Pedestrian Malls - Getting it Right

Nur Asri is an Associate at Larisa Ortiz Associates

Main Mall, Charlottesville VA

It’s been almost sixty years since the first pedestrian mall in the US opened in downtown Kalamazoo, MI. Designed by Victor Gruen, the father of the suburban shopping malls of America, the Kalamazoo mall has since been opened to one lane of traffic after forty years of being completely pedestrianized. The fate of the Kalamazoo mall is unlike that of hundreds of other counterparts across the nation. In fact, according to one study, pedestrian malls in the United States have an 89% rate of failure.

Pedestrian malls are often characterized as being public streets designated for pedestrian-only use and closed to vehicular traffic. The predominantly downtown feature rose between the 1960s and 1980s as an attempt to attract shoppers back to downtown cores following the flight to suburbia. Since its heyday, over 170 pedestrian malls across the country have been completely removed, combined with transit, or continue to struggle.

The Problem with Pedestrian Malls

Since its inception, pedestrian malls have posed several issues for downtowns including crime and safety, low retail visibility, and lack of customer convenience. Collectively, these issues have resulted in a less attractive shopping environment, lowering foot traffic and customer dwell times. When these patterns emerge, the retail mix also starts to shift away from comparison and destination goods and services, and vacancies become a common sight.

In Poughkeepsie NY, for example, the Main Mall which was in existence from 1973 until 2001, failed to stop the decline of the downtown due to growth of immediate suburbs and shopping malls, and also  the rise of vagrancy problems on the mall. Following the opening of the Dutchess County Department of Social Services nearby and the lack of assistance and programming on the mall in the 1980s, Poughkeepsie began to attract loiterers and transients on the Main Mall and was no longer a preferred shopping destination amongst County residents.

Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica CA

Too often the design of pedestrian malls often neglects heightening visibility of stores to various types of customers. Since malls are closed off from the rest of downtown, enhanced store signage and increased wayfinding is needed to direct customers towards businesses on the mall. Blade signs, A-Frame signs, large fonts, and clear logos were often left out of consideration. Placement of signs at every entrance to the mall was often disregarded and ended up leaving those customers driving in cars around downtown out of the picture.

Finally, the lack of convenient parking spaces and well-maintained pedestrian pathways to parking structures or transit stops on the periphery of downtown drove customers away from pedestrian malls (no pun intended). Even business owners operating on the malls found their operations disrupted as they often no longer had a dedicated, convenient spot to load/ unload goods. Accessibility of the downtowns became disrupted as a result of pedestrian malls.

Getting the pedestrian mall right

Despite these potential problems, some pedestrian malls have managed to survive and continue to be attractive environments for shopping downtown. And as we’ve found, there are a myriad of factors that enable these malls to be successful.

• Co-locate the mall near large anchor institutions and attractions

16th St Mall, Denver CO

Having institutions and anchors such as universities, hospitals, museums, convention centers, and stadiums/arenas, ensures that there is a constantly high flow of pedestrian traffic year-round in the downtown that is likely to spill onto the pedestrian mall. The City of Denver’s 16^th Street Mall, for example, sees large numbers of pedestrians annually thanks to its close proximity to the Pepsi Center (home to national hockey team Colorado Avalanche), University of Colorado, Denver Performing Arts Complex, Colorado Convention Center, and Coors Field, home of the major league baseball team Colorado Rockies. Last year alone, the Colorado Rockies saw close to 3 million attendees to their games for the season.

• Build a captive downtown audience

Upper floor housing on 2nd St, Santa Monica CA

The visitors to attractions and destinations are still quite temporary – there are ebbs and flows in their movements. However, residents and workers have a more consistent daily pattern of movement and they’re likely to pass through the pedestrian mall at least once a month, if not a week. In a survey conducted in downtown Santa Monica, 82% of residents were found to visit the Third Street Promenade at least once a month.  Furthermore, making dense downtown housing available not only creates captive shoppers for businesses, it also ensures that residents have their eyes on the mall at night, creating a safer environment for shoppers.

In the 1950s, Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade mall failed because most stores closed by 5pm when no one lived in the immediate area and there were no late-night entertainment options and few restaurants. Today, there are mixed-use residential buildings on adjacent streets, numerous hotels and office buildings in the area, creating a strong day-to-night captive audience for the pedestrian mall.

• Ensure active ground floor uses

AMC Theater Third St Promenade, Santa Monica CA

To ensure the pedestrian malls are active and safe 18 hours of the day, ground floor uses should be zoned for active uses that cater to a wide range of audience. Operating hours of retailers and services on the ground floor should be long and late-night hours should be maintained for a sizable portion of ground floor uses. This is easy to get at when there are restaurants, bars and entertainment venues along the pedestrian mall – just like Pearl Street Mall in Boulder CO. Santa Monica also successfully achieved this with a 21-screen cinema on Third Street (and zoning out cinemas from other nearby areas – an extreme solution).

• Keep length of mall short

Of the 11% of pedestrian malls that have survived since the 1960s and continue to thrive, a hundred percent measure between one and four blocks in length – and no more. The short blocks allow ‘minimal disruption to traffic circulation and permit cross-traffic to pass through the mall’, solving for issues that may arise around convenience and accessibility for shoppers and businesses.

• Mitigate traffic diversions and design the pedestrian experience from afar

If a mall is to be located on a street that already experiences high levels of vehicular traffic, some traffic diversion will inevitably occur and this may potentially result in the loss of customers who are driving to the area and who are seeking convenient parking.  Measures must be taken to mitigate such impacts and may include clear signage to guide drivers to the nearest available parking lots and to guide visitors between the mall and parking areas, well-lit and well-maintained pathways and alleys connecting the mall, distinctive entrances to the mall, and large and varying store signs.

