posted on June 01, 2009 18:41
By Dace Koenigsknecht
Economic Restructuring Specialist
Michigan Main Street
Michigan State Housing Development Authority
A collective can be defined as a group of people that share, and are motivated by, a common interest. This definition does not incorporate any economic benefit or savings, such verbiage belongs under the definition of a cooperative. For sake of this posting, I’m looking at social and communal equity versus the sole desire to make money.
A group of people with a common interest…sounds like a community - in particular its downtown. Historically, pioneers gathered in small communities for social interaction and strength in numbers. Humans are inherently social creatures, often founding a church at the start, and reinforced by the pack mentality of sharing risk and protecting one another. We recognize that each person, possessing a desired skill or specialty, benefits the whole through proximity and like-desire to survive. In the early days, downtown was a collective based upon the interest of survival.
Hmmm…the more things change, the more they stay the same. I would argue that contemporary downtowns are still in that fight-for-survival mode. Global flattening has increased the competition from that of the neighboring village, to that of the village in a neighboring country or beyond. It’s not about competing with the merchant down the street. Local competition produces choice, which is a primary factor in attracting customers. Your local mix, your local collective, is an asset that must be embraced and strived for above all else.
Each downtown is unique, with its own retail and service mix. However, it’s the people that are the REAL uniqueness in each community. It’s their desire to be there, their love for their community and all it has to offer; it’s their sharing of that common interest, a downtown interest. The Main Street philosophy is about the collective community, about the collective downtown. There is an economic basis to the 4-Point™ approach, but it comes from reinvigorating the passion and motivation of the people.
Your downtown is a unique collective of merchants and service providers, residents and non-residents, and all are critical to the ongoing survival of your community. Identify and embrace communal assets, build upon them, foster pride and passion around them, and spread the word regarding your uniqueness. Be the best you can be!
From collective pride will come collective success…