not read all of it yet.
my two cents for now.
Jerry
#17
Anne Bretts January 15, 2007 9:11 pm
Great discussion, and as long as my name has come up, I might as well speak for myself.
I have been writing about retail for more than a decade and have covered small and large towns from Indiana to the Canadian border. You don’t have to be large to be successful…think Galena, Bayfield, Ely, Grand Marais. Some have natural attractions, but
Galena is the only one of the three cities with more than a thousand year-round residents. Most of the restaurants in Bayfield are in small old buildings without expensive kitchens. Ely literally is at the end of the road, with no through traffic and a very short and unpredictable tourist season…all have crushing taxes and property value increases.
The things they have in common are:
A strong identity or brand.
Key events that support the brand.
Strong dependence on the Internet–and business and personal connections in large metro areas.
A rock solid and unified marketing strategy.
Relentless communication with customers, Realtors, organizations, travel agents and the media, on topics large and small.
You can’t change the expense side of the equation, but there are dozens of things you can do to increase traffic, expand your Internet reach and boost sales.
I’d be happy to help bring in some experts — and profile some local experts — to help get the ball rolling.
#18
Tracy Davis January 16, 2007 11:00 am
Anne’s comments bring us back around to Reginaldo’s questions about “What is Northfield’s vision?”
According to the Comprehensive Plan, Northfield wants to be a “freestanding community”, which is code for “not a bedroom community”. This implies that the community’s vision is to have real jobs in town where people can work without commuting to the metro area, a large goal (hence the work of the Economic Development Authority).
To some people, “freestanding community” also implies that our mix of retail and services is geared at least as much to residents as it is to tourists. Anne’s example of Grand Marais et al may go to the heart of “the vision thing”. One of the comments I used to hear a lot in Northfield about ten years ago was not “We don’t want to become another Apple Valley” (although I did hear that), but more often it was “We don’t want to become another Stillwater”. It seemed that both the long-time and newer residents wanted to preserve the cohesiveness of the Northfield community, and not revamp the downtown to focus on tourism.
Modern consumer options and choices being what they are, it doesn’t appear possible that Northfield can support a dedicated shoe store, or men’s clothing store, or any number of other things that residents might want. But I don’t believe the automatic conclusion is that we should develop more things to attract day-trippers. Sure, outside money is part of the solution/opportunity. But we have a lot of smart, creative people in this town, and there may be other models to learn from: How to take a built environment designed for pedestrian traffic in the late 1800s, and craft it into something relevant for the needs and economics of the 21st century.
You may say I’m a dreamer…
#19
Anne Bretts January 16, 2007 11:53 am
Tracy,
You don’t have to be a tourist destination or a bedroom community or freestanding community, you need to integrate all these things to make Northfield work.
The fact is that most of the businesses that have moved to the Bayfield area are owned by people who came there from the Twin Cities and Chicago and Madison as tourists and fell in love with it.
And as Ely and Bayfield have found, the vacationers build second homes, and then become year-round residents.
An IBM executive who lived all over the world rose high enough in the company that he could choose his base, and he chose the living room of his home in Ely. He still travels some, but runs international projects in the town he chose because he came there on vacation years ago.
The colleges are another key recruiting tool. Treat your students well and as alumni they will find or create ways to bring their businesses back to or near campus.
And those bedroom community workers are the ones who brought the kids who keep the schools and the library healthy and who raised the money for soccer fields and other amenities that draw the tourists and the students and the year-round residents…
I have my freelance office here and so does my husband, but I don’t shop a lot downtown. Some of the “tourist” marketing strategies I’ve talked about would encourage residents like me to wander downtown more often.
As I said, you need to integrate all the pieces.
Stillwater has daytrippers, tourists, and a booming year-round population.
Building a town is like building something out of a kit with lots of pieces and not a lot of instructions. Northfield has the pieces. Most towns do. They just need people willing to sit down and put the pieces together in a way that works.
#20
kiffi summa January 16, 2007 12:33 pm
O.K….So everyone agrees that you have to put a lot of small pieces together to have a successfull DT; now it’s time to get a little more specific on various points.