In addition, two-way roads should encircle pedestrian malls (instead of one-way roads) to make adjacent roads safer for pedestrians and easier for driving customers to turn around on.

• Maintain and program

Busking on Bourke St Mall, Melbourne (Australia)

Finally, pedestrian malls that have continued to thrive have been consistently clean and well-maintained. This ensures that visitors are welcomed by an inviting public realm. Programs and events such as busking and festivals have also been carried out throughout the year at successful pedestrian malls in order to build experiences for shoppers who are seeking more than just physical products.

Having a centralized, coordinated management group for the pedestrian mall enable smooth operations and program delivery and can really contribute to the overall success of a mall.

Just a Word of Caution

Although the above factors laid out here may help you implement a robust and integrated pedestrian mall, the mall does take a lot of stakeholder engagement, rallying support, and A LOT of capital before it can succeed. Remember – of the approximately 200 pedestrian malls built in the 60s and 80s, only 11% have been successful and even then many had to re-invest and re-strategize their malls over the years.

Pedestrian malls aren’t for the faint of heart.

Shipping Container Pop-ups: Best Practice or Best Forgotten?

Dan McCombie is a Research Associate at Larisa Ortiz Associates

I caught myself typing this into my google machine the other day:

“Are shipping containers still cool?”

This question has been on my mind as of late, given that the phenomenon of turning shipping containers into pop-ups for retail, exhibition space, offices, and even tiny homes, has been going on for quite some time now. Many people are no doubt familiar with the well renowned downtown Container Park in Las Vegas, constructed in 2013 as part of a huge reinvestment package spurred by the relocation of online retailer Zappos to the neighborhood. And I personally remember when back in 2011 my hometown of Christchurch (NZ) had its central city devastated by earthquake, spurring the city to create Re:Start to quickly breathe life back into the CBD. Are people still doing this? Is it still perceived as both a savvy marketing scheme and opportunity to catalyze revitalization? Or is the public starting to experience container-fatigue?

What’s the problem with containers?

Admittedly, there is a part of me that sometimes looks upon containers with disdain simply because they are so ubiquitous now. But I stumbled upon this quote from an article by John King in an article he wrote for SFGATE.com, wherein he waxes on the creation of “Proxy,” another container park constructed in 2011 in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco:

“This isn’t about architecture so much as urban place making: you’re less aware of the structures than of the surroundings. The containers aren’t treated as sculptural elements, as is the case recently in other international cities. They’re content to add layers to the landscape, enlarging the Hayes Valley experience without making a fuss.”

Which I interpret to mean: “Calm down. Forget about the medium and consider the effect.”

And rightly so. I actually visited Proxy when I was last in San Francisco, when a couple of friends brought me to the beer garden there (Biergarten). Recalling that visit and doing some background research, I learned that Proxy was exactly as the name describes—a temporary placeholder until more permanent development could take place, much like Re:Start in Christchurch. The site on Octavia Street was originally an underutilized parking lot that the city sought to redevelop for affordable housing. However, the original plan was tabled with the advent of the economic recession. Rather than let the site lay vacant and an eyesore on the neighborhood, the city and the Mayor’s office bid the site out for a temporary and less costly installation, to which the designer/developer/operator Envelope A+D responded with their plan for a “flexible environment of food, art, culture, and retail within renovated shipping containers.” 

Although city codes lacked precedent for a “temporary” retail operation lasting more than 90 days (the project is due to expire in 2020), stakeholders were able to negotiate an agreement such that project became a reality. Now retail tenants include a mix of established brands and start-ups taking their first incremental step towards brick and mortars. In addition to retail offerings, the project hosts film screenings, art installations, and serves as a performance/event space creating a bonafide neighborhood gathering place.   

What have container parks like Proxy meant for retail?

Proxy bucks the trend in retail in the sense that in spite of its positive public reception and the relative success of its tenants, it plans to shutter in a couple of years. Why remove something that seems to be a success? Because it was always designed to be a stop-gap and of course the need to grow the supply of affordable housing in the Bay Area is still an acute need. But the lessons remain. What Proxy did well was create density in a vacant space. It was consciously conceived as a means to revitalize a previously blighted area, a parking lot that had also been the former site of a freeway. There were other things Proxy did well—curating the mix of tenants in a meaningful way and targeting operators that could feasibly make the jump to brick and mortars after a period of incubation. I also appreciate that the designers consciously eschewed the term “pop-up.” In a quote from Douglas Burnham, founder of Envelope A+D:

“We specifically don’t use the word ‘pop-up’ because it doesn’t really mean anything to us anymore…We think that a thoughtful insertion of compelling temporary uses can be an effective strategy to bring vibrancy to languishing parts of the city. There’s nothing trendy or faddish about this.”

Admittedly, one could argue it is a bit faddish to treat “pop-up” as a pejorative term. But I think this gets back to my main takeaway. Before you critique something for its popularity, it’s important to consider if and why it actually has staying power.

So…do containers have staying power?

As far as I’ve been able to tell, the containerization of our lives continues unabated. Large brands like Budlight, DSW, Puma, HBO, and HP are increasingly demanding container pop-ups for experiential retailing strategies while a growing number of companies are supplying both specialized and turnkey options. They range from Co-Working in a Box’s “PopBox”, Britten’s “BoxPop”, and Vacant’s mobile container truck, each providing a range of design and consultative services to help get businesses off the ground and engage customers in places they didn’t expect.

