Downtown retail strategies forum at the Grand

The NDDC and the Northfield Chamber of Commerce co-hosted a special community meeting today at the Grand. The groups are working together under contract with the Northfield Economic Development Authority to develop greater coordination of retail strategies.

Left: Chamber president Dave Ludescher addressing the crowd.
Center: See the album for a couple dozen more photos.
Right: One of a dozen small groups discussing these five topics:

1. Identify the groups and programs that currently support retail
2. Search for the commonalities between retailers
3. Generate ideas on the “gaps” in our retail mix
4. Identify the challenges and opportunities in filling these gaps
5. Generate concepts for increased retail leverage from tourism

I snapped photos of the results of the brainstorming. (I missed #4, however… will try to get that) Click to enlarge.

Ross Currier has a reaction to the forum on the NDDC blog titled Positive Attitudes Prevail at Forum. Anne Bretts has a post titled Downtown talkers move dangerously close to action. Ray Cox has a post on his Northfield Construction Company weblog.

Update 2/7, 3 PM: Ross Currier has a new blog post with a 10-page PDF of the small group notes and 5 worksheets.