Let’s start with Ane’s comments re: Bayfield, and etc. communities. Implicit in Anne’s comment re: “vacationers built second homes and then became full time residents” is both the privilege of Money, and Choice. Young families with two working parents, and several kids, don’t usually fall in that demographic. We are not talking here about”IBM executives that lived all over the world”. Sorry, Anne, but i don’t find that an apt parallel.
If new residents value the DT, as a core, as a worthwhile economic and social entity to support….. Then they are going to have to put their dollars where their values are. That means using your economic power to curb a nationwide shopping model that says”1-Stop at Big Box” is best for me! It is not reasonable, on an economic basis, to say the DT is important to me, but I can’t shop there. This future MUSEUM [the Downtown] has to work economically, or unless the Medici family comes along to invest and rescue, we are going to continue to slip away.
Ross has mentioned “Small Mart”, a good book, and aanother equally good or better is “Big Box Swindle” by Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self Reliance. I think it is even stronger on the economic analysis of the struggle for dollars that independant retailers face.
Our local gov’t CAN do things to support the DT, AND still be good stewards of the public$$, Tracy. It’s a matter of priorities, as Ross said:750K for an imagined industrial park vs. 7500. for the DT that evryone SAYS is the community’s core????? Come on. Where’s the political will?
We need BOTH kinds of political will: that which comes from local gov’t entities, council, EDA, and that of the citizens buying power.
#21
Anne Bretts January 16, 2007 12:48 pm
For crying out loud, you can keep arguing about changing the entire economy or you can get busy changing the things that can be changed.
The fact is there are a lot of middle-income older people who moved here to be close to their kids and grandkids, who go to the senior center and are dying to find great places to eat and shop and get together to talk. I know a lot of them — and downtown isn’t reaching them very well.
I made my office here and I’m not a wealthy IBM executive and I don’t have a second home. I still go to church in Minnetonka each week and we can choose anywhere to have brunch after.
I travel throughout the Twin Cities, Wisconsin, the Chicago area and southern California. I’m not making up these suggestions in a vacuum.
I’m not going to stop shopping at Target, but I’m willing to consider downtown businesses that treat me well and give me a reason to stop in.
I’m saying you start with what you have, see the potential and start chipping away — while you work on the larger goal of dismantling Target and Southdale and the Mall of America. You can’t just wait until everything is perfect before you start.
#22
Tracy Davis January 16, 2007 1:44 pm
Anne, I think you’re absolutely right about the centrality of the colleges, and trying to get alumni to return here at some point. However, I can’t agree with your assessment of the “bedroom community workers”. Residential development costs more in services (infrastructure, schools, etc.) than it brings in tax revenues - so a disproportionate increase in residential development is actually detrimental to the community, especially if the residential development is a demographic that includes school-age children. The result is an increased demand for services without bringing in the corresponding revenues. You don’t need a Ph.D. in economics to figure out that this can be a problem, and that’s exactly what’s happened to Northfield in the past decade - the residential development has far outpaced the commercial development, to the degree that we’re already economically lopsided and need to address this ASAP.
I’m more interested in why you don’t shop downtown… I’m sure you’re a good example of a lot of newer residents and I’d welcome a peek inside your head. Is it the hours, or the offerings? Are you looking for things that downtown doesn’t have, or do they have what you’re looking for but it costs too much, or what?
#23
Peter Waskiw January 16, 2007 1:46 pm
Anne,
Are you saying “…you start with what you have…†or do you mean HAD.
A very important study identified several
interconnected problems that led to the decline of small-city downtowns, these are:
(1) construction of highways and increasing automobile use;
(2) decentralization of functions previously centered in downtowns (retailing, professional services, entertainment, hospitality,
governmental activities);
(3) disinvestment in downtown in favor of commercial development
on the periphery; and
(4) the declining image of downtown as a desirable location.
I know I’m gonna cop some flak on this one, but believe it not, Northfield has a very weak civic infrastructure capacity that is fraught with differences and conflicts and is incapable of helping this community pull together around common goals and interests.
Some of comments above reflect this persective. I have a close friend who has recently set up a home based business. He sought help from the NEC, it took him over a YEAR to get comments back on his business plan. He need to the BP for grants, loans, partnerships commitment etc. What a joke.
