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Downtown After 5 idea: Dinner and a Movie

By Becky McCray

After the community dinner, but before the outdoor movie, give people time to stroll around downtown and shop. Photo CC by My Edmonds News.

 

Both times we’ve run the Survey of Rural Challenges, small town business owners have picked the same top challenge: adapting to being open later hours. That means I’m always on the lookout for ideas that work to help bring more people downtown and are also successful at generating business for local stores.

Cindy shared one in the comments on our story about downtown concerts drawing crowds but not shoppers.

“We did have a new event this summer where people did shop,” Cindy said. “It was dinner and a movie. We set up tables throughout downtown, had dinner, a musician performed, and we showed a movie on the side of one of the buildings after. There was about 40-45 minutes for people to walk around after dinner and before the movie, and they shopped. It was mostly couples in their 20’s, early 30’s.”

What events have you seen have success in a small town at getting people into downtown and actually shopping after five?

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About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
  • Zoom Towns: attracting and supporting remote workers in rural small towns - December 10, 2020
  • In an economic crisis, spend your brainpower before your dollars - November 25, 2020
  • Video: How to fill empty car dealership buildings for the holidays - November 6, 2020
  • How has 2020 changed the challenges rural small towns face? Tell us here - October 20, 2020
  • The Idea Friendly Method to surviving a business crisis - October 6, 2020
  • Join me for the Rural Renewal Symposium online Oct 13 - September 26, 2020
  • Cheap placemaking idea: instant murals - September 11, 2020
  • Refilling the rural business pipeline - July 7, 2020
  • Huge vacant buildings: grants to renovate? - June 9, 2020
  • Economic self defense for small towns  - June 7, 2020

November 13, 2017 Filed Under: entrepreneurship, marketing, rural, trends Tagged With: retail

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  1. Joann Schissel says

    November 14, 2017 at 2:44 pm

    I love the idea of dinner first, then shopping time before the movie. Our community (Knoxville) started a Live After 5 and held it a couple times this past summer on a Friday night once a month. It was only mildly successful. Stores around the square were open late and we had additional vendors and entertainment. We promoted in the newspaper, the merchant’s Facebook pages and Chamber e-news. I think if we do this regularly in the summer months we will have greater attendance.

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