Magazine
Articles
The Ten Secrets of Downtown Success
By Doyle G. Hyett and Dolores P. Palma
HyettPalma, Inc.
Making Downtown Renaissance a Reality
Part of today’s body of knowledge regarding Downtown
enhancement are the “secrets of success” — “do’s
and don’ts” that can be used to guide local Downtown
revitalization efforts. These secrets of success mean Downtown professionals
and Downtown advocates no longer have to be pioneers, no longer have to
“reinvent the wheel,” in defining revitalization strategies
that are most likely to succeed.
The ten secrets of Downtown success, outlined
below, are known — and being used — in Downtowns across the
country today.
Secret #1: Form Partnerships
Over the last twenty years, many communities have formed public-private
partnerships whose mission was to enhance Downtown. In these partnerships,
the public sector and the business sector joined together, made decisions
together, and each sector carried its weight to reinvest in and reinvent
their Downtown.
Going beyond that, the most successful Downtown
revitalization programs today are being spearheaded by private-public
partnerships. Two facets of these partnerships are new. First, they are
spearheaded by the private, rather than by the public, sector. And, second,
they are often the vehicle for bringing together all the major constituents
which exist and operate in Downtown. This includes not only the business
sector and the public sector, but also civic organizations, existing organizations
involved in Downtown, and community residents. Therefore, the new breed
of Downtown partnerships are often private sector-driven umbrella organizations.
Secret #2: Know Your Vision
The pro-active and successful way of revitalizing Downtown is
to define a clear, community-driven vision of where you want your Downtown
to go. The defined vision must be realistic and must be shared by the
business community, the civic community, the local government, and citizens
of the community.
This shared community vision should define
success — “what is the very best our Downtown can be five
years from now?” The next two secrets of success — a Downtown
market analysis and business plan — are essential in ensuring that
the vision is realistic and aggressively pursued.
Secret #3: Be Market-Driven
Conducting a Downtown market analysis is THE critical first step
for success in revitalizing Downtown. A realistic market analysis is an
economic tool that Downtown cannot succeed without. It is a tool that
developers of shopping malls, retail centers, outlet malls, etc., would
not do business without. And, to compete on a level playing field, Downtown’s
investors — which include business owners, property owners, real
estate developers, and City Hall — must have the same information
at their disposal.
The Field of Dreams Approach to Downtown
revitalization — “If we build it they will come” —
has proven not to work. Instead, the successful approach to Downtown revitalization
is much more bottom line oriented and business-like. Taking a business-like
approach to Downtown’s future means:
- Knowing who Downtown’s customers
are;
- Knowing who Downtown’s POTENTIAL
customers are;
- Determining the goods and services these
customers and potential customers want today;
- Anticipating what they will want tomorrow;
and
- Providing those things in a quality
and dependable manner.
Secret #4: Know Your Strategy
Businesses that operate according to a business strategy are
more successful than those that don’t… and the same is true
for business districts. The most pro-active Downtown partnerships are
starting their programs by defining a clear course of action that is aggressively
implemented in a timely manner. The Downtown business strategy spells
out a course of action that will enable Downtown to attain the defined
community vision of Downtown success and capture the economic opportunities
revealed in the Downtown market analysis.
The Downtown strategy should program these
actions by detailing when each action will be started; when each action
will be completed; who will be responsible for each action; how much each
action will cost; and the sources of necessary funds.
Secret #5: Dare to Be Different
To succeed economically, Downtown must create, carve out, and
become known for a particular niche in the marketplace. Downtown cannot
compete head-on with the malls or with the discounters and expect to win.
Instead, Downtown must pursue an economic niche that will allow it to
successfully co-exist with the malls and the discounters — by being
different and unique.
More and more, this has come to mean that
Downtown must create its own “economic themes.” The goal of
Downtown’s economic themes is to make Downtown distinct so that
it will stand out in the mind of the customer.
