Old Fashioned Values:
How Downtowns Can Compete With the Malls
By Doyle G. Hyett & Dolores P. Palma
Hyett Palma, Inc.

In retail business today, the stakes are high. With over $2,000,000,000,000 — that's 2 trillion dollars! — spent on retail products in this nation each year, this segment of our economy is critical to the well-being of every city and town in America.

Downtowns, once the centers of retail trade in their communities, have lost a significant portion of America's retail sales over the past four decades. With 2 trillion dollars at stake, we must ask "How can our downtowns and their businesses once again capture a respectable share of the retail dollars spent in this country?"

For the past four decades, most of America's downtowns have been asleep-at-the-wheel. First shopping strips and malls were developed, and more recently, discounters, outlets, home shopping channels and "power centers" have emerged on the retail scene. And, through all this change, many of our downtowns — and downtown business owners — became lost and misguided. Instead of evolving with the times while continuing to do what they do best, they went on the defensive and lost ground by trying to be just like the malls. Downtown pedestrian malls were built, large parking lots and garages were constructed, and business owners offered the same retail goods found at the mall. And all this was done only to learn a hard lesson — downtowns and their businesses can't compete head-on with the malls and win. Instead, downtowns that have made successful comebacks have done so by returning to and becoming known for old-fashioned values — those things that they can do better than the retail giants.

The good news for downtown businesses is that the American buying public has shown that it will return to our downtowns — and in great numbers — if certain actions are taken. These actions reinforce old-fashioned values and speak to the heart and soul of what originally drew customers to our downtowns decades ago.

Know Your Niche
Rather than waiting for the market to find them, the most successful downtowns and downtown business owners are those that are making a concerted effort to understand the market. Through solid and pragmatic market research, they purposely determine:

• Which customer groups to target;
• What to offer these customers in order to make downtown's business unique and compelling; and
• How to turn their targeted customers into repeat customers.

It all boils down to creating a clear market niche — a distinct reason for being — for downtown and its businesses. The success of this approach can be seen in Plymouth, Michigan. Armed with the findings of a comprehensive market analysis — which was completed for downtown Plymouth as a whole — business owners and the city's Downtown Development Authority together launched an aggressive effort to recreate a retail niche. Plymouth's downtown business owners learned through their market analysis that their customer base demanded a distinctive collection of speciality retail and food businesses.

To address customer desires, downtown Plymouth's business owners and the local government implemented a business enhancement strategy. Working together, they helped existing business owners better understand the market, offer goods that were more specialized, and therefore, become more unique. In addition, within 30 months the Downtown Development Authority recruited over 30 speciality businesses to downtown Plymouth. Businesses to recruit were specifically targeted to include the types recommended in

October 1995 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 11

the market analysis, those that would best appeal to targeted customers, and those that would complement downtown's existing speciality businesses.

Today, from early morning until late evening, seven-days a week, downtown Plymouth is enjoying the return of families, residents of the region, and a variety of visitors — all of whom find the area uncommon, magnetic and appealing.

Adjust Your Attitude Attitude, some say, accounts for the success or failure of 75% of all downtown revitalization efforts today. And, the most successful efforts and businesses are those that take on a pro-customer attitude. On the part of business owners, being pro-customer includes:

• Keeping store hours that are convenient for the customer, as opposed to hours that are only convenient for the owner.
• Hiring staff who are "people people," rather than those who are just salespeople — understanding that helping customers solve their shopping problems will make them loyal, repeat customers; and
• Seeing that business owners and their employees don't monopolize on-street parking spaces which are most convenient for their customers — instead, pro-customer owners require their employees to leave these spaces free for customers, and also follow this policy themselves.

In Barberton, Ohio, and Henderson, North Carolina, the city government has helped downtown business owners adopt a pro-customer attitude by creating public parking lots. Directional signs leading motorists to the lots, and signs which identify the lots, make them easy to use. And, downtown business owners encourage their employees to use these lots so that on-street spaces in front of shops become reserved for customers.

Return to Tradition For the most part, "Mom and Pop" small business owners have been, and still are, the backbone of most American downtowns. At the height of downtown's success, these family businesses were operated with certain traditions that added to their success. Those traditions, largely forgotten by many of today's small retail business owners, include the following:

• Quality for Money — Smart businesses know that "value" does not mean "cheap." Instead, it means offering customers quality products at reasonable prices so they feel they're getting good value for their money.
• Dependability — Being present in their stores, Mom and Pops can offer their customers a dependability and peace of mind not commonly offered by chain stores. Mom and Pop's customers can rely on these owners to remember them, take care of them, and stand behind their products after the sale is made.
• Customer Service — By their very nature as small business owners. Mom and Pops can provide a level of customer service that chains are hard pressed to achieve. Customer service includes taking the time to get to know your customers and their preferences, finding ways to make it easy and convenient for them to shop with you, and taking actions that ensure their long-term satisfaction with your business and its products.

A group of entrepreneurial Mom and Pops in Old Town, Alexandria, VA — who are old, young, and in between — have returned to these traditions with a vengeance. Over the years, they migrated together, forming a cluster of home furnishing businesses. Offering furniture, home accessories, lamps, bed and bath furnishing, linens, and more, their products can hardly be considered "cheap." However, these businesses owners have become highly successful in a downtown setting by becoming known for exceptional quality for money, dependability, and personalized customer service.

So, Can Downtowns Compete with the Malls? The answer to this question is an emphatic YES! However, rather than seeing themselves as competing, successful downtowns view their quest as determining how to best co-exist with retail's giants. The most successful business owners are those who understand that the "competition" does not stand still but is everchanging.

In short, today's successful downtowns and their business owners have learned an important lesson from the giants: niche businesses that give customers what they need and want — along with pro-customer attitudes and traditional values — are the keys to downtown businesses that will thrive and flourish through the decades to come. •

Page 12 / Illinois Municipal Review / October 1995