How can the City help economic development for the downtown (Old Economy) and the not so NEW Economy (Highway 3 development), when it can’t even get the easy stuff right.
I’m really looking forward to your reply.
#24
Anne Bretts January 16, 2007 2:21 pm
Peter: This town has a staggering amount of potential. Right now. Right here.
Kiffi: So you only want noble, pure of heart poor people here, their businesses subsidized by me and my small, non-polluting, paper-free, noise-free business, and if they succeed too much they have to leave? Those well-educated, working-parent families you find so endearing have little time or money for $3 lattes, long dinners at restaurants, original (breakable) art and $80 shoes. You’re going to have to let a few of the middle class in, and rich folks if they promise to put their filthy cash in an envelope before dropping it in the collection plate at church.
Tracy: I have a long list of concerns and suggestions, but I don’t have time right now to list them all here. I’ve offered too many times to help and now I’ve found people willing to work on what’s possible, not just complain about what isn’t. I’m heading back over to Northfield.org to organize some meetings on the topic over the next few weeks. You can check there for details soon. There are people who want to make change, and we will.
As to your point about bedroom community workers, I’m not suggesting you recruit more, just that they are here and they do make a huge contribution to the community — and I’m talking about working with what you have.
Half the people in this town have lived here less than 10 years, actually far less than that. We can shop in any of hundreds of cute stores in dozens of towns — and online without leaving our chairs.
You don’t feel compelled to hire me to do your PR, why would I feel compelled to eat at your restaurant or shop at your store? Why should your small business be my responsibility, or the city’s, when mine isn’t a concern of yours?
Give me a reason to come downtown and I will.
#25
Tracy Davis January 16, 2007 2:48 pm
Anne, I suspect we agree on more details than we disagree on. BUT… one difference I clearly see between our longer- and shorter-term residents is that the longer-term ones DO try to hire local as well as buy local, whenever possible - at least, the thought is closer to the front of their minds, rather than an afterthought. That’s one of the small, cohesive-community pieces that I wish we could immediately transplant into the hearts and minds of newer residents who have moved here from a suburb, because it’s a major thought change.
#26
Peter Waskiw January 16, 2007 2:52 pm
Anne
You missed the whole point. The whole discussion is about potential - past, existing and future. And by the way, ‘economic development’ is about “changing” economics. The not so New Economies (big box retailers) do it all the time.
I’m sorry, but if I want to be treated like an idiot I just to Target. But I suppose it’s not about the service or the conversation, it about the urge, the excitement of spending money. Yes, the New Economies understand the retailer very well.
#27
Anne Bretts January 16, 2007 3:04 pm
Peter,
I didn’t miss the point at all. You begin to change the larger economic picture by changing the local economy, and you do that by changing the way you treat people who choose to move here, work here or visit here.
I am not treated like an idiot at Target, but I have been ignored and poorly served downtown more often than I have at any big box store.
Tracy,
You can’t transplant loyalty into new residents, you earn it. Long-time residents aren’t buying from total strangers out of loyalty to Northfield, they are buying from friends and relatives, people whose incomes and lives are intertwined with theirs. I have friends and relatives all over, so if you want my loyalty, you need to build a relationship with me, not treat me like an intruder who has screwed up an otherwise perfect little town.
#28
Peter Waskiw January 16, 2007 3:26 pm
Anne,
I must say at least you speak to the point about the issue and for that, I have to thank you.
Why don’t you read the “Third-Tier Cities: Adjusting to the New Economy” - U.S. Economic Development Administration.
http://mtauburnassociates.com/Reports/thirdtier.pdf
It actually speaks to two of the issues you brought up, ‘Transformation of Human Capital’ with regards to difficulties in retaining youth and attracting new residents.
But places these issues along others such as
- out-of-date infrastructure;
- dependence on traditional industry;
- declining competitiveness;
- weakened civic infrastructure; and
- more limited access to resources.
I suppose, what I’m trying to say and perhaps you are also, is that the problem is three dimensional. That is, it will take a number of strategies, including improving retail perceptions about DT to improve the economic vitality of the Northfield Town Center. Some of these strategies would include, in my belief, creating incentives for small business owners to make a go of it.
