Northfield Downtown Development Corporation

…and those other malls too.

Yeah, some of my Board will be having a cow over that headline. Hopefully, once the initial moment passes, they’ll be raising one at the Cow (or the Tavern, the Rueb, the Hideaway, the Eagles, the VFW, Chapati’s, Basil’s, B & L’s, Mandarin Garden, Hogan Brothers…) instead, toasting Downtown Vitality and the, let’s call it “assertiveness”, that it sometimes takes to work for that vitality.

That title was one of the ideas suggested to us for our Holiday Shopping Campaign. I’ll preserve the privacy of the creative genius (and downtown business and building owner) that came up with that line but I will hint that he’s married to an NDDC Board Member.

As I’ve tried to point out in my recent blogs over the past two days (Developing a Different Business Model and Get in the Groove for Quality), for independent businesses to compete with the big chains, they’ve got to be assertive. I believe that for independent business districts to compete with the corporate anchored malls, they also need to be assertive.

In an effort to give local businesses a boost during the crucial holiday shopping season, the NDDC is running a series in the Northfield News. A few of the ads are pictured below. The last in the series will run in the Wednesday, December 20th edition. Watch for it, who knows, maybe I’ll manage to slip in the “Flip the Bird to Burnsville” idea…

…Fine Groove for audio quality, that is…

I read another article in the Strib today (December 14th). Apparently, I have too much time on my hands.

Titled “Fighting the Tide of iTunes”, the article chronicled the competition between independent record stores and electronic downloading. As in the struggle raised yesterday, some indies are finding ways to survive.

Much like the owners of independent coffeehouses, the record stores offer exceptional service, a wide range of specialized products and an atmosphere that can’t be found in front of a computer or in a large chain. As the owner of an independent in Minneapolis said, “there’s still a social aspect to being in a record store”.

Perhaps the greatest competitive advantage for disk versus downloads is sound quality, a point explained to me recently (and technically) by Carleton College ITS Guy and fellow bass player Joel Cooper. The article summarizes the issue: “store-bought CDs have audio quality that’s superior to compressed files available on the web.”

Northfield is extremely fortunate to have an independent record store (and enjoys a rare asset in attracting and retaining the workforce of the future, I might add). So stop on in at Fine Groove for some of your holiday shopping. If they don’t have it, Brian Kenknight will order it for you and you’ll get it faster than through the web with no shipping charges.

…the other day I scooped up a used copy of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon”, complete with 24-page, full color booklet including photos and lyrics, for $2 less than the cost of a download. Ya snooze, ya lose, Griff…

There was an article in the Strib South Section today that caught my attention. The topic was about coffeehouses “south of the river”.

The article compares independently owned coffeehouses with large chains, or “corporate coffee giants”, and the independents’ efforts to survive in this competitive environment. It’s not always easy, Lakeville lost its three independent coffee shops after Caribou and Starbucks came to the city.

According to the author, the independents compete by “developing a niche”, like live music or a sandwich menu, and being able to quickly respond to customer requests. Some business professor at some college up in the cities sees such tactics as indicating “a coffeehouse about to go out of business”.

I guess I see it differently.

To me, it would appear that the independent coffeehouses are following a different business model. Unable to compete with massive parking lots, massive corporate coffers and massive advertising campaigns, they focus on the little things, like a welcoming atmosphere, homemade baked goods and listening to their customers.

I’d call it a community-based model as opposed to a corporate-based model. As the owner of one independent said, “It’s a different ambiance. Everybody knows everybody, and everybody chats”.

Sound familiar? Perhaps that’s because there are several delightful examples of this community-based model…in Downtown Northfield.

…to reduce traffic speeds.

In Sunday’s (December 10th) New York Times Magazine there was an article about the best ideas of 2006. One of them caught my attention.

The city of Cambridge, Massachusetts commissioned an art work with an unusual goal: reducing traffic speeds. The objective was to reduce average speeds from 30 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour. According to Susanne Rasmussen of the Cambridge Community Development Department, “The chance that a pedestrian would survive an accident is vastly greater at that speed”.

Sound familiar? Yes, the Mayor’s Task Force (for over ten years), the NDDC (for over six years) and RENew Northfield (for over a year) have been trying to reduce traffic speeds on the downtown section of Highway 3 from 30 miles an hour to increase pedestrian safety.

Of course, one of our local geniuses, Jim Pokorney, suggested long ago that art could help slow down traffic speeds.

NDDC Vice President Joe Grundhoefer, of J. Grundy’s Rueb-N-Stein, directs a crew from Rick Pavek Construction Company as they deliver Santa’s House to Bridge Square, just in time for tonight’s (December 7th) Winter Walk.

The Santa House, brainchild of NDDC Board Member Linda Schneewind, owner (along with her husband, Eric Hope) of digs, was, due to a number of logistical challenges, in danger of being stuck at the North Pole. Joe was determined that the popular downtown destination would be delivered to Northfield again this year. Working with Rick Pavek and Rick Estenson, of 1st National Bank, the logistical challenges were met and Santa’s House was delivered in the “Nick” of time.

So Come on Down(town) and enjoy Winter Walk, (5 to 9 pm) organized by the Retail Committee of the Chamber and supported by the downtown businesses. See your friends and neighbors, say “Ho, Ho, Ho” back to Santa, eat a few cookies, enjoy the strolling entertainers, and get moving on your holiday shopping. ‘Tis the Season!