Street Level Activities Helps Downtown Businesses

This past Sunday I went downtown to visit some of the businesses at the Annual Downtown Open House. As I drove into downtown to find a parking place, I was pleasantly surprised to see just how many people were walking around, darting in and out of shops, and driving around (probably looking for a parking spot like me). I stopped in and talked with many of the open businesses and everyone was talking about how positive their businesses had be impacted by the day. One owner said, “If nothing else, the people walking past and into my business can see what I sell so when they need it I’ll be here.”

How true that is. Events like this not only get shoppers excited, but also get the business owners excited. Having people and activities downtown generates excitement and interest. The staff and commissions in the city are working to change regulations in order to encourage street activities just like what we saw on Sunday to get people out and walking on the streets. More street activity by pedestrians generates more people walking by and dropping in to local downtown businesses...even if they don’t purchase anything the first time.

The excitement that is generated off of pedestrian activities makes it more attractive for other local businesses to move to the downtown district. The same is true for potentially interested developers.

Big national and regional chains look at four major components when selecting a new location. One of those is traffic counts, the number of cars that pass by the business everyday. For downtown, this translates a little differently. Because of the nature of a downtown, most buildings are only 25 feet wide and our concrete canopy additionally blocks the view of the business. The key for a downtown district and our downtown businesses isn’t going to be cars that pass per day, but rather people that walk pass per day.

As we continue to work to make downtown a better place, what other ideas do you have to help get people to stop their cars and walk through downtown? Let’s talk about it!