Last Thursday, at the Virginia Main Street 25th Anniversary Milestone Achievement Awards, keynote speaker Chuck D’Aprix spoke about the importance of making your downtown attractive to entrepreneurs. One way to do this is to focus on the quality of the experience rather than the quantity of products you sell. In short, it is difficult to compete … More Quality v. quantity
The Virginia Downtown Development Association continues its popular Hot Topics Luncheon series in Martinsville on April 1, with a focus on nurturing a climate supportive of local businesses. Eddie Bumbaugh, executive director of Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance, will present on incentives instrumental to generating a strong business climate. The session will address how a downtown can serve as an entrepreneurial incubator and include … More April 1 luncheon focused on supporting local businesses
On March 25, the commonwealth will officially celebrate 25 years of Main Street revitalization at Lynchburg’s Craddock Terry Hotel. The anniversary dinner will combine special acknowledgement of the quarter-century mark with the annual Milestones Award ceremony. The event will feature special guest speaker Chuck D’Aprix, president of The Downtown Entrepreneurship Project, dinner and live music. … More VMS to Celebrate 25 Years
Today we’re going to take a closer look at the crosshatched area in the Permuto Discoveries graphic. That shaded e-commerce portion of spending includes catalog, telephone, and online sales. Sure, the biggest piece of these sales is likely handled by Amazon’s high-tech automated warehouse distribution system or by a cheery voice at Chesapeake, Virginia’s QVC call center. But there is also a … More Even stores on Main Street do it: Making e-commerce work downtown
Every Main Street community is working to bring shoppers downtown, but what does that mean in the era of internet shopping? Shoppers are buying more online–but they don’t buy all products in an equal amount. In the next few posts, we’ll take a look at this sharp graphic from Permuto Discoveries, and offer some questions that might prompt … More Anchors on Main Street
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