Finding Main Street Customers Online

By encouraging and cultivating unique, local, independent commercial sectors, retail along Virginia’s Main Streets is on the rise. However, it is a brave new world that Main Streets retailers are operating in.

“Capitalism is creative destruction,” Richard Sylla stated in a recent Entrepreneur article. “Old models get outmoded, and new models come in and take over.”

Just as Main Street organizations must create effective fundraising plans to secure diversified and stable program funding, retailers must make every effort to diversify their customer base to ensure stable and growing revenue streams. The article in Entrepreneur states that the future of retail will have some online component and some offline component. Catering to consumers wherever they are,and in a robust, customized way, is a key growth strategy. Online sales accounted for 5.2 percent of total retail sales in the third quarter of 2012, according to the latest reading from the U.S. Department of Commerce, which tracks the category. That was up 17.3 percent from the same quarter a year earlier. By contrast, total retail sales over the period rose by only 4.6 percent.

Main Street Economic Restructuring committees should provide training to help their local Main Street retailers develop a balanced online/offline business strategy. For example, in January, Longwood SBDC guest speaker Marc Willson, retail consultant for Virginia SBDC, provided two free trainings for area retailers directly related to this topic. The first session, “Doing Business in a GAFA World,” GAFA stands for Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, was designed to help retailers attract more traffic and improve sales by smartly embracing relevant social media technologies and strategies. The second session, “Competing with the Big Boys,” reiterates that big box stores and national chains are strong competition for local, independent retailers and that these retailers need to have a strategy to keep their existing customers buying and to win new customers. More information about trainings provided by Marc Willson are available here.

Embracing Nature, Culture and History: Appalachia’s new economy

All across Southwest Virginia, the stories of men and women who worked in mines, furniture factories or textile mills can be read in the buildings you see today. In the coalfields, mining towns and camps sprang up wherever the coal seam led. Miners came from farms nearby, from the deep South and from Eastern Europe to earn the money that mining brought. Communities were self-contained. People shared their lives in schools, athletic teams, churches and shopping in the company store. Music was a bond and sometimes the only common language.

Photo from: http://myswva.org/

Brooke Jarvis’ recent post titled: 3 Lessons for Appalachia’s Post-Coal Economy, addresses the very pertinent question of “what happens when Appalachia is coal country no more?”

Brooke mentions the efforts of local, grassroots organizations that are “working to reform old industries and promote more sustainable ones, to build local entrepreneurial capacity and to make sure the region’s resources benefit residents over the long haul.”

In Virginia and all throughout Appalachia, there are ongoing efforts to build more diverse and resilient economies that take advantage of the rich cultural history and breathtaking natural resources the region has to offer.  

Photo from: http://myswva.org/

The Crooked Road, Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail includes 10 counties, three cities, 10 towns, five regional planning districts, four state agencies, two tourism organizations and a large number of music venues. Although the trail is focused on the uniqueness and vitality of this region’s heritage music, it also includes outdoor recreational activities, museums, crafts and historic and cultural programs. ‘Round the Mountain has focused its efforts to promote sustainable economic development of the region’s communities by assisting local artisans with marketing, educational and entrepreneurial opportunities. These great initiatives are part of a larger strategy to reinvigorate the economies of Virginia.  The Southwest Virginia website is a great resource for everything related to this region.

Plan your trip and come learn about the people who lived in coal camps and company towns. See photos and quilts, listen to stories and oral histories, visit churches, cemeteries and museums in towns across our region and visit the buildings and communities which remain bear witness to our rich history.

Photo from: http://myswva.org/

Winchester’s Main Street agriculture event was a success, as expected!

On Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012, Winchester’s downtown walking mall was filled with excitement for local farms. Farm Bureau, in partnership with the Winchester Old Town Development Board, Winchester Main Street Foundation and Virginia Main Street program, produced an extraordinary community event, Winchester’s Main Street Agriculture, held on the historic Loudon Street Pedestrian Mall.

The partnership was a natural fit. “There is a Farm Bureau and a Main Street in every state,” said Dee Cook, membership development specialist with Virginia Farm Bureau. Winchester is one of 25 Virginia communities designated as Virginia Main Street communities. Cook said that she hopes Frederick County’s successful Main Street Agriculture event will lead to similar events all over Virginia in the near future. “This has been the pilot,” she said. “We hope to roll it out statewide next year,” Cook added.

More than 20 vendors set up booths to sell their farm products and provide interactive, educational activities for the public. There were also many educational demonstrations including a hydroponics display, grape crushing, a live beehive and farm-to-table cooking demonstrations, along with others.

photo credit: lancasterfarming.com 2012

Here is a nice article from LancasterFarming.com about the event, Taking the Farm to the City.

Getting Ready For Holiday Shopping on Main Street

Staunton – 2012 Holiday Window Decorating Contest Winner – Vintage Wedding Gifts

The shopping season is upon us and Main Street retailers are working hard to make the holiday shopping experience fun, memorable and easy. To help achieve this goal, retailers should give some thought to what types of shopping experiences they want their customers to have. What should customers be saying, feeling and experiencing while in the store? What should they say when they leave the store?

