By encouraging and cultivating unique, local, independent commercial sectors, retail along Virginia’s Main Streets is on the rise. However, it is a brave new world that Main Streets retailers are operating in. “Capitalism is creative destruction,” Richard Sylla stated in a recent Entrepreneur article. “Old models get outmoded, and new models come in and take over.” Just … More Finding Main Street Customers Online
All across Southwest Virginia, the stories of men and women who worked in mines, furniture factories or textile mills can be read in the buildings you see today. In the coalfields, mining towns and camps sprang up wherever the coal seam led. Miners came from farms nearby, from the deep South and from Eastern Europe … More Embracing Nature, Culture and History: Appalachia’s new economy
On Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012, Winchester’s downtown walking mall was filled with excitement for local farms. Farm Bureau, in partnership with the Winchester Old Town Development Board, Winchester Main Street Foundation and Virginia Main Street program, produced an extraordinary community event, Winchester’s Main Street Agriculture, held on the historic Loudon Street Pedestrian Mall. The partnership … More Winchester’s Main Street agriculture event was a success, as expected!
The shopping season is upon us and Main Street retailers are working hard to make the holiday shopping experience fun, memorable and easy. To help achieve this goal, retailers should give some thought to what types of shopping experiences they want their customers to have. What should customers be saying, feeling and experiencing while in the store? What … More Getting Ready For Holiday Shopping on Main Street
Virginia Living has just released its “Best of VA” list and many Main Street communities had businesses that made the list. Below are some of the first place winners from Virginia’s Main Street communities. Virginia’s Main Street communities also had numerous second and third place winners that can be viewed here. FIRST PLACE (Central/Living … More Virginia Main Streets make it into the “Best of VA” – we’re not surprised
No matter its size or product lines, every retail business must constantly work to create an attractive and inviting shopping environment. Here are a few tips from Entrepreneur.com to keep the customers coming. 1. Make the windows shine – “Just like your eyes are the windows of your soul, store windows are the eyes of … More Secrets to Good Store Layout
As you may have noticed while walking along Main Street, January is typically a slow season for many retailers as consumers try to pay off bills accumulated during the holidays. Hopefully, Main Street retailers have planned for and are prepared to weather this annual slow season. MyBusiness.com offers several tips to help retailers make the most … More Helping Main Street Merchants Weather the Winter Doldrums
24 of the 25 designated Virginia Main Street communities have active farmers markets. In addition to being great places to buy locally-grown produce, eggs and meat, farmers markets also serve as small business incubators. As pointed out in Ashley Fletcher Frampton’s article, Entrepreneurs Get Start at Area Farmers Markets, the low start-up costs and captive audiences at … More From Farmers Market to European Bakery
This video, promoting Downtown Lynchburg, is terrific. It’s even better when you know that it was done through the volunteer efforts of Lynch’s Landing board member Tony Camm and a bunch of spirited merchant and community participants. Camm, manager of the Downtown Lynchburg Holiday Inn, put a musical pastime to work for the community, writing the song … More Hip-hop highlights: Lynchburg video features merchants and real community spirit
Downtown districts hold events for a variety of reasons: to raise the identity and up the energy of a district, to earn money for the downtown organization and to boost retail sales in district stores. All are good reasons, and the events promote the role of the district as the central convening point in a … More “If you don’t have anything else to do, dress up like a hotdog.”
Virginia Main Street 