#29
Anne Bretts January 16, 2007 3:39 pm
You don’t need incentives to get started. No one gives me incentives.
I give up…I have to…I’m on the verge of turning into a Republican. I’ll keep you posted on the discussions of what CAN be done.
#30
Peter Waskiw January 16, 2007 3:43 pm
Anne
As one example, what do you call TIF’s and who have they been given to in the last ten years.
But…I am looking forward to what can be done. Please keep me posted.
#31
kiffi summa January 16, 2007 4:16 pm
Anne Bretts wrote:
Kiffi: So you only want noble, pure of heart poor people here, their businesses subsidized by me and my small, non-polluting, paper-free, noise-free business, and if they succeed too much they have to leave? Those well-educated, working-parent families you find so endearing have little time or money for $3 lattes, long dinners at restaurants, original (breakable) art and $80 shoes. You’re going to have to let a few of the middle class in, and rich folks if they promise to put their filthy cash in an envelope before dropping it in the collection plate at church.
Anne: I do think you misunderstood my point. I was saying that the comments YOU made about the success of Bayfield, etc, seemed to be based on wealthy people settling there , first as vacationers, then residents. I personally think it would be terrific if Lorenzo de Medici and his whole family would come here , re-incarnated, and infuse some developmental $$ into the DT…… dollars that some locals prefer to spend on the highway…….all the while proclaiming, to their out of town visitors, how “cute” the historic DT is….
P.S. Please drop all dollar donations in the DT, not in the church collection plate! oh,oh! That’s bound to cause trouble………
#32
Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin January 16, 2007 4:18 pm
Slowly, but surely, the answers to many of the larger issues are coming out. This forum is like a workshop on Northield DT’s innerworkings and the personalities of the people who love downtown.
I commend all of you for such a passion for this city. As a newcomer, I will stay away from commenting until the atmosphere clears a bit more, but please keep bringing new contributors into the picture. We still have only a small sample of the views out there. Can the bank officials post an opinion on how they want to participate and shape the future of downtown Northfield.? And maybe also Malt-o-Meal, they have a big stake. Their actual plans, may also provide a picture of where their investments will turn in the future. Can these aspects be shared.? What about contributions from the city.? I am sure they can contribute more.
Reginaldo.
#33
Ross Currier January 16, 2007 4:21 pm
A few people have responded to the issues raised at the NDDC’s Downtown Forum with a call for more marketing. Although more marketing probably couldn’t hurt and smarter marketing would probably help, I don’t think marketing will meet all the challenges and it certainly won’t address all the issues.
Since last week’s Forum, I’ve been contacted by a number of building and business owners. It is clear that not all of them enjoyed as good a year as Joe Grundhoefer did in 2006. Some folks downtown are thriving, some folks are surviving and some are indeed struggling. Based on what I’ve heard, I think that marketing would probably benefit those in the range between Thriving and Surviving but those that are in the range between Surviving and Struggling have told me that they need more than just marketing.
Based on the theoretical restaurant that Victor Summa sketched out in his earlier comments, and honed by some of the remarks made by Norman Butler at the Forum and further tweaked by phone calls and e-mails that I got from some owners who prefer to remain nameless, I did some financial modeling. I think that the results help illustrate the need for comprehensive strategies.
Below is Victor’s restaurant with some free business advice from Norman and Joe. Instead of an approximately 5% loss, it’s now showing an approximately 5% profit.
Gross Income $350,000
Food Costs $182,000
Labor $ 62,400
Build-Out Debt $ 37,200
Other Oprtng Exp $ 24,000
Rent $ 20,000
Taxes $ 7,800
Net Income $ 16,600
Here is the same business, the following year, with a 15% fuel-related increase in food prices, a modest 2.5% increase in wages, and the discussed 15% increase in real estate taxes. We’re assuming that the business and the building are owned by the same person, so that the building owner is “eating†some of the real estate tax increase (a common practice as I heard over the last few days) so there is no rent increase.