Downtown’s economic themes are created
by clustering together businesses — such as apparel or antiques
or restaurants or home furnishings, etc. — that appeal to particular
customer groups. By clustering similar businesses near each other, these
businesses become more convenient for customers and Downtown becomes known
for those businesses. In this way, Downtown takes on an economic theme
— or focus — that makes it distinct and distinctive.
Secret #6: Focus!
In all but the smallest of communities, the Downtown area is
physically too large to revitalize in one bite and Downtown’s issues
are too numerous to tackle all at one time. And, in every community, Downtown
advocates and skeptics alike want to see visible improvements occur in
Downtown immediately.
Because of this situation, the most successful
Downtown enhancement programs are those where limited resources —
time, energy, money, staff, volunteers, etc. — have been focused
in well-defined target areas. Concentrating resources in target areas
breeds success because it makes revitalization of the entire Downtown
seem manageable over time; it makes Downtown’s issues seem less
overwhelming when they are resolved one at a time; and it allows tangible
results to be clustered so that they become more visible more quickly
than if they were scattered throughout Downtown.
Secret #7: Be Self-Sufficient
The days of first looking outside your community for a Downtown
savior — whether that be a new business, anchor, investor, or funder
— are over. Instead, to be successful, Downtown leaders must learn
to become self-reliant and resourceful. This means that Downtown organizations,
Downtown professionals, and local government officials must become adept
at spotting and nurturing local entrepreneurs and getting them to locate
Downtown. In addition, these same Downtown constituents must also “put
their money where their mouth is” when it comes to financing their
Downtown enhancement effort — rather than expecting funders from
outside the community to bankroll their Downtown’s future.
Secret #8: Return to Old-Fashioned
Values
The most successful Downtowns in America are — and will
continue to be — those that have realized that their strength lies
in doing business the old-fashioned way. This means a return to personalized
customer attention; providing value for money; standing behind your products;
promoting the special, historic appearance of Downtown; promoting Downtown
as the community’s social, cultural, entertainment, residential,
professional office, and family center; and stressing the community pride
that results from a healthy Downtown.
Secret #9: Be Pro-Business AND Pro-Quality
Within any given community, business owners and real estate developers
have many options when looking for a location in which to invest. For
Downtown to be the investment location of choice, the local government
must be pro-business. This means revising regulations that make it hard
to operate a business or invest in property in Downtown. Being pro-business
also means streamlining government processes (codes, planning, licensing,
etc.) so that investors can go into business as quickly as possible in
Downtown.
While being pro-business is essential to
Downtown’s success, it must go hand-in-hand with being pro-quality.
This means that local government should not — and must not be pressured
to — forego quality in order to attract investors to Downtown. Instead,
City Hall and the Downtown business community must jointly convey the
clear message that Downtown welcomes quality business owners, property
owners, and real estate developers — those who will operate quality
businesses, maintain quality properties, and reinvest in these investments.
And, that the local government is ready and able to be aggressively pro-business
for such investors.
Secret #10: Know the Indispensable
“Five M’s”
While our Downtowns should not try to — and are not able
to — compete head-on with malls and win, the most successful Downtowns
are those that have learned and borrowed the best management techniques
from the malls. These include the Five M’s described below.
- Management — The
Downtown partnership should function much as a shopping mall management
company does, making sure that Downtown is meeting the needs of the
marketplace.
- Market Knowledge —
The Downtown enhancement program should be based on a market analysis
that identifies Downtown’s niche and targeted customers
- Marketing — The
Downtown enhancement program should include a multi-faceted marketing
campaign that allows Downtown and its businesses to communicate with
the targeted customers.
- Maintenance —
Downtown must be appealing by keeping high standards of maintenance
for both private and public property.
- Money — A goal
of the Downtown enhancement program should be to create a financing
mechanism that ensures adequate, predictable, and reliable funds with
which to implement the Downtown revitalization effort.
About the Authors
Doyle G. Hyett and Dolores P. Palma are
the founders of Hyett Palma, Inc., the only national consulting firm specializing
in the economic renaissance of Downtowns. For more information about HyettPalma,
please visit www.hyettpalma.com.
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