How to mitigate construction in your downtown

Nur Asri is an Associate at Larisa Ortiz Associates

Downtowns and cities around the country are undergoing rapid physical transformations whether due to re-investment or adaptation to technological advancements. However, during the process of transformation, roads and sidewalks are often torn up and diverted, street furniture and public spaces are re-designed and replaced and the shopping environment is essentially disrupted.

Regardless of the length of time in which the disruptions occurs (two months or a whole year), customer traffic for retail businesses will be affected because downtowns appear to be less accessible by car and even more difficult to navigate on foot. Furthermore, construction often occurs during the day (and during peak visitation times!) and can be loud and dusty, resulting in an overall unpleasant shopping experience.

Downtown businesses associations and storeowners across the country are adopting a variety of strategies to mitigate the impacts of construction on their operations, sales and visitation.

Here are some steps that you can take to maintain business vitality during your downtown transformation: 

‘Still Open for Business’ Signage

These signs help increase visibility of stores to pedestrians and vehicles passing through your downtown. Customers often assume businesses are closed during construction and are therefore quick to make the decision to drive past and go somewhere else altogether so it is crucial that accurate information is relayed to customers through these signs. Include the names of businesses that are open and directions to any alternate business access, and make sure the signs are placed at key intersections and entry points to your downtown. Some cities have also gotten really creative with their signs:

In Arlington, MA, Capitol Square Business Association plays around with the regular text found on construction signs.

In the City of North Bend, where roads were being torn up for an infrastructure project to bury utility lines and replace the sidewalks and street trees, sign spinners were hired to sing, dance, and do cartwheels while holding out signs that say ‘Downtown Business are Open!’

Signs, however, are only one part of the solution. There are many more steps that need to be taken to ensure that downtown businesses aren’t severely impacted by the process of transformation.

Marketing/ Promotion
Many business associations have dedicated resources to organizing district-wide marketing campaigns to educate customers about construction work and businesses that still need their support during this time.

Pre- Construction
In Madison WI, marketing efforts began two years before construction occurred in order to inform locals that stores and restaurants would remain open throughout the process. The guerilla campaign was extensive and consisted of yard signs, community newsletters, local media coverage and even a Facebook page.

During Construction 

The Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership launched an ‘Eat Drink Shop [HERE]’ Campaign. The Partnership rolled out bright yellow signs and handouts that list all of the businesses that were open during construction. 

Meanwhile, in Bangor, Maine, (and also downtown Coral Gables) happy hour events ensured that customers were still coming downtown after dark despite the facelift it was undergoing. Bars affected by the construction zone participated in the ‘Hard Hat Happy Hours’ events, which took place weekly. Customers who attended were then rewarded with highly coveted downtown parking passes and gift certificates to local businesses to drive return visits. Similarly, many other downtowns have also handed out coupon books to entice customers to continue shopping thru the construction period.

Valet parking
When convenient on-street parking spaces are temporarily lost to construction activity, customers may be less than willing to patronize downtown stores if they have to park in parking garages/lots located farther away from the retail core. Every effort should be made to ease the driving customer’s journey (especially if the majority of your downtown customers are arriving by car!) and this might include a valet service.

In Birmingham, MI, where construction through the city center is expected to take about 4-5 years, the city’s promotional arm Birmingham Shopping District is planning to provide valet service that would allow customers to drive to the edge of the construction site to drop off their cars before hitting the rest of the downtown on foot.

Painted fences/barriers

Finally, there are creative ways to turn construction fencing and barriers into public art. Back in 2012, we featured Alliance for Downtown New York’s RE:Construction program. Since then many more downtowns and cities have also turned to art as a way to mask the eyesore of construction. In 2013, the Downtown Ithaca Alliance put out a call for artists to adopt 8x4 plywood panels that were put up as fencing around the reconstruction of the Commons public space. Selected artists were invited to paint directly on to the panels that stayed up throughout the construction period.

In downtown Seattle, WA mural artists and artist-teams have created 200-foot long murals now on view on the Civic Square construction fence. The site will be home to a mixed-use, high-rise tower and open space that will complete the city's Civic Center Campus.

While the above strategies aim to ease the impact of construction for customers, there are also steps that need to be taken to mitigate the impact on business operations.

Loading/Unloading
Even without the complications of construction downtown, loading and unloading of delivery trucks is already a common issue faced by business owners. Without a well-thought out contingency plan, your downtown may face heavy congestion as a result of trucks double-parking on narrow side streets.

To avoid this, pre-planned alternative delivery routes must be identified for affected drivers and relayed early on so that staff are alerted to the change of procedures. In addition, detour signs must be posted clearly to guide delivery drivers. Where possible, alleyways may be re-purposed for loading/unloading during construction phase.

