[OMS_MANAGERS] Events vs. Businesses

Mon Jul 8 16:25:01 PDT 2019

Generally, our businesses think our Third Thursday is a positive thing (for context, it’s once a month during the summer from 6:00pm – 9:00pm). I say generally because very few of the retail businesses that normally close at 5:00 actually stay open for the event. I’ve been trying to convince our downtown businesses that we are putting 4,000-5,000 people in front of their door during these events and even if they’re not ringing the cash register, they’re connecting with customers that they normally wouldn’t connect with. Most businesses agree that’s a good thing, but “our hours are until 5:00 – I don’t have the staff to stay open,” or they simply don’t want to deal with that many people in their store. 

We actually had a handful stay open this past month. Nothing revolutionary here, but I think it was because we reached out to our network ahead of time to find out who was staying open and who was having sales/promotions … and offered to specifically promote those businesses in our event communications  to make sure everyone knew they had something special to offer during the event. Then I made it a point after the event to check in with them to see how it went in hopes that I’d have some information to share with everyone else leading up to this month’s event. 

Here are some highlights of what I discovered:

One of our retail establishments reported that he doubled his normal sales that day. 
One of the businesses was a breakfast/lunch coffee and sandwich shop that normally closes at 2:00. They were glad they stayed open, and plan to do it again the rest of the summer. 
Two of the businesses were retail. Here’s what they had to say:
“Hello Darin. Third Thursday is always an interesting day for us. While sales can be either hit or miss, we continuously hear people saying that they have never been in the store. That alone is worth staying open for us as we never know when that could come back to benefit us.”
“The Klamath Falls Downtown Association has done an incredible job at enhancing and curating 3rd Thursday’s, not just for families, but also for downtown business owners. From the free advertising, promotional stickers, bags, swag, and the fact that they can get over 5,000 people downtown for a 3 hour event is priceless to my business. The local support we are seeing from these events, such as 3rd Thursday, has contributed to our successes, as well as the positive upswing of our downtown as a whole. [Business name] has benefitted from the thousands of people who walk past the store that do not normally shop downtown that have entered over the last few years and became regular customers. We consider 3rd Thursday’s and any downtown event a huge and free marketing tactic that should be capitalized on. Participating is not only fun for myself and my employees, but it will easily take us from a slow month to a profitable month in one evening.”

Another thing we’re considering is shifting the event down one entire block. When I asked two businesses (a bar and a restaurant) at one end of the event how they’d feel about us shifting everything down (which would open the street in front of their businesses and leave them out of the event), they both said they wanted to stay inside the event closure, citing higher foot traffic and access during the event. 

Also, probably neither here nor there, but it’s worth mentioning. A few years back, we changed the layout of our event in a specific response to businesses that said the booths right outside their door were hindering traffic. Long story short, we moved the booths to the centerline (off the curbs) which did two things: 1) It changed the traffic pattern so attendees traveled between the booths and the brick and mortar establishments (as opposed to between two rows of booths with brick and mortar storefronts hidden behind the street fair on both sides) – this completely opened the view plane from the street to the storefronts; and 2) It alleviated clutter near the sidewalks so brick and mortar businesses were more accessible.

Great timing for your question. As Main Street Managers, we all know the canned answers, but it was refreshing for me to hear it straight from the businesses that are positive about it. I’m looking forward to using their testimonials and the other anecdotal data I’ve collected to convince more businesses to stay open. 

Thanks,

D

From: OMS_MANAGERS <oms_managers-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us> on behalf of Rob Dennis <bcddirector at gmail.com>
Reply-To: Oregon Main Street program managers <oms_managers at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>
Date: Monday, July 8, 2019 at 3:53 PM
To: Oregon Main Street program managers <oms_managers at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>, STUART Sheri * OPRD <Sheri.Stuart at oregon.gov>
Subject: Re: [OMS_MANAGERS] Events vs. Businesses

It’s my understanding that one of the roles of your promotional committee is to help business find a way to make money off of those events like that. No two communities are the same so I don’t know how to do that in Bend, but I bet there’s a way for your downtown businesses to organize a retail event specific to what’s closing the street down. 

On Mon, Jul 8, 2019 at 3:08 PM STUART Sheri * OPRD via OMS_MANAGERS <oms_managers at listsmart.osl.state.or.us> wrote:

No data but attached is info on how businesses can benefit from special events. What I have found is that there is a sweet spot – too many events can be a challenge for the business community but some can be a big boost in terms of exposure and marketing opportunities. 

From: OMS_MANAGERS [mailto:oms_managers-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us] On Behalf Of Downtown Bend, OR
Sent: Monday, July 08, 2019 2:57 PM
To: Oregon Main Street program managers
Subject: [OMS_MANAGERS] Events vs. Businesses

Greetings,

We collected data from our Downtown businesses that showed that 65% of businesses lose significant revenue on days that the streets of our Downtown are closed and booths line the streets for festivals/events.

Our organization has been advocating to City Council for code changes in regards to events in Downtown.  

Local event organizers are pushing back, saying that other businesses in other towns benefit financially from events closing down their streets, and therefore it is the fault of our business owners for not "trying hard enough" to benefit from the traffic that events bring to Downtown.

Here is my question to you:  Do your Downtown businesses benefit financially from events that close the street and place booths in front of their businesses?

Thank you so much for your help! 

Mindy Aisling

Executive Director

--------------------

 Downtown Bend Business Association
Talk or Text - 541-788-3628    www.downtownbend.org
916 NW Wall Street in Downtown Bend Oregon
 We are a nonprofit committed to increasing the vitality of Downtown Bend.

-- 

Rob Dennis

Baker City Downtown Director

1655 First Street Suite 203

Baker City, OR 97814

Office: 541-523-6541 Ext. 106

Cell:541-519-2379

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