Is Downtown worth it?
I've had a few competitors over the years move downtown. With one of them, I took the time to walk the circuit of the core, and tried to explain how seasonal it all was, how one shouldn't be fooled by the crowds that are there when the crowds are there.
Instead, I urged, try to visualize the emptiness when the crowds aren't there.
I tried to explain parking, and how hard it was for drivers to see your store, and how long it took for people to actually find you, if ever.
He went in anyway. And lasted less than a year.
His store had previously been in a mall, and he simply didn't understand that the foot traffic downtown was simply not as steady as a mall, no matter how it looked.
The second competitor had a store that would have been the perfect "destination" store; that is, as long as he located in a reasonably noticeable main street, most of his customers would have found him. If one has viable product, word of mouth is strong. But he chose downtown, instead; he was basically paying twice as much rent downtown, because of the perceived "foot traffic."
But he was such a niche business, the foot traffic added little if any to his bottomline, I believe.
The third competitor started off downtown, as well, then moved to a much bigger spot in a prime location -- but from what I understand, also more than doubled his rent. I think this was O.K. for him as long as he concentrated on making his store attractive to outsiders, but the minute he stopped paying attention, the fanboys became his main customers and his rent became unwieldy.
(By the way, I still think rents are high downtown, despite the perception that things have gotten cheaper. Nor do I think that will change, as long as there always seems to be someone in line to fill the vacancies...)
So why am I downtown?
Well, we've been in this location for 28 years or so. We have generation(s) of customers who know we are here. I've just watched to many examples of stores moving, and losing their customers. Hell, the Book Barn merely moved across the street, and I still had people coming in years later asking where it went!
Plus my store is so packed, that moving would be a huge job. The smaller than ideal size of my store has forced me to be very creative in merchandising. Necessity being the mother of invention. (I've also arranged with my landlord to use some of the downstairs space for storage, which has been a blessing.)
I've designed my store to fit the changing landscape of downtown. New and used books, mainstream type toys, boardgames, pop culture items, and so on.
There is also the fact that, other than the Old Mill, which is suited more for Banana Republic and The Gap than a funky pop culture store, there is almost no place left in Bend where you can get ANY foot traffic.
Finally, and this is something that my competitors didn't see or understand -- my store once was a destination store, pretty much off the beaten track. Sure, I was downtown, but for most of my existence, I wasn't in a part of downtown that was frequented by shoppers.
That all changed, and so the foot traffic is so dramatically higher for my store in particular, that I have seen the benefit.
Would I locate my store in downtown if I was starting out today?
Probably not. My store is probably more than 50% a destination store. So as long as I was visible on a main street somewhere else, that would do the job. If I could trade twice the space for half the rent, I'd probably do it.
But I'm ensconced where I am, now. I like my store. But, still, I'd advise my competitors not to read too much of my success downtown as a reason to come downtown. Don't do as I do, do as I say. ..
I've had a few competitors over the years move downtown. With one of them, I took the time to walk the circuit of the core, and tried to explain how seasonal it all was, how one shouldn't be fooled by the crowds that are there when the crowds are there.
Instead, I urged, try to visualize the emptiness when the crowds aren't there.
I tried to explain parking, and how hard it was for drivers to see your store, and how long it took for people to actually find you, if ever.
He went in anyway. And lasted less than a year.
His store had previously been in a mall, and he simply didn't understand that the foot traffic downtown was simply not as steady as a mall, no matter how it looked.
The second competitor had a store that would have been the perfect "destination" store; that is, as long as he located in a reasonably noticeable main street, most of his customers would have found him. If one has viable product, word of mouth is strong. But he chose downtown, instead; he was basically paying twice as much rent downtown, because of the perceived "foot traffic."
But he was such a niche business, the foot traffic added little if any to his bottomline, I believe.
The third competitor started off downtown, as well, then moved to a much bigger spot in a prime location -- but from what I understand, also more than doubled his rent. I think this was O.K. for him as long as he concentrated on making his store attractive to outsiders, but the minute he stopped paying attention, the fanboys became his main customers and his rent became unwieldy.
(By the way, I still think rents are high downtown, despite the perception that things have gotten cheaper. Nor do I think that will change, as long as there always seems to be someone in line to fill the vacancies...)
So why am I downtown?
Well, we've been in this location for 28 years or so. We have generation(s) of customers who know we are here. I've just watched to many examples of stores moving, and losing their customers. Hell, the Book Barn merely moved across the street, and I still had people coming in years later asking where it went!
Plus my store is so packed, that moving would be a huge job. The smaller than ideal size of my store has forced me to be very creative in merchandising. Necessity being the mother of invention. (I've also arranged with my landlord to use some of the downstairs space for storage, which has been a blessing.)
I've designed my store to fit the changing landscape of downtown. New and used books, mainstream type toys, boardgames, pop culture items, and so on.
There is also the fact that, other than the Old Mill, which is suited more for Banana Republic and The Gap than a funky pop culture store, there is almost no place left in Bend where you can get ANY foot traffic.
Finally, and this is something that my competitors didn't see or understand -- my store once was a destination store, pretty much off the beaten track. Sure, I was downtown, but for most of my existence, I wasn't in a part of downtown that was frequented by shoppers.
That all changed, and so the foot traffic is so dramatically higher for my store in particular, that I have seen the benefit.
Would I locate my store in downtown if I was starting out today?
Probably not. My store is probably more than 50% a destination store. So as long as I was visible on a main street somewhere else, that would do the job. If I could trade twice the space for half the rent, I'd probably do it.
But I'm ensconced where I am, now. I like my store. But, still, I'd advise my competitors not to read too much of my success downtown as a reason to come downtown. Don't do as I do, do as I say. ..