Recast City’s Post

#Storefronts are starting to close on a lot of our main streets. This might be just the start of seeing 20-30% of small businesses close due to the #pandemic. Look to the small scale #manufacturers in your community to fill those main street storefronts - cool stuff to see and more nimble as a #business in this unpredictable time. #mainstreet #manufacturingsector #manufacturingindustry #smallbusinessstrong #downtown #economicdevelopment #localgov #smallbusinessmatters #pandemicresponse

#Storefronts are starting to close on a lot of our main streets. This might be just the start of seeing 20-30% of small businesses close due to the #pandemic. Look to the small scale #manufacturers in your community to fill those main street storefronts - cool stuff to see and more nimble as a #business in this unpredictable time. #mainstreet #manufacturingsector #manufacturingindustry #smallbusinessstrong #downtown #economicdevelopment #localgov #smallbusinessmatters #pandemicresponse

#Storefronts are starting to close on a lot of our main streets. This might be just the start of seeing 20-30% of small businesses close due to the #pandemic. Look to the small scale #manufacturers in your community to fill those main street storefronts - cool stuff to see and more nimble as a #business in this unpredictable time. #mainstreet #manufacturingsector #manufacturingindustry #smallbusinessstrong #downtown #economicdevelopment #localgov #smallbusinessmatters #pandemicresponse

Unpopular Opinion: Boring downtowns are a choice. You don't need to settle for vacant and bland storefronts. We've shut out local entrepreneurs from access to capital and too many places prioritize the attraction of yet another big box store instead of investing local. So we produce the same old results. Your downtown stays empty and your big boxes go vacant a few years later with the next set of stores down the highway. Ready to change that? Check out “Hidden in Plain Sight” to learn more about Recast City and what you can do to be more than the same old same old. https://bit.ly/3ILmKQc

What is the future of the high street? The problem is LACK OF VISION. And unless something changes we will continue to see new retail units come and go with businesses failing time and time again. We need foresight, and we need to visualise what high streets can look like as a connected experience long into the future. At the moment, retail units go to the highest bidder without anyone thinking about the consequence of the whole connected experience of letting that retailer in. Every highstreet could serve a purpose and be useful to the area it operates in. Data gives us this foresight.

Can we convince #businesses to invest in Chicago's downtown area with the recent wave of teen vandalism? With political protests, downtown retail at a 30% vacancy rate, #crime and the cost of parking We're giving people fewer reasons to visit the #Chicago These issues are not unique to Chicago but, most urban centers. Business fund the taxes that go to our city services. As a former luxury retailer #Safty is the first expectation, for any potential client. How do we keep inventory protected from theives. My customers came into the shop to touch and feel the goods upclose. Our retail infrastructure is eroding. Online shopping, the alternative, is becoming more and more convenient and attractive. I love physical retail but, it's become unsustainable. #ceo #businessowners https://lnkd.in/gXc2ARMK

As with so many things in life, balance is so important. Provide a diversity of offerings in a town centre and its more likely to be successful. It needs to include a mix of nationals & Independents, of retail & hospitality, commercial & residential, and experiential options. Ideally a link to the history of the place & some lovely outside spaces. It needs to feel a safe place to visit and look attractive. All these things will attract residents (include new people moving to the area)& visitors, which will also benefit the business community., including landlords/ladies. It will also lead to a positive & proud community feeling about the place. Easy to identify the key attributes required but a little more difficult to ensure they are in place and that all the key stakeholders are working together to achieve the mutually beneficial outcome.

Unpopular Opinion: Boring downtowns are a choice. You don't need to settle for vacant and bland storefronts. We've shut out local entrepreneurs from access to capital and too many places prioritize the attraction of yet another big box store instead of investing local. So we produce the same old results. Your downtown stays empty and your big boxes go vacant a few years later with the next set of stores down the highway. Ready to change that? Check out “Hidden in Pain Sight” to learn more about Recast City and what you can do to be more than the same old same old. https://bit.ly/3ILmKQc

Unpopular Opinion: Boring downtowns are a choice. You don't need to settle for vacant and bland storefronts. We've shut out local entrepreneurs from access to capital and too many places prioritize the attraction of yet another big box store instead of investing local. So we produce the same old results. Your downtown stays empty and your big boxes go vacant a few years later with the next set of stores down the highway. Ready to change that? Check out “Hidden in Pain Sight” to learn more about Recast City and what you can do to be more than the same old same old. https://bit.ly/3ILmKQc

First it was Walmart that killed small business, then Amazon and e-commerce, and yet even today, there are main streets and commercial districts that are thriving. How have they managed to do that when these behemoths can use their collective power to lower prices and provide convenience? It's experience. It's connection to the real world. It's the story behind the product. It's all of this and more. I've known Jaime for nearly five years now and he continues to be on the right side of the conversation of what makes places great. And his book Main Street Mavericks starts that conversation with how you do this in your own neighborhoods and districts. Mind you, it is a conversation starter. It's not going to tell you exactly everything you need to do; if a script could be followed, wouldn't we all be doing that? But it feels like those concepts of #agile and #incrementaldevelopment are starting to permeate into the theory behind #mainstreet and #economicdevelopment, and Jaime clearly understands this as he talks about how you classify businesses, how you use your own resources to level up other businesses, and how you build an entire business ecosystem that is robust and resilient. If your goal is to get your district or main street in order, it's worth the read. https://lnkd.in/enrTfRtp