Part 2 ~ Developing Downtown Historic Centralia as a Booming Shopping Destination for Tourists & Locals Alike

Yesterday we posted about the eight main reasons “why” tourists shop.  There are seven reasons “why” they don’t shop as well. 

1.  Can’t Take it With Them ~ Travelers have concerns about transporting their purchases or having to deal with difficult shipping issues. 

SOLUTION: Make shipping easy and display prominent signage that states, “We ship anywhere!”

2.  It’s Not Unique or Special ~ Visitors don’t want to shop for things they can find at Wal Mart.

SOLUTION: Merchandise with a clear point of view and share the unique stories of your merchandise via your sales staff or visual merchandising.

3.  Assortment Issues ~ Sales will be lost if the visitor can’t find the right size, style, quantity or color desired. 

SOLUTION: Make it clear that you run special orders and that you ship anywhere.

4.  Stress ~ When shopping with family or friends at the end of their visit, sometimes others in the party are tired or eager to leave.

SOLUTION: Provide options for purchasing once they leave your institution, i.e., catalog or online store.  Additionally, consider adding seating to your store where the non-shoppers can stay with magazines so the primary shoppers have time to browse. 

5.  Access ~ If visitors don’t see your store, they don’t know you exist or what you carry. 

SOLUTION:  If the store’s location makes it hard to find, provide signage or merchandise displays at central locations.  Sandwich boards are very effective advertising in historic districts.

6.  Poor Customer Service ~ Inattentive sales staff and long lines at the register will cause visitors to leave your store without making a purchase.

SOLUTION: Continually train your staff on key customer service principles and reward them well for excellent service.

7.  Weak Visual Merchandising ~ Uninteresting displays and poor lighting will not entice customers into your store, let alone help them shop and make a purchase.

SOLUTION:  Tell a story with the merchandise. 

Tourism is a key business segment that can and will drive incremental sales at your store.  The shift needs to be to increase the number of visitors coming as tourists and attract more local folks into the downtown sector to participate in the shopping “experience.”  

 Overall in the information we have gathered, one theme continues to emerge - - historic areas rely on their retail establishments to set the trend for the overall experience of the traveler.  In particular, the heritage tourist because the average heritage tourist spends over 5 days in the destination they have traveled to visit verses just over 3 days for a traveler that is not heritage travel motivated.  Shopping is a definite expectation of the heritage tourist. 

We have posted extensively about heritage traveler demographics on our blog.  We continue to be amazed at the statistics we find about the traveler who is interested in heritage tourism.  As the Centralia Downtown Association becomes more established this month and the creation of committees to implement the 2008 work plan, we will see new efforts coming forth to market the downtown extensively to communities outside the immediate area.  This is an exciting time to be a part of the downtown emergence as the revitalization continues!