Gross Income $350,000
Food Costs $209,300
Labor $ 63,960
Build-Out Debt $ 37,200
Other Oprtng Exp $ 24,000
Rent $ 20,000
Taxes $ 8,970
Net Income $(13,430)
Ouch! This business will not be around for long in this scenario. Let’s see how much “marketing†it would take to at least maintain the 5% profit. Assuming that the restaurant gets $8 income on the average from each customer (less than some places, more for than a few others) it would take 3,754 additional customers a year or 10 per day. Not everyone who comes downtown goes into each restaurant. I asked people how many additional sets of feet on the street they would need to get 10 more customers a day. The answers ranged from “at least 40†to “maybe 100â€. To look at it from another angle, we’re talking about a 9% sales increase, not overly aggressive, but no slam dunk either.
Let’s try to maintain the 5% by “managing†costs instead. We’ll work to limit the rise in food costs to 10% (how, I don’t know…using less prepared products?, buying in bulk to obtain discounts?, increasing the percentage of Minnesota goods?, consulting with Joe and Norman?). We’ll work with the EDA to get more favorable terms on at least a portion of the financing for the equipment. (Deanna and Rick, here we come!) Finally, we won’t sit back and let the legislature increase commercial property taxes by 15%. (David Bly gave us an opening on Locally Grown, let’s get together and follow up.)
Gross Income $350,000
Food Costs $200,200
Labor $ 63,960
Build-Out Debt $ 18,600
Other Oprtng Exp $ 24,000
Rent $ 20,000
Taxes $ 7,020
Net Income $ 16,220
Hey, not bad, we’ve maintained the 5% profit, without relying on a sales increase. Let’s increase the sales 2.5%, due to better marketing, increased investment, improved service, good weather or dumb luck.
Gross Income $358,750
Food Costs $200,200
Labor $ 63,960
Build-Out Debt $ 18,600
Other Oprtng Exp $ 24,000
Rent $ 20,000
Taxes $ 7,020
Net Income $ 24,970
Whoa, we’re almost to the point where it makes financial sense to own a business in downtown Northfield. I am assuming that the owner is drawing a salary and this whopping 7% net is going to be used for reinvestment in the businesses.
This modeling exercise seems to support those folks that believe that marketing doesn’t address all the issues downtown building and business owners face and won’t be sufficient help to the owners that need it the most. It appears that a comprehensive approach promises the best results.
Although it may be worthwhile to evaluate the current marketing efforts for effectiveness, as well as consider an increase in these, perhaps redirected, efforts, we need to continue to work on the other issues too.
#34
Tracy Davis January 16, 2007 4:44 pm
At $63,000 for labor, that only reflects a living wage for two people at most.
#35
Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin January 16, 2007 5:07 pm
What a great contribution Ross. Even if we are off some points, the picture is painted for somebody who may be thinking restaurants. Ross, could you now provide with a list of all of the different types of businesses in DT. In order to get the whole picture, we will need a similar analysis done for other industries. You probably have this list somewhere already. Then see if we can get other people like Victor to provide the details for the other businesses. We can’t bring the case to the EDA or the legislature until we can paint them the larger picture and we can provide a holistic analysis of the current situation downtown in relation to the larger factors (investment, taxes, etc.) and how they affect each business sector. There is more to it, but can we concentrate on collecting factual information from the other business sectors. How about the banks.? And how about the factors that make taxes go up.? Can they be influenced by the business community in favor of everyone.? How.? Maybe a coalition of businesses for socially responsible taxing and city re-investment in DT is needed. Please don’t take it serious for now, I am just kidding, the last thing I need is to be seen as trying to reduce the income for the city and have businesses decide how the taxes they paid are re-invested to promote their success.
Reginaldo.
#36
Peter Waskiw January 17, 2007 9:38 am
Reginaldo,I really like your sense of humor: “….the last thing I need is to be seen as trying to reduce the income for the city and have businesses decide how the taxes they paid are re-invested to promote their success.”
Perhaps, I can expand, I hope people working for the City of Northfield capacity realize that any form of investment from a City institution is the communities money not theirs and that investment benfits the City as a whole. Take this example from Austin, Texas, the creation of a homestead preservation district. “…this financing model, which is often used as a tool to raise an areas property values, is being used to help owners effected by its success.” A HPD is modeled after tax increment financing. In a TIF district, a percentage of revenue generated by property taxes in a geographic area is designated to fuel future growth, repair, upkeep, or development
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/column?oid=oid%3A435202
This same principle can be applied to the DT.
