Bringing the Locals Back Downtown

There are many factors that contribute to a downtown area being the “center of economics” in a community.  Centralia’s downtown is currently on the path to become designated as an official “Main Street” downtown.  Thriving downtown areas that are historical in character are an obvious draw for heritage tourist visitors – but what about the local population becoming re-interested in a downtown as it goes through a revitalization process?

Interestingly, one of the prominent conditions of blight in an area is when the local community “gives up” on their downtown and stops frequenting the downtown sector for goods and services.  Business then dries up and storefronts become more empty than filled.  One of the challenges for a downtown area that is on the path of revitalization, is to change the perception of the local community about the downtown area and bring back the locals as downtown patrons.

The blight process takes time as the economics decline in a downtown city center.  As the local community abandons the downtown sector they find other sources for goods and services outside of the downtown core.  The challenge then becomes luring the locals back to the downtown and changing their attitude regarding what “downtown” is all about.  Just as the economic downtown took time, reintroducing the local community to a “new downtown” takes time as well.

Revitalization is a process.  Most statistics indicate that rebuilding of a “new and better” downtown area is about a 10-12 year process depending on the severity of the blight conditions and the impact the blight conditions had on the local economy.  The true mark of successful revitalization downtown is the attraction of both visitors and locals alike.  The goal is to attract people back to the “heart” of downtown and in doing so winning over their hearts for downtown.

Thank You for Your Support

Hello Blog Friends ~ Thanks so much for the recent outpouring of care and concern about how we faired through the recent flood emergency in Centralia.  We are thankful to have so many folks who care enough to touch base and make sure that we are OK. Many of you have inquired how the Historic Downtown was affected.  Gratefully most all the downtown businesses were only affected very minorly.  Not enough to stop business Thank God. Our Historic Downtown is busier than ever as the holiday retail merchants are working overtime to accommodate the needs of the community at large.  The downtown is decorated beautifully with lights and garlands hanging all across Tower Avenue.  Additionally there are over 40 businesses that have decorated their windows with the “Name that Holiday Tune” game contest.  Great FUN for the whole family to come out and check out all the windows and celebrate the season.   Truly, this is one of the most beautiful times of year in downtown and we hope that you come to support the local merchants who make our historic downtown Hub City so special!