Economic Restructuring Activities in Downtown Revitalization

The Main Street Four-Point Approach includes organization, design, promotion and economic restructuring (ER). Economic Restructuring involves strengthening and diversifying the economic vitality of the business district. It is the ultimate goal of all Main Street revitalization programs. This article summarizes some of the ER activities and their use and effectiveness. It is based on literature from the National Main Street Center
as well as recent research by Kent Robertson at St. Cloud State University.

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Niche Development in Small City Downtowns

Niche strategies position a downtown to gain dominance in a certain product or service category. There are two major types of niches. The first is Consumer Market Segments such as students, retirees, ethnic groups, tourists, office workers, artists, and medical facility users. The second is Goods and Services such as home furnishings, antiques, crafts, children’s products, weddings, health & fitness, and dining and entertainment. The examples in this issue focus on goods and service niches in small city downtowns.

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Seven Keys to Main Street Success

At the 2004 National Main Street Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, keynote speaker Kennedy Smith, departing director of the National Trust’s Main Street Center, discussed seven keys to success for Main Street districts in the years ahead. Smith has been Director of the Center for 13 years and has been instrumental in using historic preservation as a tool for community revitalization. Her insights are valuable to most all communities including those not directly affiliated with the Main Street Program.

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Can Downtowns Survive?

The gut reaction of many, particularly in the development community, will be that “of course” downtowns will survive. But an economist’s eye on recent trends suggests the future of the downtown is anything but certain. This article takes a look at the “bad news” as well as some survival skills for downtowns to use.

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Downtown and the Youth Market

The market for children and young adults is often overlooked by downtown merchants who often focus on young professionals and empty-nesters. However, the purchasing power of children is significant and should not
be overlooked. Children are responsible for a significant number of purchases and have a strong influence over the way their parents make spending decisions. Many characteristics of downtowns can attract children
and their spending power. This articles provides data on the size of this market, the benefits of capturing the children’s market, examples of towns that have been successful in bringing children downtown, and suggestion
for making downtown attractive to children.

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Serving Ethnic Markets

As the populations of minority groups in the U.S. rise, retailers have begun to take notice. These fast-growing segments of the population can open significant new markets for both national chains and small businesses alike. Many businesses must alter their products and marketing strategies to satisfy and attract minority customers. Sometimes this can be as easy as offering the product or service in another language, but often, it requires much more fundamental changes. Emerging ethnic neighborhoods offer great occations for businesses looking to expand into the ethnic market and be close to other businesses serving the same customer base, and many cities have begun to take actions to help ethnic businesses start or remain in business.

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Rules for Successful Tourism Marketing

Tourism is an important economic activity because it brings in dollars from outside the community. It continues to be a fast growing sector and is typically included among the top three industries in the country. In addition, tourism provides a “front-door” to non-tourism economic development efforts such as business recruitment. Roger Brooks, a nationally recognized expert in tourism development spoke about rules for success at the 2004 Wisconsin Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Green Bay. Many of his rules apply to the tourism marketing efforts of small city downtowns and business districts. Presented in this article is a summary of his keynote address titled 15 Immutable Rules of Successful Tourism.

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Lifestyle Retail Centers

A decline in the traditional mall or strip-mall over the past two decades has been followed by an increase in the popularity of new retail centers called “Lifestyle Retail” centers. These centers represent a departure from previous retail development that was often focused more on attracting and maintaining the relationship with the retail tenant than with the customer. Unlike previous retail development, a lifestyle retail center is meant to customize its environment to the changing lifestyle of the consumer in order to make it a stimulating and social place to gather. This issue summarizes an article titled “Lifestyle Retail” from the February 2004 issue of Urban Land.

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Downtown Housing Opportunities

The housing industry will have to cater to an increasing range of needs and preferences as demographic changes occur at both the national and community level. Listed below are the needs and preferences of specific market segments as they relate to downtown housing.

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Downtown’s Role in the New Economy

A successful downtown supports the “new” economy and is an integral part of a regional economic development strategy. These concepts were discussed in detail by Gary Becker of Vierbicher Associates Inc. in Madison, WI at the annual Wisconsin Governor’s Conference on Downtown Revitalization. This article summarizes Mr. Becker’s reasoning on why downtown is important to regional economic development, and what communities can do to increase the role of their downtowns.

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