Five small, local businesses in Phoebus’ neighborhood commercial district will receive tailored technical assistance and micro grants through Retail Alliance’s Retail Technical Assistance Downtown Phoebus project.

Retail Alliance has been providing education, advocacy, and connections to retailers throughout the Hampton Roads region for over 100 years. This year, they are hosting three in-person, educational workshops for Hampton small business owners, and a select five downtown Phoebus businesses will receive one-on-one consultation, along with a micro grant to implement recommendations. The consultation will include a financial review, customer data, website and digital footprint analysis, and an interior and exterior building assessment conducted by local experts.

Over 20 downtown Phoebus business owners attended an informational session at the American Theater in late January. They learned about the opportunity, voted on workshop topics, met the consulting team, and were invited to apply for the coveted one-on-one expert consultation spots.

Retail Alliance selected Phoebus for this project because of their participation in the Virginia Main Street (VMS) program as a Mobilizing Main Street (MMS) community. Positioning small businesses for success is vital to the health of a commercial district and a critical component of the Main Street Approach. The Phoebus Partnership drives the local Main Street initiative and has been instrumental in making this project possible—from promoting the opportunity to downtown business owners to serving on the application review committee.

“The health of our business community is crucial, and we are thrilled about the additional support we are able to offer our business owners through our partnership with Retail Alliance.”

Dominique DeBose, Executive Director of the Phoebus Partnership

This project is supported by a $100,000 Virginia Business District Resurgence Grant (VBDRG) from the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). Retail Alliance is using this as a pilot program. Lessons learned will help establish best practices for future programming with the hope of creating a replicable program that could be deployed in multiple communities across the Commonwealth.