Low-interest loans
With larger-scale construction projects, many cities such as Portland, OR and Salt Lake City, UT have set precedents for dedicating resources to offer low-interest loans to affected businesses. Salt Lake City’s Economic Development Office, for example, established a revolving loan program and set aside funding for light rail construction mitigation up to $20,000 at 3% interest per applicant. Successful applicants simply had to be within one block of construction and be able to demonstrate how they were being impacted.

Finally, with additional financial and technical assistance, business owners might even consider implementing another method to reach customers if they don’t already have one. Starting online delivery services can certainly nudge customers who are unable or unwilling to navigate through construction to continue to support downtown businesses.

Make sure your downtown transformation works for you
The menu of strategies offered here cost lots of time and money to plan and implement. (Note: Birmingham Shopping District set aside $100,000 just to carry out a promotional campaign including free valet parking and shopping coupons). Depending on the capacity and resources of your downtown, and also the scale of construction happening, you may elect strategies that work best for your businesses.

Most importantly, ensure that you start planning early and work very closely with local merchants to ensure their buy-in and support for your elected strategies.

Introducing the "Strengthening Commercial Districts" Series - A Guide to Downtown Wayfinding

LOA presents “Strengthening Commercial Districts” a new series of publications that aims to highlight key actions and interventions for successful commercial revitalization. LOA works closely with municipalities and local community organizations to diagnose existing conditions and develop comprehensive and creative strategies to improve the downtown business environment.

In this first part, we take a closer look at wayfinding and signage as a key public realm redevelopment strategy to improve downtown visibility and accessibility. The guide provides a brief overview of what wayfinding systems are, their importance to commercial districts, and how downtown managers may begin to implement this strategy in their local communities. The guide also offers visuals of best practices for various types of signage so that readers are able to easily understand and implement effective wayfinding systems in their own communities.

It is important to note, however, that although physical signs are crucial for visitors to orient and navigate themselves once they have arrived, the experience of downtown really begins online. Most customers are going online to research products, services, and travel destinations before doing anything or going anywhere. In our guide, find out how you can adapt your downtown wayfinding system to ensure it is comprehensive and remains relevant in this digital age.

To find out more, download the full guide here.  

LISC #CorridorChallenge Storefront Improvement Design Guidelines

Last month, we wrote about the importance of using PR and Communications to build buzz around important commercial corridor work – with the Commercial Corridor Challenge as a prime example. LOA has been working closely with the New York office of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) on the Commercial Corridor Challenge, a program funded by Citi Community Development that provides financial and technical support to some of New York City’s most underserved and rapidly changing communities.

As part of our work, we helped put together a set of guidelines that not only informs Corridor Challenge participants about relevant New York City code and regulation requirements related to storefront improvements but also suggests best practices for these improvements. With architectural expertise from Dadras Architects, the guidelines also features renderings of potential storefronts on Bay Street in Staten Island, Southern Boulevard in the Bronx, and Fulton Street in Brooklyn.

The guidelines covers a range of storefront improvements including signage, lighting, awnings, façade and paint and color. It offers visuals of best practices in each section so that users of the guidelines are able to easily understand and implement the improvements.  

Here are some highlights of the guidelines:

• Avoid the use of security gates to increase store transparency. If necessary, open-mesh security gates on the interior can still provide visual access for security (preferred by law enforcement) and will not be subject to alteration by graffiti.
• Maximize the visibility of your signs without compromising transparency of storefronts. This might include illuminating signs with separate light fixtures and ensuring signage does not block doors or windows.
• Avoid waterfall-style awnings. Retractable canvas awnings are highly recommended because they get less dirty and last longer than fixed awnings.
• Use interior and exterior lighting to illuminate your storefront and street. Adequate lighting is a proven crime deterrent.
• Fix broken windows and avoid paper signage. Broken or boarded windows negatively impact the overall commercial corridor and paper signage obscures the business activity from potential customers on the street.
• Use color and painting to enhance storefront appearance. Remember to coordinate colors to fit the context of the neighborhood.

By increasing the transparency, lighting, and physical attractiveness of businesses, the Commercial Corridor Challenge program hopes to provide long-lasting benefits to participating corridors by boosting foot traffic and improving sense of safety in these areas. For more useful tips around storefront improvements, download the guidelines here!

We hope this resource will also prove helpful in rethinking and redesigning your storefront.

Retail Mistakes in Santiago Calatrava's Oculus

No one is saying the space is not beautiful. Ok, maybe SOME people are, but in my mind, architect Santiago Calatrava added something very special to downtown Manhattan in his stunning, and stunningly overbudget, Oculus. Shopping there, however, is another thing entirely.