And let’s not miss the fact that a whole segment of companies have an identical model for indoor pop-ups. The shopping mall giant Macerich’s Pop-Up EXP program provides 100-300 SF of space with micro leases, and modular components. The difference here is we’re not talking about containers. Again—this suggests a larger trend with momentum and that the medium (containers) is really beside the point.

What’s on the horizon?

Some forward-thinking folks have gone so far as to envision containers as outparcels–parking lot satellites to larger retailers located inside shopping malls. For example, perhaps a Nordstrom anchoring a mall uses a container in the parking lot as a small fulfillment center so customers have the convenience of picking up their order on the fly without the full commitment of going inside. It’s no stretch of the imagination given the way e-commerce has pushed the industry towards more rapid and flexible retail with just-in-time delivery schedules. And what with autonomous vehicles ahead, these trends will surely continue into the foreseeable future.

Personally, I’m excited to see pop-ups and container villages keep building off of what has worked in the past. Invest Atlanta, the City of Atlanta’s Development Authority, approved $550K in funding to create an “MLK Innovation Village” built out of shipping containers in an empty parking lot adjacent to the H.E. Holmes MARTA station. The village will include an outdoor gathering space, retail, and at least nine offices with the intent that this “semi-temporary” project will be a catalyst for future transit oriented development in the area. It’s the same model as Proxy and Re:Start, but with a creative transit component that could give it possibly massive multiplier effects.

Which is all to say, I think we still have a lot of containers coming our way in the future.

And that’s quite alright with me.

Puma City
 Multiple Global Ports

Re:Start
Christchurch, NZ

Proxy
Hayes Valley neighborhood of SF

Container Park
Downtown Las Vegas 

Best Practice: Shrinking Brick-and-Mortars and DGX

Dan McCombie is a Research Associate at Larisa Ortiz Associates

For our recent blog post on 2018 retail trends, number seven on our list was the phenomenon of shrinking retail footprints and the opportunities they provide for both retailers and for downtowns. I thought it helpful to highlight one such retailer, perhaps an unexpected one, who has adopted this strategy. Who is it?

Dollar General. (Really?)

Really. (Tell me more!)

Ok! 

In January of 2017, Dollar General announced the opening of its new urban format store entitled Dollar General Express (or DGX) in Nashville Tennessee, just a ways south of the company's base of operations in Goodlettsville. It differed largely from existing stores in that it occupied a paltry 3,400 SF compared to traditional store sizes of 7,300 SF, presenting a small, clean, modern and sleek aesthetic. Its usual 10,000-12,000 SKUs were traded in for a more limited assortment of grocery, pet supply, snacks, paper products, and home cleaning supplies, but complemented with a coffee bar, refrigerated grab-n-go food offerings, an expanded health and beauty section, and a “carefully-edited assortment of home, electronics and seasonal offerings.”[1]

What explained the reasoning behind the new DGX? Dollar General representatives explained what we all already know, that the retail business is changing and shopping is increasingly moving online. The new DGX was felt to be a way to anchor their brand more in their brick-and-mortars by reaching a new audience of urban and Millennial-aged shoppers—thus the reason for choosing Nashville as their first location. The Nashville metropolitan area is expected to reach a population of 2M by the year 2020, signaling a trend of urbanization that is not likely to abate anytime soon. A quick look in ESRI Business Analyst found that within a fifteen minute walk shed of the store’s location, over 40 percent of the population was classified in the “Dorms to Diplomas” tapestry segment, an inherently budget-conscious demographic of college students with low rates of car ownership. An additional 38 percent of residents were characterized as “Metro Renters,” college-educated Millennial 30-somethings with a preference for single household urban living. Dollar General seems to be gambling big on these cohorts by opening its second DGX location in Raleigh, North Carolina, within the famed Research Triangle region.

What DGX is seeking to do goes beyond what was discussed in our 2018 trends blog post, where we pointed to stores like City Target and Neighborhood Nordstrom in the general merchandise category. These retailers are shrinking store sizes and reducing inventories in order to focus on more experiential components—in essence responding to a market correction that saw an oversupply in retail space across the country. But Dollar General is really continuing a retail strategy that has historically served them well. They have always been a small format chain compared to their big-box competitors. With a smaller footprint, they’ve been able to locate closer to budget-minded shoppers, competing on convenience and access, such that they claim they currently serve 75% of the US population. This strategy has fueled their consistent growth with Q4 2017 sales rising at the fastest pace seen in the past three years.  

What is different is that the Dollar General site selection strategy has grown from a focus solely on the rural customer to include the urban. In short, Dollar General has not changed their value proposition, which is providing affordable and accessible convenience goods. What they have changed is their focus on primarily rural demographics to now include a growing urban demographic. This is not to say they’ve been absent from urban areas until now, but the new DGX stores can be shoehorned into smaller spaces in denser environments in a way they haven’t been able to prior. That has tremendous implications for addressing vacant spaces, improving tenant mix, and creating engaging downtown environments.     

Source: dollargeneral.com

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[1] https://newscenter.dollargeneral.com/our-story/blog-posts/dollar-general-unveils-new-dgx-concept.htm

Looking Beyond: Trade Area Growth Strategies for Industrial Retail Locations

Dan McCombie is a research associate at Larisa Ortiz Associates

A critical component of driving retail sales is correctly defining trade areas. As was mentioned in a recent blog post, get it wrong and the data is meaningless. But as we know, trade areas are often a reflection of destination drivers and overall access. Are there anchor institutions like movie theaters that act as magnets for customers? Nearby subway stations or bus routes popular with commuters? What is the distance between these assets and the retail itself? Does crime or poor walkability dissuade shopping? With these thoughts in mind, I wanted to turn a critical eye towards a recent shopping experience I had at a Bed Bath and Beyond located in Brooklyn’s industrial waterfront. I wanted to look at it through the lens of defining trade area because an industrial environment can pose challenges for retail and the siting of this store felt particularly bold. Yet here was a retailer cognizant of the challenges of an industrial location and had created some compensatory measures.  Though this case study does not resemble a traditional downtown business district, I believe it has implications for our practice and for developing waterfront commercial districts.