Below we have summarized some of the great advice provided to Main Street retailers this holiday shopping season by Margie Johnson, president of Shop Talk. Johnson’s original article was the Nov. 28, 2012 Main Street Story of the Week. Johnson encourages Main Street retailers to focus on creating a holiday look, providing outstanding hospitality and creating a shopping buzz on Main Street.

Create a holiday look.

• Create an overall theme, color palette, etc., to set a holiday mood.
• Make creative gift wrapping a marketing opportunity.
• Let creative signage be your silent salesperson.
• Create price-point groupings for items under $10 and products ranging from $10-25.
• Create sensory experiences that appeal to all of the senses. Allow customers to smell cookies baking; see a vast assortment of products that are well displayed; hear the local string quartet or harpist; touch and handle products; taste goodies that are out on the counters.

Approach the holiday season as a time for hospitality.

• Make a “joyful noise.” Carefully select small musical groups to perform in your store.
• Invite customers to create an ornament to bring in to place on a charity tree.
• Entertain children waiting in the Santa line by using videos, arts/crafts projects, etc.
• Find space for a coat/package check.
• Set up a temporary cart or table offering package wrapping and shipping.

 Create a “buzz” on Main Street!

• “Sleepless in _________(your town).” Have a pajama party, serve espresso, hire a limo to pick up customers and take them home with their gift packages all wrapped and ready.
• Select a cause, charity or club and team up with them for an in-store event. Give a percentage of the sales to the charity, and use members of the group to “pre-sell” the event.
• Invite your top clients to a Pampered Patron Party or GNO (Girls Night Out).
• Silent Night Silent Auction—everyone loves an auction—secure vendor donations; make it cause-related.
• Sell gift certificates in bulk for a substantial discount.
• Reach out to Facebook fans with special “daily deals,” or create an event to promote through social media.
• Unleash your creativity, involve your staff and look for ways to enhance the experiences customers can have in your store during this holiday season! 

Virginia Main Streets make it into the “Best of VA” – we’re not surprised

Virginia Living has just released its “Best of VA” list and many Main Street communities had businesses that made the list.  Below are some of the first place winners from Virginia’s Main Street communities. Virginia’s Main Street communities also had numerous second and third place winners that can be viewed here.
 
FIRST PLACE (Central/Living and Recreation/Best Boutique Hotel)
The Craddock Terry Hotel
Lynchburg, VA
 
FIRST PLACE (Shenandoah/Shopping and Services/Best Shopping Area)
Downtown Staunton
Staunton, VA
 
FIRST PLACE (Shenandoah/Arts Culture and Entertainment/Best Art Event)
Fall Foliage Festival
Waynesboro, VA
 
FIRST PLACE (Southwestern/Food and Drink/Best Coffee Shop)
Zazzy’z
Abingdon, VA
 
FIRST PLACE (Southwestern/People and City Life/Best Local DJ)
Ken Heath Bow Tie Pro Music
Marion, VA
 
FIRST PLACE (Northern/Food and Drink/Best Diner)
Frost Diner
Warrenton, VA
 
FIRST PLACE (Southwestern/Food and Drink/Best Burger Joint)
Dip Dog Stand
Marion, VA

Secrets to Good Store Layout

Source: http://idowindows.wordpress.com/category/fashion-49/window-lessons/

No matter its size or product lines, every retail business must constantly work to create an attractive and inviting shopping environment. Here are a few tips from Entrepreneur.com to keep the customers coming.

1. Make the windows shine – “Just like your eyes are the windows of your soul, store windows are the eyes of the store. Each window should tell a story.”

2. Make an arresting first impression – An eye-catching display at the entrance will slow down customers and get them in the shopping mood.

3. Steer customers to the right – Shoppers tend to prefer to move right and walk counter-clockwise around the store. Make it easy and interesting for them to follow their natural shopping inclinations.

4. Lead them somewhere – Store layout should encourage customers to continue shopping. Eliminate aisles that lead to walls and other dead ends.

5. Have an angle – Create visual interest by placing aisles at angles (if space allows).

6. Create breaks – Shoppers get bored on long aisles – create visual breaks with signs or displays in the middle of long aisles.

7. Offer hugs – Use round and u-shapes on signs, displays and floor layouts. People find these shapes inviting.

One-on-one meetings with the retail consultants of the Virginia Small Business Development Center’s Small Town and Merchant Program can help retail and restaurant owners improve the layout of their businesses. To learn more about environmental influences on consumer behavior, check out Paco Underhill’s books Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, Call of the Mall and What Women Want: The Science of Female Shopping.

Helping Main Street Merchants Weather the Winter Doldrums

As you may have noticed while walking along Main Street, January is typically a slow season for many retailers as consumers try to pay off bills accumulated during the holidays. Hopefully, Main Street retailers have planned for and are prepared to weather this annual slow season.  MyBusiness.com offers several tips to help retailers make the most of the down time. But, no matter how productively retailers use this time, there is no getting around the fact that the cash registers have to keep ringing in order to make payroll, pay vendors, keep the lights on and keep the landlord happy.