The Oculus doubles as a transportation hub for New Jersey PATH trains and as a Westfield shopping center and while it serves it's purpose, I was shocked at how poorly thought out the retail components of the project are. Getting urban retail right - particularly vertical retail - can be a challenge as a new Citylab article on the historic trials and tribulations of urban shopping malls makes clear.  Yet the article speaks to solutions that were clearly not put in place at Westfield World Trade Center. The aesthetics may be beautiful (though the leaky roof and wet marble fall are likely keeping attorney's busy), my experience as a shopper left me confused and frustrated. A few things I noted...

Challenging Circulation Patterns. This picture was taken from the central "piazza". My first question was...how do you get from where I'm standing up to that overlook? The elevator doesn't go to the first floor and neither do the stairs. Hmm...

Yet another image, this time from the second floor. It's nice that the stairs float, but again, how do I get down to the first level of shopping? I couldn't find a single sign directing me to the escalators (which I did eventually find, but they were of course hidden from plain view in deference to the architecture, because really, it is hard to dress up a functional escalator). Finding ways to get from one floor to another was confusing and frustrating. Is this how a retailer wants their customers to remember the shopping experience?And what about those commuters who are in a rush? If the elevator doesn't go down to the PATH level, those customers have to double back to the middle of the piazza to find an escalator. When a few minutes may mean missing a commuter train, the answer for many will be "no way".






Poor Directional Signage. Here I am, finally, at the escalator and elevator on the second floor trying to get down to the first floor. It is nice that there is a sign directing me UP and OUT to a variety of things - the 9/11 Memorial, One World Trade Center, One World Observatory, and Greenwich Street - but not a single sign for where to go DOWN for more shopping.

Seemingly Non-Existent Store signage. Can you even tell what that store is selling? I had a very difficult time figuring out it out until I walked right up to the window (hint. Apple products. Ok, that was more than a hint). Perhaps the designers thought signage would distract from the design (they were probably right), but it also undermines retailers ability to raise awareness and drive foot traffic. 

It also strikes me that there is a mismatch between the most frequent potential customers (those going to PATH trains) and the retailers who occupy the stores, particularly on the piazza. While having an Apple store there makes sense, Hugo Boss and John Varvatos a little less so. To be fair, more accessible retailers can be found hidden, and I mean hidden (again, no signage directing you there) in the South Concourse.

While I don't know for sure, my sense is that high end brands were convinced to locate here for the vanity of it, but in the end, sales won't quite cover costs. The few times I've been there so far I have not seen many people shopping in any of the higher end clothing stores or boutiques. I'd be curious to see what happens at the end of some of the lease terms. I imagine turnover is likely. 

"Signs" of the Time: How Downtown Signage Can Drive Retail Sales

Marketing experts say that it takes 7 to 12 contacts to turn a prospect into a customer. Yet in our experience, many downtown's fail to take advantage of the opportunities they have to get in front of customers - namely through signage that captures attention. Here are a few recent examples we've come across through our work that illustrate how signage can help raise awareness of both downtown and local businesses.

Business signage - or lack there of
Visible signage is an important part of a business' marketing strategy. Consider this - an exterior sign is visible 24 hours a day and 365 days a year – raising awareness of a business even when that business is closed. Yet some communities have over regulated signs - believing that fewer or smaller signs are in "good taste".

What is down there? Hard to tell, right?  The lack of visible signage limits exploration and
make distances seem much farther away than they are, keeping customers from walking down the street. 

On the other hand, "blade" or "protruding wall" signs can help orient a pedestrian by giving them important visual cues that there are businesses down a corridor.

The businesses in touristy Great Barrington, MA do a great job of
offering signs as a form of "breadcumb" that pulls pedestrians along the street in exploration of new stores. 

Signage that isn't doing it's job
A downtown cultural anchor is a great asset - but what if most people don't know it's there?

Can you spot the Marquee for the Clemens Center in downtown Elmira?
Hint, hint - it's on the right.
During the daytime, this heavily trafficked road carries more than 12,000 vehicles.
These are 12,000 daily impressions that are being neglected. 

Cultural institutions in particular benefit from highly visible signs that also offer opportunities to promote upcoming events, like this gateway marquee marking the entrance to Downtown LA.

Painted Signs on Walls
A blank wall can be a great opportunity to help connect businesses with potential customers.

Freestanding Signs & Sandwich Boards
Many communities place restriction on sandwich boards without taking into consideration how effective they are at driving business to local stores.

This hand painted sign also reinforces the
brand of the store. You can't walk past this store
without noticing it. The lovely window display doesn't hurt either. 