Why did I make the trip?

In short, because I needed to return some merchandise. I became familiar with Bed Bath and Beyond’s robust return policy several years ago when I had to buy some plumbers tape. The store associate sold me on a substitute product that I was sure wouldn’t work (it didn’t), but he assured me that I could return it if necessary. Not only that, but I could return virtually anything purchased at Bed Bath and Beyond at any time in the future and get a full refund.

Fast forward to last week--I have visitors staying at my place from out of town and the slow-leaking Bed Bath and Beyond Aerobed air mattress in the top shelf of my closet suddenly needs to be replaced. I decide to put this return policy to the test and found the closest location in the recently opened Liberty View Industrial Plaza. The drive is roughly 20-25 minutes. This might have been enough to dissuade me from going there to buy cutting boards and dish sponges, but it did not dent my inelastic demand for the replacement of a $170 air mattress.

What was my retail experience?

Front facade of Beyond at Liberty View

Driving southwest along Third Ave, under the Gowanus Expressway, the turnoff into the parking lot feels hairpin and sudden with no obvious signage to aid a midblock ingress. I do not feel that I am entering a commercial district by any measure. However, once the turn is accomplished I find a spacious no-fee parking lot and a sense of relief. I also notice that the surrounding buildings comprise Industry City; a 40-acre innovative maker hub with over 400 local companies. Maybe this is not a commercial district, but it’s not an ordinary industrial district either. I turn back to the Liberty View Industrial Plaza. The building gives the appearance of an unassuming warehouse typical of the Brooklyn waterfront, but the front façade quickly leads me to realize this is not a standard Bed Bath and Beyond. This is “Beyond at Liberty View,” an indoor retail shopping complex incorporating several additional stores from the company’s portfolio: Face Values, buybuy Baby, and a Cost Plus World Market. 

I enter the building and remark upon the post-industrial aesthetic of steel girders and cross beams, grated ceilings, and exposed brick. My attention is also drawn to the 13ft bronze statue of Captain America (“I’m just a kid from Brooklyn”) nestled between the two main entranceways. In addition to the aforementioned stores, the shopping center offers a range of services: a blow-out hair bar; a portrait photography store; special event space for cooking demos; concierge services for a personalized shopping experience; and a help desk to facilitate home deliveries. A coffee bar serves Brooklyn-based roaster Toby’s Estate and an on-site restaurant boasts an “all-star lineup” of local food and beverages.

Customers enjoy free coffee samples at the Keurig station

Captain America greets arriving customers

Walking towards Bed Bath and Beyond I see a display table near the entrance advertising a carefully curated “Born in Brooklyn” selection of products sourced from local Makers. It’s a significant but endearing contrast from my usual associations with the store: stacked floor to ceiling boxes of uniform products and an “As Seen on TV” section. I also discover they have a Keurig coffee station at the back of the store where patrons can sample different flavors of complementary K-cups and enjoy seated views of the waterfront. With a coffee in hand, I proceed to the customer relations counter and am pleased to find that the return policy is as robust as promised. They take my old air mattress and provide a replacement at no charge. This prompts me to buy several extra items before I eventually leave and return home.    

Upon Reflection

Industry City innovation hub seen from across the parking lot 

Putting a Bed Bath and Beyond in an industrial use district feels counterintuitive. It’s certainly not unheard of to find retail in such a place—IKEA and Home Depot are two prime examples. But those retailers are category killers more akin to warehouses with showrooms. They can afford to be single tenant buildings and still pull from a larger trade area while Bed Bath and Beyond collocates with other retailers and benefits from foot traffic. What I observed in my shopping experience was a conscience effort to address the pitfalls of industrially located retail by utilizing many of the best practices we discuss on a regular basis (see chart below). 

Andrew Hoan, president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, is quoted in an article by Bklyner.com as saying that Brooklyn retailers are losing out on almost $6BN in consumer spending. That is a huge opportunity for retailers if they can figure out how to capture more customers in their own borough by growing their individual trade areas. That does not necessarily mean instituting favorable return policies on every product—something I can assure you hardly figures into our calculations. However, it does mean dipping into a toolbox of different best practices that can have an altogether profound impact. I may not need to go to Bed Bath and Beyond for a while, but that Cost Plus World Market is the only place I know in the city that sells Arnott’s Tim Tam cookies.

The Do's and Don'ts of Outdoor Displays

A furniture store in Sanford, FL
curates a seating patio outside its store.

Nur Asri is an associate at Larisa Ortiz Associates

The public realm is extremely important in commercial districts. While plazas and parks offer areas for visitors to rest and enjoy a meal, sidewalks make up a larger percentage of the public realm and are often optimized by businesses to attract customers. As a result, many store owners have taken to displaying merchandise on sidewalks as ‘teasers’ to what else is in store for potential customers.

However, business owners need to be aware that every city has its own regulations around sidewalk merchandise displays. Here in NYC, although stores are permitted to have outdoor displays of merchandise with no required licenses (for the most part.. Note: ‘Zero Sidewalk Display’ streets and streets in historically designated areas), these displays are restricted by types of goods and by size and structure.

