Archive for June, 2005

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2003 Downtown Strategies Report

Wednesday, June 15th, 2005

downtownimprovementstrategiesthumbnail.gifSeveral times during the recent Retail Trade Analysis meetings, the 2003 report of the Downtown Strategies Committee was mentioned. This document ends with a list of short, medium, and long term recommendations intended to strengthen downtown Northfield. In fact, one of the recommendations, an annual “Retail Summit”, was the reason behind the June NDDC Downtown Forum.

For those who never saw (or have forgotten) the report, you may now download a pdf of the entire 2003 Downtown Strategies Report. Thanks to Deanna Kuennen, Economic Development Specialist at City Hall for providing this electronic copy to the NDDC.

Posted in Focus on Retail, NDDC Downtown Forum | No Comments »

Cookies, Coffee and Retail Ideas

Wednesday, June 15th, 2005

Here’s the list of ideas from Tuesday’s Retail Summit:

Ideas to Strengthen Northfield’s Retail
Generated at the 6/14/05 Forum

1. Buy Local Campaign
2. Set Store Hours for Commuters’ Convenience
3. Check www.seta.iastate.edu for Ideas
4. Meet with the New Builders in Town
5. Leverage the Internet
6. Fill Empty Niches: Butcher, Hobby Store, etc.
7. Compete on Quality and Service, Stay Close on Price
8. Increase Non-Retail Pullers: Arts & Events
9. Improve Retailer/Resident Communication
10. Get to New Residents with Downtown Package/Basket
11. Mary Rossing’s Cereal Bowl Music Fest
12. “Need More than 3 Great Days a Year”
13. Keep Community Members REGULARLY Coming Downtown
14. Get More Leverage from Students and Colleges
15. Well-Managed, Money-Attracting Festivals
16. Exploit Ease of Shipping
17. Match Product Mix with Demographics (New Housing)
18. Make Shopping Fun
19. Turn Unique Features into Competitive Advantage
20. Learn from Wisconsin Retail Hours Survey

It’s still a bit raw. We’ll spend a bit of time refining it but mostly we’ll work on implementing it.

Posted in Focus on Retail, NDDC Downtown Forum | No Comments »

Wisconsin Study Suggests Successful Hours of Operations for Retailers

Tuesday, June 14th, 2005

hoursslidethumbnail.jpg Bruce Schwartau sent me the slide that summarizes the Wisconsin study of consumers’ preference of store hours for shopping.

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Retail Analysis Redux

Monday, June 13th, 2005

Picture1 resize.jpg

Picture2.jpgIn case you missed it, Ross Currier wrote a nice piece for the Saturday edition of the Northfield News giving his take on last week’s Downtown Forum and what it means for retail health in Northfield.

After you read it, you may wish to join Ross and others Tuesday, June 14 at 8 am to process the question “What do we do with the data?” In the lower level conference room of the Archer House, U of M Extension Service educator, Bruce Schwartau will facilitate the second half of the workshop that he presented last week. We promise to have you back at work by 9:30.

Once again, this workshop is co-sponsored by the Northfield News, First National Bank of Northfield and the NDDC.

Posted in Focus on Retail, NDDC Downtown Forum | No Comments »

Seeking and growing healthy retail growth

Saturday, June 11th, 2005

This column ran in the June 11 edition of the Northfield News.
(more…)

Posted in Guest Columns | No Comments »

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