For those interested, this article speaks to the issue of one method on “how to” control and use property tax as an incentive for redevelopment, yes it can be doneand there are methods. It would be smart if documented them in a “tool box” of sorts.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/editorial/16069716.htm
#37
Dan Bergeson January 17, 2007 9:54 am
Both at the NDDC forum and throughout this discussion, there seems to be an assumption by some that the marketing of downtown, indeed the wider community of Northfield is non-existent. I’d like to offer a list (by no means exhaustive) of all of the marketing efforts of which I’m aware that have taken place during the past 24 months. While I’m a strong proponent of increased and more coordinated efforts in this area, I think it’s a good idea to review the base on which we can continue to build.
Feel free to add to this list. I don’t intend to leave out anyone’s elses work toward our common goal, but my memory might have some gaps in it. That happens more frequently these days. Something about the aging thing.
1. Launch of http://www.visitingnorthfield.com by the Convention and Visitors Bureau
2. Creation of 5 new sets of downtown lightpole banners and a rotating schedule for installation by the NDDC
3. Establishment of a roadside billboard on I-35 direction traffic to “Historic Northfield†by the NDDC and the Convention and Visitors Bureau
4. Production of the first-ever Vintage Band Music Festival, most events occurring downtown, by Paul Niemisto and the VBF committee
5. Distribution of 1500 “welcome families†bags of downtown information from retailers at St. Olaf and Carleton family weekends by the NDDC
6. Distribution of “Welcome Students†posters for downtown windows by the NDDC
7. “Welcome Students†inserts paid for by downtown retailers stuffed in St. Olaf and Carleton student mailboxes by the NDDC
8. Distribution of “Extended Holiday Hours†signs for downtown windows by the NDDC
9. Distribution of “Welcome Attendees†posters for downtown windows for NCAA athletic championships at St. Olaf and Carleton by the NDDC
10. Launch of “Locally Grown†radio show and website by Griff Wigley, Tracy Davis and Ross Currier
11. Launch of Northfield Entertainment Guide by By All Means Graphics
12. Launch of Diversions section in the Northfield News
13. Staging of first-ever Taste of Northfield in Bridge Square by the NDDC
14. 12 months of Northfield Sesquicentennial events, many events occurring downtown
15. 12 months of Third Thursday events at the Grand Event Center
16. Campus coupons distributed by the Northfield News to all Carleton and St. Olaf students semi-annually
17. Two successful years of ArtSwirl: 10 days of art during August
18. Two seriously successful WinterWalk evenings
19. Two more successful Crazy Daze events
20. Two more wildly popular Jesse James Days weekends
21. Several hundred visits to new residents by Welcome Services for You
22. Distribution of annual Visitor’s Guide by the Northfield News and the Chamber of Commerce
23. Extensive programming by the Northfield Historical Society, the Northfield Arts Guild, ArtOrg and the Northfield Public Library
24. Continued enhancements and increased traffic at http://www.northfield.org
#38
Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin January 17, 2007 10:17 am
It was said on another blogg, Northfield has a lot of people who make a living with their heads. I interpreted it as “Northfield has a lot of smart people who make money by inspiring others to pay for their ideas and intelectual talents.”
So let’s get deal with the details of running a business in downtown, I believe that most people running their businesses there can explain what works and what doesn’t. Their success is no longer depending on how good they are at their business. At least that is what I have been hearing with one or two exceptions.
Thin profit margins are the result of a heavy burden, high taxes, operating costs, etc. This is not something that businesses asked for, or did you all approved the 15% tax incraesed mentioned by Ross.? What I see is a cloud over the businesses that shaes NDT. from been seeing clearly in relationship with the rest of the city, the region, the state etc. If we get over the cloud, we will be able to take a look at the larger forces that affect DT. With this view we can better suggest the strategies that may help those businesses on the ground be more sucdessful.
The cloud, is made up of the vision for the city, the taxing and re-investment system and policies associated with it, the overall picture of where DT needs to be going in order to succeeed etc. A billboard should be at the entrance of the city describing very simply why people passing by should take the time to stop downtown.