This level of clutter isn't necessarily productive. Regulations can be written to
limit the places of A-frames to an area immediately in front of a business. 

When City Signs Become an Iconic Destination

If you were asked to think of the most recognizable street-level city sign, most people would probably say the "I amsterdam" sign comes to mind. And for good reason.

As David Hornstein of Eye for Travel puts it, "The I Amsterdam sculpture elegantly captures the information of place in a meaningful way. By being able to touch, climb and photograph the sculpture tourists can literally touch and feel the brand, something that usually is very abstract and intangible. This brings the brand to life and makes it fun to interact with." In fact, I Amsterdam is not only a sign but also an intereactive sculpture. I myself am guilty of climbing on and taking pictures in the sculpture. It was a tangible memory.

The I Amsterdam sculpture is one of the images most posted on social media including Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, etc. Because the world is globally integrated with social media, the city of Amsterdam is globally marketed for free. The I Amsterdam sculpture is a destination in itself that attracts people to the neighborhood and who end up visiting the shops, cafes, museums, and activities nearby.

Through the installation of one of these sculptural signs a city or commercial district can easily boost city pride, tourism, iconocism and promote activity and engagement- especially if the word(s) have integrated meaning to the city or word play. It can serve as an anchor to the surrounding district and become a meeting point easily identifiable and fun.

Lafayette, Louisiana for example, through their Creativity Everywhere project, produced a giant "LAFAYETTE". This one is interesting because it is interactive as well as iconic and pride inducing because it encourages people to create the "Y" in the middle.

Obviously not every city can adopt the same signage strategy as this could cause a lose of uniqueness, charm, and individuality of the city or district. However, as cities and districts continue to create strategic marketing plans, the addition of a city sign to the scene may become a an integral branding component that reflects each city's identity and reinforces its brand.

Here are some additional city signs from around the world:

"Only Lyon" sign found in Lyon, France

OY or YO sign, found in Brooklyn Bridge Park

"Mexico 68" Olympic sign

Central District, Mexico City

Enhancing Business Visibility: Six Tips for Producing Effective Retail Signage

It is well know that visibility is a key factor to retail success. Quality signage can be an easy and effective tool to make sure passersby see (and perhaps enter) business establishments. An effective signage not only shows customers where businesses are, but it also communicates their brand and identity and can be a powerful tool shaping overall corridor and district perception.

While it’s clear that signage is an essential tool to operating a successful retail establishment, there are many factors that must be considered when developing an appropriate signage strategy. Below are six tips to have these in mind when working with local businesses in facade improvement or district beautification efforts.

Example of clear and visible signage (note that despite being on the window, the signage did not obstruct views to inside the store)

Tip 1: Focus on Customer Experience

At the most basic level, retail signage has one purpose: to communicate with the customer. Businesses should prioritize this goal above all others when developing retail signage. After all, what’s the point of a sign if the public can’t understand the message around it? There are several ways to improve the customer experience.

Make sure businesses signage have appropriate size and placement. If signs are too big your district might end up overwhelming customers. If wrongly placed, signage might not be seen or might block another business signage, generating conflict and visual confusion for customers.

Analyze the district with fresh eyes. One of the best ways is to walk your district like a customer. Be honest about what works and what doesn’t. What’s easy to find, and what is missing? Are the signs easy to understand, or are they jumbled or confusing?

Tip 2: Think About Location, Location, Location

Sign placement can seem deceptively simple, but there are many important elements to consider. Of course a sign needs to be placed in an appropriate location where it can be seen, interpreted and ultimately drive consumer action. But what else do you need to consider? For exterior signage, make sure businesses place it where it can be seen by as many passersby—on foot and in vehicles--as possible. Consider factors like glare, and what might block it (parked cars? Delivery trucks? Hot dog cart?) at different times of the day or week. Effectively placed, businesses will have a guaranteed presence worth far more than the cost of the sign installation. As an expert marketer put it: “You pay for your signs once, and they work for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.” (Bang 2011)

This creative signage spruces up the store entrance and reinforces the business identity as an antique store

Tip 3: Check out the Competition

Do your homework and check out other stores signage, especially the ones you admire. They don’t have to be in your district.  Pay attention and consider whether it’s a good model for the businesses in your district. By benchmarking other businesses (and districts), you just may discover something that you should do—or even not do—in your own district.

