PD –

I just wrote a long post and it dissapeared into the ether. So I’ll try to make it short and sweet!

Tax abatements and develop money for for “main street” property owners and small businesses, instead of large chains. Even if the failure rate is high (and it will be) the incremental improvement will then bring additional businesses in who will notice the “movement.”

Beat the mall at its own game by spending money to make sure the sidewalks are in perfect shape and the flowers are watered and the litter is picked up. The devil is in the details. Local merchants have to work at this, but they need help, too.

Training (and no, I don’t know how this is done…) so that local business persons can learn to compete. Major chains (even coffee shops) make sure their people act and respond professionally. Local businesses need to have that edge, too, when it comes to client contact and marketing savvy, most of which not “rocket science.” In other words, we need to help level the playing field.

I am convinced that the coming oil shortage (it’s only a matter of time) will see the renaissance of small towns and cities. When gas gets to $5.00 a gallon and stays there, a more local concept of living may once again take hold.

I’ll keep thinking about this. It’s a long, tough slog for local businesses, who compete with national chains on every level in every sector…

Pilt

Pilt offers a lot of good info. But I would stress that there needs to be a firm understanding of the local and regional market. Trade area, customer demographics, market segments. All valuable info that most small business owners don’t have.

For the record, I’ve worked in towns on these matters and one common thread: taxes don’t matter. One of the towns I worked with had the highest tax rate in SE pa but the lowest vacancy rates (less than 2% of ALL commercial space… including second/third floors).

LV

one little aside… recognize that the economy of the 1950’s is not coming back to downtowns. pharmacies, hardware stores and shoe stores are not coming back in their previous form. Expect higher costs goods and services if you are drawing the right people. People will pay more for the goods and services if tehy are professional (reference to Pilt’s comments) and if they are high quality.

But the downtown of the 1950’s is dead. The primary market has been moved out of the downtown and needs to be replaced with another part of the economy (niche and destination).

There is a pattern that seems to repeat itself. One or two pioneers decided to open small businesses in what was an almost defunct business district. People start patronizing those businesses and more small businesspeople decide to open shops selling unique products or offering unique services.

The area becomes a destination. The landlords start to see dollar signs and jack up the rent. The small business find themselves unable to make a profit and close. Or the landlords decided not to renew the leases with the small business and instead rent to chain stores. The area is no longer a destination shopping area and business starts to fall off. Eventually, the street is dotted with empty storefronts. For an example, see the Manayunk section of Philadelphia.

The question is, what can be done to avoid this pattern? How can the pattern be avoided without infringing on the the landlords’ property rights?

Any ideas?

While it may be true that we are not going to get back the markets of the 1950’s, it is also true that current zoning regs in most municipalities put barriers between small businesses and urban real estate. The most two most significant issues are the absurd parking requirements and the single use zoning regs. Parking requirements make it difficult for business owners to set up shop in urban downtowns. In many areas the zoned central business areas are too small creating solely residential rings surrounding them or less dense commercial areas with high parking requirements. In these areas business often need to buy two buildings, knock one down for a parking lot, and but the business in the other. The reality here is that municipalities need to remove parking barriers for businesses an allow mixed use areas so that walkable mixed use community can grow. It may not work, but with zoning hearing board denying access to business owners, how will we ever know?

I agree that innovation, business and marketing savvy, and finding one’s niche are all vital to downtown small-business success. What kills honest commerce everytime is greed, graft, and corruption. The greed lies with the property owners, developers, big business, and the banks who dismiss the importance of small businesses in the community. Graft and corruption only lead to an unlevel playing field that most small businessmen prefer to avoid for the sake of maintaining their morality among other things.

You all have given me excellent comments, but could you be more specific in terms of what kind of infrastructure, workforce, population that lives within walking distance etc, would lure small business owners?

For example, would have the local government post pictures of available properties help? The info could include owner, selling or rental price, what kind of business originally inhabited the building, yearly taxes, etc. I know many buildings are sold through real estate companies that list this info, but perhaps having “one stop shopping” would work.