The City requires that items displayed outdoors consist only of goods that are available for sale inside the store and that all sales must still occur inside the premise. Structures used to display the merchandise outside the store must also be temporary in nature and may extend no more than 3 feet into the sidewalk from the building line, and no higher than 5 feet. If a business owner were to break any of these regulations, a fine between $250 and $300 may be issued by the City.

In Cambridge, MA, where we recently completed work on a citywide retail strategy, the outdoor display of merchandise is even harder to do because a sidewalk obstruction permit is required by the City of Cambridge and costs $75 to submit.

Regardless of municipality, businesses must recognize that the regulations around sidewalk merchandise display are often well-intentioned and aim to meet the following three key principles:

1. Maintaining standards of cleanliness and hygiene
2. Enhancing pedestrian comfort and safety
3. Ensuring collective business viability

More than 8' width pedestrian zone outside
this fresh food market in Mt Vernon, NY.

Through our work in different downtowns and commercial corridors across the state and country, we’ve seen a number of best practices in outdoor merchandise display but we have also seen some that have done more harm than good to the overall business environment. Here are some quick tips to ensure you use outdoor merchandise displays to your business’ and your corridor’s benefit.

Do’s:

Leave sufficient sidewalk space for pedestrians to walk. On busy downtown commercial streets, for example, the City of Boston recommends a minimum of 8’-12’ width dedicated as the ‘pedestrian zone’ to ensure easy flow of pedestrian traffic on sidewalks. The clear path will ensure the sidewalk remains accessible to multiple users, including those in wheelchairs or pushing strollers, and will also maximize the foot traffic for businesses.

(NYC sure was right in limiting the depth of outdoor display structures to no more than 3 feet from the building line!)

Shoes on display outside this men's clothing store
maintains a clear path to the doorway.

Keep the path to the store’s entrance clear from any physical barriers. The fewer the barriers to entry, the more likely the customer will walk beyond the entryway. Having seen a teaser of products outdoors, businesses will want customers to continue browsing merchandise indoors and extend their dwell times so ensure that outdoor merchandise displays do not block the entryway nor reduce the visibility of the store’s entrance.

Maintain a neat, organized and relevant display rack. The success of your business and the success of your overall commercial district are interrelated. If your district’s sidewalks were spilled over with messy and unmaintained outdoor merchandise displays with expired or irrelevant products, the overall image of the district would be spoiled and customers would perceived a neglected commercial street and take their shopping elsewhere.

Switch out and rotate the merchandise you put on display outside every other day (in the case of fresh flowers, fruits and vegetables) or every few months (in the case of seasonal gifts and clothing) and ensure the display racks are kept tidy. Maintain a good image for the corridor and your business will only reap the benefits.

Curate and get creative with your outdoor merchandise display. A well-curated outdoor display can attract both visitor and resident customers. Take the time to select and curate pieces that market your business best. Furniture and antique stores, flower shops, and even bike shops are increasingly using outdoor merchandise displays to their advantages and luring customers with unique and colorful outdoor product displays.

Don’ts:

Florist on Montague Street, Brooklyn NY

Clutter products in the allowable outdoor display areas. If displays appear cluttered and messy, customers are more likely to be confused by the products offered by the store and will quickly move on to neighboring businesses. After all, “less is more” is the common rule for merchandising. According to retail experts, high product density results in visual chaos that overwhelms the shopper. There isn’t enough time for the shopper to sort through the clutter and determine if the merchandise is of enough interest to stop and shop. 

Stack products high in front of store windows. Often, business owners get overexcited about being able to promote merchandise outside and forget the importance of maintaining transparency of storefronts. Sure customers are now able to see products on display outdoors, however, storefront transparency also serve to discourage crime with ‘more eyes on the street’ and reduce energy consumption by letting natural light into the store. Remember that many storefront guidelines recommend having 70% of the façade surface completely transparent between 2’ and 10’ height above the sidewalk.

Display products that are hard to reach by customers. When businesses pack as many products as possible outside, it becomes “physically impossible for a consumer to shop comfortably”. As a result of stacks and stacks of products, shoppers are often unable to reach most of the products on display and are therefore unable to examine the merchandise more closely, resulting in them losing interest and walking away.

While outdoor merchandise display can do wonders in advertising and promoting goods on offer in stores, it is important to note that some products lend themselves better to outdoor display than others. For example, lighter-weight articles can easily be blown over by wind outdoors, and food and drinks may become spoiled from long exposure to sunlight and humidity. We’ve also seen long articles of clothing getting dirtied by outdoor dust and particles, ruining the overall appearance of the sidewalk display.

If you’re thinking of enhancing the vibrancy of the sidewalks in your commercial district, first make sure you abide by the regulations set by your municipality and, secondly, ensure that the displays don’t result in dirt or mess on the sidewalks, and don’t create tripping hazards, fire hazards or nuisances for your customers. After all, your customers’ experience is central to the success of this effort.

Managing Homelessness Downtown

Our recent experience working with downtowns in the state of New York and in North Carolina this past year has brought to our attention a spike in stakeholder concerns over homelessness downtown. The homeless population is often referred to as the people who “lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence". In downtowns, the homeless are often seen occupying public or private places that are not designed to be regular sleeping accommodation including parking lots and garages, storefront stoops, transit stations, vacant buildings/ lots etc. In addition to this group, there are also the homeless who live in substandard buildings that lack sanitation, cooking facilities or heat, who are often disregarded.

Trend

Seeing the rising concern over homelessness in our own projects led us to dig a little deeper into the trends happening elsewhere. As it turns out, homelessness is indeed spiking in cities all across the country, and particularly in downtowns. In San Diego, for example, tent cities have begun proliferating downtown near freeway on-ramps and commercial districts and homeless service centers. On a recent trip to Seattle, WA, I witnessed the same trend occurring under the on-ramp to I-90 by the CenturyLink Field and Chinatown District.