The sentence on the billboard is the result of a vision for DT. There is also no need to contradict anything that has been said, all of the contributions have a high value in creating a vision, when other have contributed, there will be work for an outside consultant to take it all and find out what people want for this city and weather it is possible to achieve with the current conditions (taxing, building codes, investment levels, etc.).
This is the work that has been done by the consultants that have come to Northfield in recent years and are back for more. This forum should serve them greatly, but again, we need a more representative participation. Remember, in a meeting at City Hall, you won’t have the time to say everything that can be said here, and they probably won’t take note of all of what you say. Said here, the notes are taken, and if this forum is representative of a cross section of Northfield, they have an implicit obligation to consider it.
So, leaders of Northfield, can you look into strategies for bringing more representation and take this forum to the next level to really influence how decisions will be made in the near future. It would be a pitty to waste all of the amazing contributions made here, not so say the cost associated with all the time we have all invested here.?
Reginaldo.
#39
Ross Currier January 17, 2007 10:29 am
Good point, Dan, there is a lot of marketing going on in Northfield. Further investment would probably be a good thing, refocusing the message might help, and cooperative efforts definitely would increase the leverage.
The discussion also seems to be focused on attracting more tourists. Certainly this is of interest to many people and I know that the folks at the Convention and Visitors Bureau, where the vast majority of resources for this target market reside, are open to suggestions.
However, looking at the businesses in downtown, approximately 20% are restaurants, 40% are retail and 40% are services. Assuming that half of the retail sells things that might be of interest to tourists, not hardware, medicine, or auto parts, that would be only about 40% of downtown businesses that would benefit from a surge in tourists. Though, who knows, maybe a tourist would get a haircut, buy insurance or hire an architect.
Tracy’s comments about Northfield’s desire to retain some elements of being a stand-alone community, stressed not only in the aging Comprehensive Plan but also in the recent Economic Development Plan, with a synergy between the residential and commercial portions of our community, seem to call for focusing at least some portion of our resources on the 60% of our commercial sector that is not based on the tourist trade.
#40
Anne Bretts January 17, 2007 11:09 am
I guess I wasn’t very clear about the issue of marketing. The list Dan presented is fine, but the approaches tend to be very traditional, very passive or very transient. There is information on the website if someone finds the website. And the websites aren’t very intuitive in sending people to the information easily. The visitor’s guid e is availably by mail, but you should be able to download a pdf.
There are banners to see if you’re already here. The students get a piece of paper in a mailbox, but what happens the rest of term, when the piece of paper is in the trash. They are fine as far as they go, but
I was talking about creative, ongoing, proactive — and cheap — ways of engaging the people who live here and getting the attention of those who don’t.
Some of the events, such as Third Thursdays, are great, but people don’t find out about them in time to plan to attend.
The list of businesses on the CVB website is nice, but the shops don’t have descriptions or weblinks. And as I recounted at the NDDC meeting, my daughter wanted to buy us a gift card but instead had to mail a check, get paper certificates and now I have to carry a wad of paper instead of a convenient gift card in my wallet. I know there are fees, but a universal gift card available online would be a huge draw for parents and grandparents looking to send gifts to students and for snowbirds and former residents to send to friends and relatives here.
You do a good job of reaching the Northfield News, but little information gets to Northfield.org, or to more than general media lists. There are shopping reporters and food critics and theater critics and arts publications, all of whom need to have good relationships with us so they will use our businesses as sources in stories and mention us over and over in lots of ways, not just when big events happen. This isn’t about placing ads on paper or mailing brochures, it’s about creating a buzz, getting people talking. I’ve seen it done over and over and you can’t buy that kind of media attention. I monitor the media closely and Northfield has some of that buzz now, and it wouldn’t be hard at all to build on it.
There are lots and lots of other possibilities I see every day in my work. That’s why I mentioned Ely and Bayfield and other cities that have gone well beyond tourism to integrate all the pieces they need to build their futures.
And I haven’t even started on the ways individual businesses can build sales…
I’m not saying the bigger issues should be ignored, it’s just that there’s so much you can do while you chip away at the bigger issues.