PD –

Marketing is fine, but making info available is not where the problem lies. There are a gazillion great old, mid-century (or earlier) buildings available in a gazilllion small towns and cities around the country. Many are structurally sound, architecturally impressive and ready for occupancy. One only has to drive through the Beaver, Allegheny, Ohio and Mon Valleys to see them.

The problem is not with Beaver Falls or Schenectady, NY or Muscogee, OK, all of which were once prosperous, thriving small cities.

The problem with the paradigm that favors suburbia over urban areas.

I would urge you to check out sites like, Cyburbia and the Congress for New Urbanism for some insight.

There are a lot of people that have studied and addressed this problem and it’s helpful to lean on what they have learned.

Personally, I would like to see the main drag of Beaver Falls turned into a boulevard with a grassy median down the middle of the street. It is an exceptionally wide street (too wide, to my mind) and this would help bring it into balance. There would have to be a ton of curb cuts, so that traffic flow would stay the same as it is today, and it would be only one small change, but it would look great!

This is quite a voyage you have embarked on…and I wish you all the luck in the world.

Pilt

Thanks for the links, Pilt.

I believe it was the Economites who laid out 7th Avenue. They wanted a street wide enough so a horse and wagon could turn around without backing up. As for a median, that might work except 7th Ave is also PA-18, a main through route.
There is a grass median from the Eastvale Bridge to 22nd Street(?), but I don’t think it could be extended any further.

My post about putting real estate online wasn’t so much about marketing as about making it easy for potential businesses to see everything available all in one place.

BF is lucky to have kept its supermarket, but it’s off the main drag, 7th Ave. I think this would be a great “anchor business” if it could be relocated to a new, bigger building in the middle of town, which has the most unoccupied space.
I’d also like to see the old Granda theater restored and made into an IMAX theater as a second “anchor”.

Does this sound feasible and what roadblocks would there be?

pd

One of the big problems with getting large regional and national chains to locate in extant buildings is that they simply don’t want to do it. They want a very, very specific “footprint,” which, in most cases, they can only get when they build a new place out in mall land. This very issue scuttled many of the efforts to drag retailers into downtown Pittsburgh, particularly in the “Fifth and Forbes” corridor.

As much as you might want your grocery retailer to move downtown…they simply aren’t going to do it. They don’t see themselves as “community leaders” or people who are going to “help restore BF.” They see themselves as business-people. And they will go where they can a) spend the least and b) make the most.

This really isn’t surprising…for it’s exactly what classic “main street” businesses did years ago. The hardware store and deli and dress shop didn’t open their businesses on Main Street because they were well-meaning; they did it because, at that time, THAT’S where the business was!

Don’t get me wrong. I love “main streets” for many reasons….sigh….

And restoring the old Granada? I’d love nothing more. I’m a huge fan of movies and would love to see this happen. Or create a mixed-use theater for live shows and movies. But the amount of money it would take to do this could be huge. Some state or Federal money might be available, but who knows….

Sorry for all the negativity….I’m just trying to be as straightforward as I can be..

Pilt

Pilt,

I guess I wasn’t clear. The grocery store is already downtown and it’s busy. It has the best prices in the local area and can’t keep its shelves stocked so business is good. It really, really needs a new, bigger building though. The store has a lot going for it in that it much easier access for many of us who don’t live in the city proper so its potential customers are more than just people who live close by. The problem is its at the lower end of town and a block in from the main drag. If it moved onto 7th Ave, it would be an anchor store and bring a lot more people to 7th rather than to 9th Ave. There’s a Family Dollar store in the old City Market building which does a decent business; a real supermarket would do much better.

Over the recent years, BF has done a good job of getting money to demolish decrepit buildings and a grant to build a new building on 7th Ave is definately possible.

As for the Granada, BF did get “streetscape” money to restore the facade of the building, which looks great.
I looked inside the other day and the lobby looks fairly intact, but I’m sure there’s not much, if anything, original left inside, save, perhaps, the ceiling. I’d like to see it be an IMAX because there aren’t any of those around. The closest might be in the Carnegie Science Center. That would be a draw, IMO.

pd

I have been looking to open a business for a few years. The area: western NY; population 2500; lower income; largest town in county is about 18000 people; downtown 40% empty; Very hard not to see the negatives in most businesses please help