Tip 4: Get the Look Right

Once the type and placement of signage is established, it’s time to make sure the messaging looks professional and well-designed. There are some basic graphic design rules that should always be followed. “Be consistent with the feature lines, price, size, color, and fonts so the customer’s eyes can easily scan the sign. Allow for plenty of white space, keep the font simple, be sure the text is balanced and proportional and consider using bullets. Highlight words in bold or by using a different color. Avoid using all capital letters, which makes it difficult to read.” (DS 2006)

Color choices are also critical. Even a sign that looks nice and professionally designed from an aesthetic perspective may not be as readable as it needs to be in a retail environment. Using contrasting colors in the font and background is highly recommended. The most visible colors are black, white and red for the text, and these should be printed over backgrounds that are as opposite as possible. For example, white text on a black background, or red type over a yellow background can improve readability. Backgrounds that are nearly the same color as text can render signs nearly unreadable.

Tip 5: Be Clear and Keep it Simple

Clear, compelling messaging is what sets apart great signage from mediocre. Different signage has specific goals, and when a retailer can convey these distinct messages in a way that is clear, informative, and above all, still on brand, that business is going to be more competitive. Informative signage such as directional signage must be concise and readable to enable users to understand the message with a split-second glance.

Good quality signage doesn't require expensive materials. With simple paint is possible to have attractive and efficient signs.

Tip 6: Make Quality a Priority

Given that all business owners know how critical it is to inspire trust in their customers, it’s surprising how many stumble at producing well-made, error-free signage. And it doesn’t have to be this way. Creating quality signage is an easy and inexpensive way to cultivate that trust. “Signs will convey your authority and attention to detail. Make sure they are clear and accurate every time. Poorly printed signs, misspelled words and other inaccuracies can erode your credibility.” (Kinsella 2012)

Simplicity is key.  To be effective, signage must be easy to read. As some experts warn us: "Some signs are so full of tiny images, starbursts, exclamation marks, and small print, that you can’t take it all in.” (Inspire 2013).

Blade signs are a very effective way to capture pedestrians’ attention. The signs above are simple, straight to point and very effective in communicating what these businesses are about.

Works Cited/Referenced:

Business 2 Community. 5 Ways for Retailers to Drive Sales Using Digital Signage. 2012. Source Link
DS Marketing Solutions. Retail Signage…Tips for Increasing Sales & Service. 2006. Source Link
Foxfire. How to Start Using Retail Signage. Source Link
Inspire Retail Solutions. How to Create Effective Retail Signs. 2013. Source Link
John Kinsella. IGC Retailer. Powerful Signage Promotes Your Brand. 2012. Source Link
Kevin Johnston. Demand Media. Rules for Effective Retail Signage. Source Link

Bang Advertising. Why Exterior Signage Provides the Best ROI for Retailers. 2011. Source Link

http://www.signsbytomorrow.com/custom-retail-signage

The fallacies of retail market analysis and why looking at the numbers alone is a recipe for failure

Here is something to chew on. One of the biggest factors in the success of your downtown or commercial district has nothing to do with local purchasing power. As any broker or retailer can tell you, retail success is based on a variety of conditions and as a firm we have always taken a comprehensive approach to understanding retail environments, one that extends far beyond leakage calculations. As urban planners, we are also quite cognizant of the impact of the physical environment and its role on successful retail. Whenever I train downtown practitioners, I tell them to think about their job this way - "your job is to create the conditions to ensure businesses succeed, to 'set the stage' for a retailer. If you can do that well you have done a good portion of what you were hired to do."

So while understanding market demand is a critical and often a first step in determining opportunities for downtown retail, we have always posited that retail market analysis requires an analysis of much more than market demand. Our approach, developed over nearly twenty years of field work, looks at four key areas - the physical environment, the business environment, the market demand generated by residents, employees and visitors, and the adminstriative capacity to improve and manage the district over time. In fact, these four elements are part of a tool we developed for the City of New York and funded by the Local Initaitive Support Corporation called the Commercial District Neighborhood Assessment tool (CDNA). I like to call it "Commercial DNA". The goal of the assessment is to understand the fundamental and dinstincive qualities and characteristicts that make a commercial district unique - much like our DNA is what makes each of us unique. This kind of asset-based retail analysis is by nature much more comprehensive, and allows us to develop a clearly defined set of improvements, interventions and activities that will build off of local assets and ensure more viable and sustainable retail environments.  

This post focuses on one specific element of the Commercial DNA assessment, that of the physical environment and in particular issues of access, convenience and visibility. The failure of a retail environment to ensure these fundamental conditions are met can ultimately undermine retail performance in subtle but destructive ways. Below I’ve outlined a few issues that we see come up quite frequently when looking at traditional downtown environments. This is certainly not an exhaustive list, but it’s a good start for those looking to diagnose “access” challenges. 

Access/Convenience

Two Starbuck exist comfortably across the street from one a
nother along Mission Street in San Francisco.

