A Storefront Signage Program that Works

A recent trip with the Coro Neighborhood Leadership participants (a leadership training program for commercial district management professionals) to Atlantic Avenue in downtown Brooklyn was a wonderful demonstration of what small investments can do. The Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association, a non-profit organization comprised of local merchants, residents and property owners, has been quietly working to improve a busy stretch of Atlantic Avenue, a four-lane thoroughfare, and turn it into a more inviting, pedestrian friendly place. With limited resources (they are forming a Business Improvement District to ensure sustainability of their efforts), and the support of local stakeholders, they have made tremendous inroads. One program is the storefront signage program. Small grants of about $2,500 are given to new businesses who put up vertical blade signs. The new shop signs were made possible by a grant from their local State Senator Velmanette Montgomery. As you can see, this well designed signage is intended for pedestrians. As you walk down the street, the signage helps project the store's brand and functions like a magnet, attracting pedestrians further down the street with promises of more stores and window shopping.