Empty buildings during the holidays are a drag on local shopping Who wants to shop downtown when it looks so empty? Car dealerships are an especially tough type of building to fill. Not many businesses need such a large space, and the layout of the space can make it tough to find a good fit….
Seems like there have been a lot of coronavirus-related surveys this year. This survey is different: we’ve been asking for and listening to your rural challenges since 2015. Of course rural challenges are different this year with COVID-19. That doesn’t mean all your other challenges disappeared, but it might mean your priorities have changed. We’d like your…
Small towns have endured boom and bust cycles, commodity crashes, mill and factory closures, environmental disasters and losing their economic reason for existing. Rural communities have reinvented themselves before, and rural businesses are re-inventing the way they do things. How Holyoke Hummus stays Idea Friendly through a crisis John is the owner of Holyoke Hummus…
Join me for the Rural Renewal Symposium hosted by Oklahoma State University. It’s an online event on October 13, 2020. What is the Symposium about? The Symposium is meant to raise awareness, attract resources and stimulate research toward solving grand challenges facing rural communities. And goodness knows we have some grand challenges. I’ll be facilitating…
2020 has taken a toll on downtown shopping and placemaking. There’s no time to waste on big master plans and no money for expensive consultants. Start taking action now to show life and new activity with small inexpensive steps. Murals add life and color to a downtown and are highly visible even to people driving…
This is a short sample from the SaveYour.Town video “Refilling Your Business Pipeline” featuring Deb Brown and me. Small towns and rural communities will need new business startups to revitalize their local economies, but not many people have the resources today to do a startup the way it’s traditionally been done. Part of what holds…
Should we offer incentives to fill it with small retailers? How do we convince the mayor and economic development group? The empty factory building A reader wrote in to ask about converting and dividing up a huge old building. Because my answer isn’t quite what the reader asked for, I’ve taken the details out….
Editorial by Becky McCray Not everyone who says they’ll help your town is telling you the truth. If you want a resilient small town economy and prosperity for the people in your town, I have some self-defense ideas for you. Focus more on your own people, less on attraction. Stop paying people to bring business…
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