For many goods and services, customers are driven by convenience and ease. The minute you ask a potential customer to wait at a light and make a left hand turn across a few lanes of traffic, you have decreased the likelihood that they will do it, and therefore decreased sales volume for a business. The same holds true the minute you ask a shopper to cross a busy street to grab a cup of coffee on the way to work. This is precisely why there are two Starbucks across the street from one another on Market Street in San Francisco, for instance. And it is also why Dunkin Donuts’ site selection criteria includes being on the “in bound” side of the street, or take-out food businesses want to be on the "out bound" side of the street to grab customers on their way home from work. In both cases, the idea is to faciliate an easy purchase in every way possible. Basically, it is a basic human reflex to find the shortest distance between two points, and downtown retailers need to find ways to make sure customers can easily walk in the front door with the least hassle possible. This is one reason why we perform a block-by-block analysis in our work, because each block and each corner holds unique challenges and possibilities for retailers that often must be addressed.

Visibility
Stores, particularly mom and pop stores that do not advertise like national chains, need visibility from every angle to compete.

Years ago I met the owner of this ice cream store in
Downtown Bethesda, MD, (then Gifford's)
who told me that this vertical ice cream cone made a huge
 difference in sales when he put it in. Clearly Haagen Daz agrees. 

When a quick glance by a passing pedestrian or motorist is your only form of advertising, you better work hard to make sure you are catching the customer's eye. 

If buildings are blocking visibility or if signage is non-existent or only facing one way, the lower visibility will affect sales volume. This matters even more for convenience shopping when there are no anchors. For many businesses, and especially mom-and-pops, the lost of even a single every matters. This is why 150 feet can matter to a retailer deciding between a corner location (called an “end cap”) with high visibility from all angles and a mid-block location. 

Retailers will also wait for the right site, even if it means foregoing a market entirely. A few years ago we talked to CVS about a location one block from a subway stop in a market with high demand and limited drugstores offerings. The response was “come back to us if you can get us that corner location. There is no way I can go to our real estate committee with anything less than what we consider a 100% corner”.

That brusk response is not uncommon, but some of the challenges of a site 1/2 a block off a 100% corner can be offset by signage. Our work a few years ago in Mount Washington, Pittsburgh, PA bore this out. After blade signs were introduced down a sleepy street, pedestrian counts increased by 30%, businesses reported increased sales volume, one jewelery store owner was able to keep his store open a few extra days a week and vacancies declined.

Enough parking, but not visible or comfortable to use

The walkways in Shadyside, PA to rear parking lots are well
lit and attractive. Source: Google Streetview

In many downtowns, the problem isn’t a lack of parking, but rather a lack of visible parking directly in front of the stores that shoppers want to patronize. Of course many will argue that people don't park in front of the store they want to visit when going to a mall, so why should downtown be different? In theory, that is true, but the problem is that struggling downtowns do not function like the malls (yet). They often have successful retailers and restaurants interspered among vacancies or less attractive offerings. The take away here is not to solve for the problem by putting lots of parking in front of a given store, but rather increase density of offerings so that shoppers can in fact patronize multiple stores at once, rather than a single destination. 

South Orange, NJ has nicely landscaped
walkways to rear parking lots. 

Another issue with parking is the perceived inconvenience of parking in a lot that is a block or two from a shopper’s ultimate destination. To make matters worse, sometimes the public realm between the lot and the retail area is so poorly tended that a block long walk can feel a lot longer. For example, in areas where heat is an issue, the lack of shade trees can make a short walk oppressive. Other issues include lighting, or giving shoppers something interesting to look at while they walk. Without these improvements, walking can be uncomfortable and unappealing. Some communities have addressed these connectivity challenges fairly well – South Orange in New Jersey and Shady Hill in Pittsburgh come to mind. Both have invested in well tended landscaping and pavings along these mid-block alleys that make the experience of walking to/from the parking lot more pleasant.

Inadequate Street Crossings
Even minor barriers affect shopping behavior. Asking shoppers to walk to the end of the street before crossing results in a loss of shoppers and sales volume. We worked in one community in New Jersey where the lack of a mid-block crossing was resulting in significant detrimental affects for all businesses. Whereas the district could have felt cohesive, offering 60k + sf of total offerings and drawing from a larger trade area, retailers and property owners made it more difficult for shoppers to patronize both sides of the street. In fact, you were prohibited from parking in one lot and patronizing businesses on the other side of the street. Instead, you were expected to get back in your car and park in the lot across the street if you wanted to patronize a business within 50 ft of your already parked car. Once a drive is in the car, they are likely going elsewhere. This only means lost business for all businesses.

As I said, this is certainly not an exhaustive list, but it gives you insight into the variety of issues that we consider, beyond discretionary spending power, that make a difference between a successful downtown retail environment and one that is struggling.