A myriad of factors contribute to the rising homeless population downtown but many leaders are increasingly placing blame on criminal justice reforms, which have downgraded some felonies to misdemeanors and therefore keeping some people out of prison or drug treatment and instead leaving them on the streets.

The more popular reason for the rise in homelessness downtown, however, remains the increasing cost of rents and disappearance of residential hotels. As more people look to live in convenient and vibrant downtowns across the nation, the high demand for downtown apartments and houses is slowly driving prices up for all housing stock. Meanwhile, homeless advocates are also pointing to the significant loss of single-room occupancy units, or SROs, as a key factor in the homelessness crisis. Many SRO units that still remain are unfortunately uninviting and unaffordable.

Why do homeless people gather downtown?

While those who can afford to live in downtowns are moving to these areas for comfort, convenience, and entertainment, homeless individuals on the other hand are coming in droves because downtown is often the best place to seek day service centers, social service centers, and basic amenities such as bathrooms and water fountains.  Downtown is also the place where homeless folks can get a meal, a shower or a shelter bed – resources that often cannot be found elsewhere.

During a stakeholder interview for our work in Middletown (NY), Director of the Thrall Library, Matt Pfisterer informed us that the homeless population there was particularly active around the library because they needed bathroom access in the day when they were not in shelters. Later in the afternoon, he reports, the homeless crowd migrates towards the soup kitchens and other downtown homeless service centers as they start to compete for safe and comfortable night time lodging. The Thrall Library, as do many other libraries across the nation, does its best to accommodate this group by ensuring bathrooms are monitored and maintained constantly throughout the day by staff and personnel to ensure that all library users can continue to use the bathrooms hassle-free.

Issues

Bathroom lines and litter are hardly issues when it comes to dealing with homelessness downtown. Many cities are facing harder problems such as drug use in public, rise in reported theft, and overall, a perceived lack of safety amongst residents and visitors. This overall unwelcoming atmosphere is not only discouraging some from living and investing in downtown, but also discouraging customers from shopping and visiting downtown. In our experience, we have heard from business owners and property owners that homelessness downtown has negatively impacted foot traffic and in turn, sales. In some cases, the homeless population has been driven to spend nights on storefront stoops and use back alleys as latrines, giving store employees additional work in the morning when they return to open and operate businesses.

Lower patronage downtown has even resulted in businesses closing in Portland, OR. A dance studio in downtown Portland, OR experienced dwindling class attendance from out-of-towners who felt scared walking to and from parking lots and dance class in the evenings as a result of the spike in the homeless population there.

Management Solutions

Whether perceived or real, this lack of safety experienced downtown can be managed by downtown organizations. The first step in managing homelessness downtown is counting, keeping track, and being aware of the current situation. After all, you cannot manage what you don’t know.  By keeping count of your homeless population, you will be able to determine the actual size and scope of the issue and at the same time identify hot spots with high concentrations of homeless folks and their peak visiting times during the day.

A common way to count the population is to use the ‘point-in-time’ method. This method requires that the count take place on one day every year across the city or downtown and therefore provides a Point-In-Time snapshot of the homeless population. This can be conducted by public or private sector volunteers including, of course, the downtown organization. This information can then even be registered with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to become a part of a nationwide database for understanding homelessness across the country and will be required to be considered for federal funding to combat homelessness.

The limitation with this method, however, is that volunteers counting are only limited to what they can see by eye. In essence, they count the number of homeless people seen in cars, and on foot and if there are those who are hidden in tents, an assumption is made that there are two people per tent and may therefore be undercounting. Keeping a consistent counting method throughout the months and years is crucial for comparing data over time accurately and as long as this limitation is recognized, downtown organizations will be able to make informed decisions.

Downtown San Diego Partnership takes counting a step further by organizing a monthly survey instead of an annual one. Homeless outreach workers with the Downtown Partnership cover 275 city blocks between midnight and 5 a.m. on the last Thursday of every month and they have been counting since 2012. This has enabled them to see changes year-on-year and the data has helped the Partnership determine what actions need to be taken to manage the spike in homelessness and also to determine factors that may be affecting the numbers.

Taking Action

There are a number of actions that can be taken by downtowns to manage their homeless populations depending on size and scope.

First, developing a Vulnerability Index has been critical to many downtowns and cities in order for them to identify and prioritize the homeless population on the streets that should qualify for housing. A Vulnerability Index typically measures length of homelessness and mortality risk and is a practical application—a person-to-person survey—that is “revolutionizing the speed at which … chronically homeless population is placed into permanent housing”.

In some cities, non profits are stepping forward to create diverse housing stocks for the formerly homeless and low-income residents. Mixed-income permanent supportive housing is becoming a popular strategy to house the homeless population in larger cities such as DC and NYC.Often these buildings also feature community spaces such as rooftop terraces, gardens, lounges, gyms and laundry rooms that help the residents get out and engage with neighbors – a holistic environment for recovery from homelessness or any other dire situation.

While providing housing stock may be a longer term strategy, other short to medium-term strategies are also in place in many downtowns across the country. Libraries, as mentioned earlier, are becoming top community spaces that support the homeless population. The DC public library, for example, now provides an innovative outreach program for the homeless since its first hire of a Health and Human Services Coordinator. A Knight Foundation grant in 2015 enabled DC Public library to create an online interface of health and human services data  and train librarians in homelessness outreach so that when homeless folks come up to a librarian, he/she is able to direct them to the right service providers and give the correct referrals. This is a simple yet essential tool for supporting homeless folks and getting them back on track.

