Reinventing your town retail center: Start here - by Carol Todreas

Millennials, Baby Boomers, artists, entrepreneurs and techies are moving out of cities into suburban and exurban communities. Building owners, business owners and civic leaders are wondering how to take advantage of this demographic change and attract new tenants to dated looking streets and storefronts? There are ways, and here are beginning steps to a grass roots approach. 

The Resident Group

People and Meeting Space: The very first step to initiating change is to raise awareness. Start by finding like-minded residents and form a working group. Simultaneously locate a vacant storefront, library, existing store or a home for group meetings. 

Next, conduct a community audit to discover: 

• Advantages and disadvantages of the existing retail center; 

• Locals with relevant experience, such as architects/landscapers, lawyers, brokers, bankers, and business owners;

• Special interest groups;

• Civic, cultural, and business leaders.

The Place and Its Consumers

The Visual Environment: Document the physical features of the area. Use a Smart Phone for a series of photographs or a video. Include buildings, green space, parking lots, streets, sidewalks, light fixtures, street furniture, signage and any visible feature. Evaluate walkability and cycling paths for ease or difficulty, safety, linkages, and circulation. 

The objective is to find out what needs to be done to make the commercial center or street welcoming, safe, and attractive to consumers who want to bike or walk there. Make a list of precise tasks that need to be done to strengthen the good features and minimize the bad.

The Current Tenants: Evaluate the tenants. Interview them to understand problems, needs and perceptions of the market. Score them for suitability. Do they serve the residents? Are they struggling? Do they represent the tastes and merchandising of the past or future?

The Residents: Use Survey Monkey or a similar instrument to determine where residents shop for different items, stores, services, merchandise and uses are needed and wanted. Talk to shoppers about their likes and dislikes.

Do and Plan: This initial work will provide ideas that can be implemented quickly. Prepare a menu of needed improvements and their estimated costs and possible funding sources. The next steps could include a review of zoning , parking , amenities, and contacting potential tenants who fit the market needs.

Carol Todreas is a principal at Todreas Hanley Associates, Cambridge, Mass.