Creating an Exceptional Retail Marketplace Downtown

One of the challenges an emerging downtown city center faces is creating an exceptional retail marketplace.  Creating a destination for shopping, food venues, social hang outs and entertainment takes a certain “mix” of business “personalities.”  This special mix of businesses comprise the genetic make up of a downtown center.  Literally every business makes a difference in conveying the personality and character of a downtown.  That personality becomes the brand in which the city becomes known.

Interestingly, as historic downtown districts go through the rebirth process, there are several stages of the growth process.  One challenge that new businesses face is making sure that they are open for business during peak traffic hours to capture the potential customer revenue.  This is a delicate balance of knowing when to increase operational hours.  Being “open for business” enough hours to send a message that downtown is a destination that IS “open for business” is essential. 

Traveling to a downtown that is being promoted as a tourist location and finding every business closed at 6PM can send a mixed message to the traveling public.  In order for retail venues to extend hours for the shopping patrons, there must be both food service venues and entertainment activities available in the downtown area in the evening.  These three elements are essential to a successful “destination” location.  In this case, Historic Hub City, Centralia is striving to become a “destination” for tourists and an improved city center for members of the immediate community.

I recently read a report that discussed the topic of having the “lights on” after dark in the downtown.  The article discussed studies that were done with regard to tourist activity in the city center with different amounts of lights left on at night.  In a nutshell, they tested having little to no storefront lights on with no upper story lights as one sample, another sample with store front lights on and no upper story lights and lastly, both store front lights and upper story lights left on.  As you can imagine the tourist/patron behavior was much different when all the lights were on at night (I believe they were turned off at 1AM in the test study.)  Having lights on sends a message that “someone is home” – no one likes to come “home” to a dark house - - the same applies to a dark city center. 

Maybe it all boils down to the fact that we are afraid of the dark - - even if that was the baseline inherent value that we process as humans – the bottom line in business districts is that lights make a city center “alive.”  Imagine if you were driving by downtown Seattle and all the lights were “off” every night - - city lights communicate to the public that an area is alive and safe.

This relates to my original thoughts on being “open for business” - - despite the business being closed – having the lights ON after business hours communicates a message to the person who is walking about the city center.  One way to improve the nightlife image of a city center is to effectively “turn the lights on” after dark.  Light communicates life in a city center.  Once the lights are left on (even in a minimal way) the atmosphere changes to one that is inviting and welcoming.  Having the lights on dispels our inherent fears and calms our concerns for safety. 

To create an exceptional lively downtown city center, ideally every store front window is creatively decorated and well lit at night.  When people travel they tend to “walk about” as a part of the traveling experience.  Interesting, well lit window displays make a huge impression.  Even if the growing business cannot stay open extended hours YET – the window display is “selling” the business identity and inviting the passerby to come back when the store is open next. 

Ideally, as the business mix grows in diversity filling the gaps in food service, entertainment, hang outs and shopping experiences, the demand for store hours to increase is a part of the process.  Think for a moment of your favorite destination city – what kind of hours does the city center keep?  Are the lights on or off?  Are the operational hours extended to accommodate night time visitors?  What is the “message” of your favorite city after dark?  All interesting questions to consider.

We will be thrilled when the Wilson Hotel returns to hotel operations with 24 hour duty.  The lights will be on and the building will be “alive” again with travelers and patrons coming and going at all hours of the day and night.  The diversity of downtown will change for the positive with the addition of the Wilson Hotel being fully operational again.  We can’t wait!