Please check out our website (larisaortizassociates.com) for more information on how we can help your community. 

Five Design Principles that Every Facade Improvement Program Should Incorporate

By Patricia Voltolini, Associate, LOA

What is the first thing you notice when you visit a commercial district? Storefronts and buildings probably make that list. Great storefronts are critical to a vibrant street environment. They engage passersby and contribute to active street life. Not surprisingly, façade improvement programs have become a common and effective tool in many commercial district revitalization efforts.

Yet many facade programs go wrong quite quickly. Without design guidance, the "after" might not look much better than the "before", and resources spent will have less impact than you might like. Unfortunately, overcoming this issue can be a challenge. Many BIDS, BIAs or CDCs working to revitalize low-income or distressed corridors do not have the budget to engage a retail designer to help prepare and review façade improvement applications. Even when they do, this person is often not a retail design expert.

With that in mind, we thought it would be helpful to share some of our own insights as they relate to the key takeaways from a wonderful new publication entitled, Laying the Groundwork:Design Guidelines for Retail and Other Ground-Floor Uses in Mixed-UseAffordable Housing Developments, prepared by the Design Trust for Public Space in partnership with the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The publication is the result of extensive research and collaboration from a broad range of design and retail experts - including our own Principal, Larisa Ortiz - who served on the advisory panel. It is available for purchase on the Design Trust website.

While the report outlines best practices and provides practical guidance for those building new retail space in mixed-use buildings, we think it also provides excellent insight for those looking to develop facade improvement programs. A good facade improvement program not only impacts the overall look and feel of the district, but if done with certain principles in mind, can help businesses achieve higher sales. Incorporating these concepts into your facade program design will help ensure that the program meets the objectives of your district stakeholders as well as the businesses themselves.

So keep in mind the following key principles as you design your facade improvement program....

1. Maintain Transparency

There is growing recognition of the importance and value of transparency in driving retail sales. A transparent storefront invites customers inside with products and services on display. It also discourages crime by providing what urban theorist Jane Jacobs called “eyes on the street”. Making the facade as transparent as possible allows for a full visual exchange between indoors and outdoors. Customers and shopkeepers inside the store see what is happening on the street and pedestrians outside see the activity and offerings in the store. This interdependent relationship benefits both customers and retailers. 

The same storefront with different window treatments create a very different corridor environment. The previous merchant (also a pharmacy) completely covered the windows and failed to create any visual connection to the interior of the store. The new pharmacy made the windows completely transparent, and uses them to showcase products while allowing enough visual exchange between indoors and outdoors.

In order to maximize transparency, the design guidelines recommend having 70% of the façade surface completely transparent between 2’ and 10’above sidewalk-level, with measures in place for attractive privacy solutions when needed.

In many urban districts, retailers (even after a façade improvement program) cover their windows with sales posters and signs. Store-owners want to attract customers with these signs but in doing so they block visual connection between inside and outside and often create an uninviting storefront. A customer who can't see inside a business is highly unlikely to walk inside.

One way to keep the façade transparent and place signs  at the lower (or upper) section of the storefront, immediate below (or above) eye-level.

The same facade before and after renovations. The image above (before) shows all windows entirely covered with signs, a typical feature of many supermarkets and delis in urban districts. The image below shows the same supermarket after a facade renovation. Despite significantly covering the windows with sales posters, the owner  made an effort to keep some level-of transparency by placing signs below and above pedestrian eye-level.

This dollar store has large windows (over 70% of its facade is glass) but the store owner has covered it almost completely with products, blocking any visual connection to the interior of the store.

Another common occurrence is having non-retail stores (salons, professional offices, etc.) with minimal transparency. These businesses should also be regarded with the same design standards as other retail businesses as they are also key components of the streetscape and as responsible for creating vibrancy in the corridor as retail stores are. In fact, the design guidelines presented in Laying the Groundwork  target not only retailers but also banks, laundromats, and even community uses like cultural space, healthcare and childcare facilities.

This facade provides an excellent example of what non-retail stores should look like (or not). The space on the left has a highly transparent and engaging storefront while still providing some level of privacy to its users. The space on the right, however, has windows but they're completely covered with shades and gates and impede any visual connection between inside and out.

In order to guarantee full transparency, facade improvement programs should add a clause requiring windows to be kept free (or with minimal) signage and that product display should not block vision to the store's interior. In fact, the  minimum of 70% transparency recommendation does not refer only to the substantial presence of store windows, but that these windows be kept fully transparent.

Exterior illumination provides light on the sidewalk and highlights the facade at night. Exterior lighting can also be used to accent trees and planting. An active, well-illuminated street frontage improves safety for retailers, residents, and the district. It also reduces the need for security gates by creating a safer street front.