To help its merchants through this year’s slow season, Main Street Beaufort, USA, is selling $15,000 worth of “Main Street Dollars” for use between February 18 and March 31. Selling “Main Street Dollars” or “Downtown Dollars” is not a new “buy local” marketing strategy, but Beaufort’s 50% discount changes the math. Customers who buy $50 worth of “Main Street Dollars” will be able to purchase $100 worth of goods and services from Beaufort Main Street businesses. The local main street program will use $7,500 from its marketing fund to reimburse merchants that accept the dollars. 

“I think it’s a very innovative thought in a time when the business downtown is slow, ” said City of Beaufort Redevelopment Commission Chairman Jon Verity.

The experiment in Beaufort is a buy local, Main Street-wide, 50 percent off super sale that was inspired by the success of a similar program in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. The succeess of Ardmore’s program won it a 2011 Community Marketing Award from the Pennsylvania Downtown Center (Pennsylvania’s Main Street program) as well as the support of four local banks that donated $10,000, which translated into $20,000 of Downtown Dollars, for the winter holiday shopping season.

From Farmers Market to European Bakery

24 of the 25 designated Virginia Main Street communities have active farmers markets. In addition to being great places to buy locally-grown produce, eggs and meat, farmers markets also serve as small business incubators. As pointed out in Ashley Fletcher Frampton’s article, Entrepreneurs Get Start at Area Farmers Markets, the low start-up costs and captive audiences at farmers markets allow entrepreneurs to develop a following, experiment with pricing and marketing, ramp up sales and move on to larger ventures or permanent storefronts.

And, that seems to be exactly the scenario followed by Lynchburg’s Lorraine Bakery. After years of baking breads and pastries at home, in 2007, Petra Hackman, her husband Steve and their children rented a temporary stall at the Lynchburg Community Market.  The family’s beautifully-crafted, European-style breads quickly garnered a loyal following. A year after setting up their temporary stall, the Hackmans were able to establish a permanent store front still in the Community Market known as the Lorraine Bakery. The bakery now offers more than two dozen different types of European-style breads in addition to pastries, crepes and other sweet and savory delights. According to one fan, “it’s a little bit of Europe in Lynchburg.”

Lynchburg’s Community Market opened its doors in 1783 and is purported to be the third oldest farmers market in the country.  Perhaps it is also the third oldest business incubator in the country. For a truly “local” experience that shouldn’t be missed, and to scout out new up and coming businesses, take a trip down to your community’s farmers market or stop by the Lynchburg Community Market when you are in the area. The market is open year-round, Tuesday-Saturday, 7 a.m.-2 p.m.

Hip-hop highlights: Lynchburg video features merchants and real community spirit

This video, promoting Downtown Lynchburg, is terrific. It’s even better when you know that it was done through the volunteer efforts of Lynch’s Landing board member Tony Camm and a bunch of spirited merchant and community participants.

Camm, manager of the Downtown Lynchburg Holiday Inn, put a musical pastime to work for the community, writing the song and recording this video featuring more than 40 downtown merchants in the lyrics or as participants. But it doesn’t really look like work because it’s just too much fun.

Camm told the Lynchburg News & Advance, “I just wanted to bring some energy and some fun. Anything I can to do help energize downtown revitalization. That’s what the whole project was designed for … It’s fun, you know? I walk down the street and people yell out their car, Get downtown!” 

That’s because the song is infectuous. I’ve watched it more than once, and I’m guessing that there are some others who have done so as well.  So far it’s been viewed 3,600 times since being posted on August 9. In addition to promoting the district, the video was timed as a specific lead-in to the community’s Third Annual GetDowntown! Street Festival on Sep. 9.

“If you don’t have anything else to do, dress up like a hotdog.”

Downtown districts hold events for a variety of reasons:  to raise the identity and up the energy of a district, to earn money for the  downtown organization and to boost retail sales in district stores.  All are good reasons, and the events promote the role of the district as the central convening point in a community.

With that being said, getting everyone on the same page to establish event goals and maximize the collective and individual opportunities is more than a notion.  And, it is just the point of one of the new workshops offered by the Small Town and Merchant Program (STAMP) of the Virginia Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network.

Virginia Main Street (VMS) has partnered with the Network over the past two years to offer merchant trainings to designated communities on several topics.  The district-wide trainings for merchants and downtown volunteers combine a community workshop with one-on-one merchant consultations with retail expert Marc Willson.

Wilson recently spoke to a crowd of 50 gathered at the VMS Summer Toolkit to give an overview of the new slate of workshops, including TEAM Eventacular: Town, Events and Merchants Partnering for Profits.  There are many ways merchants can take advantage of events to build their customer base and raise awareness of their businesses, including the strategy of this blog post’s title.

Other titles in the series include the following:

• Staying Relevant to a Changed Customer
• Window Signs and Visual Displays: Stewards of Your Brand
• Restaurateurs – The Experience is Twice as Important as the Food
• From Bah Humbug to Booming Holiday Sales

For more information on the program, download the brochure.  If you are interested in hosting a training in your Designated Virginia Main Street Community, contact Jeff Sadler.