In other instances, business improvement districts have partnered with existing homeless-serving organizations to carry out supportive programs. In Los Angeles, CA, Downtown Center Business Improvement District  funds homeless outreach teams to contact, interview and assist homeless people living in the west side of downtown. Over $255,000 has been funneled from the BID to two social services agencies in order to hire staff to do this outreach work. PATH, or People Assisting the Homeless, is one of the organizations that provides services, including street outreach, shelter and housing construction. Chrysalis, a skid row program, then provides job preparation and temporary work experience, and also has been tasked with picking up litter in areas heavily-trafficked by homeless folks. In the first year of funding from the BID, outreach workers completed 196 assessments, and placed 36 people in permanent housing and enrolled 56 in PATH’s housing services.

Downtown San Diego Partnership, on the other hand, has set up a Clean and Safe Program and DowntownDC BID partnered with the city government and 20 local service providers in order to facilitate various efforts to end homelessness. This includes a partnership with Pathways to Housing DC that has deployed a 4-person, clinically-based outreach team that provides street-level intervention to move individuals beyond homelessness to independence. In addition, DowntownDC BID’s Safety/ Hospitality and Maintenance employees have 12 specially-trained members, known as the Homeless Outreach Service Team (HOST), who work closely with the Pathways to Housing DC Team and are trained to recognize and engage individuals with mental and addiction challenges. The smallest yet most impactful effort made by DowntownDC BID, however, remains the brown bag discussions that help educate the public on homelessness and raise awareness.

Installing public bathrooms is another potential strategy that might mitigate instances of public urination/ defecation. Although not all instances of this offence is carried out by the homeless, the compassionate approach rather than law enforcement approach has been widely praised by residents of the city of Denver, CO, where a pilot program of mobile public restrooms was established last year. These mobile facilities cost $12,000 per month to lease and are cleaned nightly and rotated regularly to different locations. Public bathrooms are basic amenities that should be made available to all users of downtown.

Given that vacant lots are often targeted for homeless camps to set up, downtown organizations may mitigate the situation by requiring or ensuring that private property owners have reliable property management companies in place to monitor compliance with zoning codes.

Finally, as downtown organizations plan ahead the annual schedule of events, they might start thinking about organizing events in partnership with homeless groups and shelters to accelerate and coordinate the move-in process. These processes normally take 60 days to happen but can be expedited in a single all-day event that serves as both outreach to homeless folks and also one that raises awareness amongst the general public.

Take a Comprehensive Approach

Overall, it is important to acknowledge that ignoring the homeless population downtown will not make it go away. A comprehensive approach must be taken by downtowns, in partnership with city, state or even federal agencies, and nonprofits and local community groups. Addressing the full range of issues faced by the homeless including housing/shelter, employment services, meals, and rehabilitation is crucial to managing the problem. It is also important to remember to count and measure the scale and scope of the issue first before taking any mitigating steps. This ensures that the response or strategies implemented directly serve those in need rather than simply blanket the problem.

New York City Department of Small Business Services issues Commercial District Needs Assessments

We are thrilled to share the release of the City of New York's Commercial District Needs Assessments (CDNA's). These six neighborhood assessments set a tremendously high bar for the kind of information that government entities can collect and share on behalf of local communities. The assessments give neighborhoods a powerful tool that they can use to encourage investment and advocate for the improvements they want and need. They allow neighborhoods to communicate not only strengths, but also make clear the kinds of enhancements that are needed to improve quality of life and business opportunities for both residents and businesses alike.

Our connection to this project is quite personal. Over a year ago, the New York office of the Local Initiative Support Corporation provided funding for our firm, Larisa Ortiz Associates, to develop the framework for what eventually became the CDNA approach. In coming months we will be working with LISC  to turn the methodology in a practical 'how to' manual so that other communities can benefit from - and perhaps even replicate - the approach.

Our philosophy has always been that communities - particularly underserved urban communities - cannot and should not be understood by market data alone. The syndicated data that is available is often inaccurate. So when retailers or investors use it to understand urban markets they are often misled to believe there is limited opportunity for new business. To combat that perception we have developed an approach, honed over many years, that considers four key areas of inquiry as follows:

• Business environment - in particular locations of high retail density, as well as the quality and type of retail offerings
• Physical environment - including the conditions of the public realm (i.e. streets, sidewalks, and public spaces) and the private realm (buildings, and privately owned assets) as well as the degree to which the corridor is easily accessible the the resident and non-resident customer base
• Market and demographic data - not just for residents, but also for non-residents, including employees and visitors to the community who may alter the customer profile
• Adminstrative capacity - which reflects the organizations, institutions and local leaders whose engagement is critical to the success of commercial revitlaizaiton efforts. 

This approach results in a much more comprehensive profile of opportunities and needs - and helps put communities behind the steering wheel when it comes to advocating for the investments that they want and need. We couldn't be more excited to share this with the field. Congrats to the amazing team at SBS for the hard work that went into creating these wonderful tools!

To download the assessments and to find out more about the great work that the Department of Small Business Services is doing click here. 

Round Up: Urban Taxidermy, Tightening the Rust Belt, Tips for a Successful Art Tour, The Elements of Placemaking

Jargon Watch: "Urban Taxidermy"

As cities struggle to maintain character of neighborhoods and commercial districts, they are conflicted between two options, the preservation of old buildings versus allowing development to proceed. By preserving a district you also preserve a "walkable, vibrant streetscape where people want to be." Enter Urban Taxidermy.

Robert Allsopp defines urban taxidermy as "the art of preserving, stuffing and mounting buildings for lifelike effect to simulate an intrinsic social, cultural or commercial vitality."