One important consideration is the relationship between lighting and store signage. Both should be coordinated and the new façade design should minimize lighting presence above the sign, especially if the units above are residential.

2. Maintain  Connections between the Storefront and the Street by Minimizing Barriers

An active, well-illuminated street frontage improves safety for retailers, residents, and the district. It also reduces the need for security gates by creating a safer street front. Ideally, security gates should not be allowed in retail spaces under lease agreements. There are many other ways to provide security, including security systems with video, sensors, alarms, etc.

Unfortunately, in many urban communities, transparency is often trumped by safety concerns. For example, many retailers elect to put up solid security gates as a anti-theft measure. However these gates only serve to accentuate concerns about safety. Your facade program should discourage, or require, less obtrusive forms of security. If roll down gates are required, share alternatives to exterior rolls down gates. (See our previous post "Are there viable alternatives to roll down gates?")

Air conditioning units can also be barriers and jeopardize a facade design's  potential to creating vibrant streets. Avoid whenever possible the installation of air-conditioning units over doorways or having them protrude through the façade. Instead, plan the placement of louvers to enhance the facade and the quality of the retail storefront. Provide a clear zone for louvers on the exterior storefront. Finish louvers to match the color of the surrounding storefront elements so that they are an integral part of the facade design.

A store's visibility has significant impact on retail sales - this is why businesses pay more for corner locations ("end caps" in retail parlance) where the store is visible to customers from a variety of angles. Effective signage can also play a role in improving visibility. In pedestrian environments, signage that projects from the building (i.e. blade signs) offer pedestrians strong visual cues that there are businesses in the vicinity. In one community where we worked, the installation of blade signs increased pedestrian traffic down a previously quiet street by 30%. (See our post "Pittsburgh Neighborhood Unveils Strategies Aimed at Drawing Tourists")

3. Keep the Street Wall Continuous and Avoid Gaps

The conditions of street-level retail are intimately connected to the quality of the customers’ experience in your district. The benefits of well-designed storefronts extend far beyond district attractiveness. From fostering community pride to serving as catalyst for further economic investment, they create positive changes to the social, economic and environmental health of the commercial district and surrounding communities. Although this recommendation is not technically about facade improvements, it does suggest that by clustering facade improvements and/or creating a continuous street-wall of improved storefronts, the program can have greater impact. Consider using the the facade program in a targeted way along a single block front for a limited amount of time. Or design the program as an incentive to fill vacancies - perhaps by increasing the allowable grant contributions when used for a vacant space. 

4. Maintain Flexibility for a Variety of Potential Tenants

Effective retail spaces are flexible. In many districts, the needs of tenants vary widely. Offering flexibility means greater potential to fit the needs of a larger set of prospective tenants. One suggestion is to design the façade program so that it has the potential to accommodate multiple entries. Another is to require improvements that result in on-grade pedestrian entries to ensure ease of access. Consider a retailer whose customers are young families with children - a set of steps will cause immediate concern. How might a parent with a stroller make it up the steps? Or a senior citizen - or anyone with mobility challenges? 

5. Remain Distinctive so that Shoppers Can Easily Find the Retailer

Retail entrances that are clearly marked and distinct from other street-level uses (residential or office entrances) facilitate wayfinding and help catch a shoppers eye. While the guide suggests a minimum of 15 feet between any retail entrance and other uses, we think that clear visual delineations are more important than actual physical distance. Awning and other design elements, like signs, can be deployed in a way that ensures a retailer has a clearly defined entrance.  

More "Signs" of Things to Come: Wayfinding Goes Digital

Yesterday's post included mostly "old school" examples of wayfinding kiosks and signage. Today we share some higher tech examples. The benefit of these systems is that cities can more easily generate revenue from advertisement, and changing information (like new businesses or activity updates) is easier.

In Chicago, Elevate Digital has over 100 kiosks distributed throughout the City at high traffic locations. The touch screens allow people to interact, view tourism information and even snap photos. And a partnership with Groupon allows users to purchase daily deals and see real-time offers directly from the screens. The firms shares a portion of advertising revenue with the city government. The firm is now looking to expand to New York and Miami. Other similar firms include: Blue Outdoor, EYE Malls, GSM Worldwide Media, JCDecaux MallScape, and RMG Mall Media.

In New York, while not digital, the new wayfinding systems were developed by PentaCityGroup as part of WalkNYC in an effort to give pedestrians clear visual language and graphic standards that would help them find their way around.

And in malls, like those owned by Simon Properties, new "digital concierge" services are providing shoppers with information and advertisements.

Bus stops are also an increasingly popular form of digital advertising that can also include directory information while generating revenue.