Before urban taxidermy.

After urban taxidermy.

Do Parts of the Rust Belt ‘Need to Die Off’?

Experts suggest that struggling Rust Belt cities must look to the future of their cities by slimming down strategically through "smart decline."  Smart decline refers to "the ways in which cities can plan around population loss and find ways to manage it (and maybe grow again one day)." Some strategies include moving lowest density occupants to compact neighborhoods, building greenbelts instead of maintaining untraveled streets, encouraging urban farming or letting the barren areas revert to nature.

Helping the Public Enjoy Art

A multi-tiered approach to getting people out for an art tour in downtown Des Moines, Iowa offers some ideas on how to attract visitors to your district for one-off events and beyond.

Public Space at the Crossroads of Everything

The "place" in Placemaking is the combination of many more elements than you might've previously even considered. 

Emerging Ideas in Community Tourism Planning - Part 2

This is the second in a three-part series exploring ways communities are playing a greater role in planning and developing their tourism industries. Guest blogger Joe Bly is a former documentary producer and writer, going beyond film and television to tell stories of social and urban progress.

Before the drama of the Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro can begin on August 5^th, and the Paralympics in September, another drama has to conclude:  preparing the city to host one of the biggest and highest profile events on the planet.  Of course, when selected in 2009, Rio was already a premier tourist destination, with tourism revenue representing 67% of the city’s GDP.  It hosted about 1 and a half million foreign tourists that year, a third of those for a single event, Carnival. 

But since then, Brazil has spent almost $12 billion upgrading nearly every level of infrastructure required to host the games.  That’s not just for specialized sports facilities and team dormitories.  The city has struggled to completely revamp its train and subway systems, water and waste management systems, and amid controversy, relocate entire residential neighborhoods.  This to host what is essentially a single, unique visitor attraction.  And every effort is stalked by questions of what is the ultimate benefit, and for whom. 

Here is where we can draw parallels and lessons for any location scaling up tourism capacity.  Even at the other end of the spectrum, a locale with little or no tourism infrastructure or resources, the issues of effective capacity building and community benefit remain the same.  So what does launching a tourism industry from scratch look like?

Community-Based Tourism

Community-based tourism (CBT) is a model in which often remote communities host visitors in the homes of residents and provide access to their unique attraction and cultural events.  The most familiar form is ecotourism.  2800 miles northwest of Rio, the Manaus region of the Amazon is home to numerous community-based ecotourism projects.  There is little tourism infrastructure deep in the jungle, but trekkers can homestay with local families, hire guides and riverboat excursions and buy local foods and handicrafts.  The cultural access is as unique an offering as the setting.  Most programs are planned and administered entirely by local residents with training and guidance provided by the government or NGOs.  The emphasis is on creating direct and sustainable economic benefit for local residents and enhancing their autonomy, while requiring little capital.  This approach to tourism is found in nearly every developing country in the world.

Yet CBT in this form is virtually nonexistent in the United States.  Could this approach be adapted to locales here that wish to develop a tourism industry where none existed before.  I found one rare example in a very small community that shares a communally held resource as exceptional as any Olympics – a cultural heritage of quilting. 

Tourist economy built by hand – Gee’s Bend, Alabama

In the heart of Alabama, there is a bow in the Alabama River wrapping around the area of Gee’s Bend so as to almost make it an island, nearly inaccessible, but for one road and a ferry.  It is a very rural home to about 200 mostly African American residents.  What puts it on the map is a long history of exquisite quilts made by generations of Gee’s Benders.  These quilts have hung in museums and art galleries, and have sold for as much as $20,000.  But Gee’s Bend had almost no ability to accommodate visitors interested in quilting and local heritage; there was little coordinated marketplace where quilts could be found, no eateries or overnight lodging, and no related cultural or historical programming.  Development grants from the Ford Foundation and tremendous assistance from groups like Sustainable Rural Regenerative Enterprises for Families (SURREF), and Auburn University, have allowed Gee’s Bend to decide collectively how to develop a community based tourism industry, physically and in expertise.

The Gee's Bend Quilt Mural Trail 

The highlights:

The Gee’s Bend town of Boykin already had a quilting collective established during the Civil Rights movement that met and worked in a community building.  This collective and building has been developed into the hub of quilt visiting, serving as a shop, museum, information center, and classroom.

An organized quilting trail and maps now help guide visitors through the area. Quilters offer overnight stays in their own homes. Staffing is local.  Marketing, sales, tours, visitor services, retail are all staffed by trained local residents.

Renovations and construction of new buildings such as additional guestlodging and a food center is done by local labor with an emphasis on locally-sourced materials.

The Gee’s Bend area now has a café, renovated guest houses, a calendar of events, and is promoted regionally and statewide.  Through community-based planning and implementation, residents are able to capture more of the economic benefits, while preserving and promoting a unique heritage.  The takeaways could apply to any locale in the US starting from scratch, and maybe even Rio.  CBT emphasizes collective decisions about how a community exploits its communal resources, and as in Gee’s Bend, every development has to maximize benefit.  More than just raise tourism revenue, any effort or investment has to cultivate ability and entrepreneurship within the community, adding mutually supportive, interlocking pieces of capacity.  I can think of no better metaphor than a quilt.

The Gee's Bend Quilting Collective in Boykin, AL

It has never been easier for a community, lacking any accommodations, to market themselves and host visitors from anywhere within their own homes – now that Airbnb and short term rentals are almost instantly ubiquitous.  Yet we do not yet see widespread community-based tourism facilitated by Airbnb.  What’s missing - the coordination.  My next post asks ‘Is any locality or community coordinating short term rental as a tourism development strategy?’