Huron Expositor, 2015-03-11, Page 22 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Scoreboard
Seaforth
Shuffleboard
March 4
Men's high: Erich Matzold
and Red Vantyghem 4
wins; Jim Davis 3 wins.
Women's high: Kathie
Tippelt 4 wins,
Charlotte Norton 3
wins.
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Marco Vigliotti Huron Expositor
Seaforth Business Improvement Area chairwoman Melody
Hodgson wants businesses to focus on attracting all ages to shop
in town.
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New BIA head says businesses
should focus on attracting all
ages to shop in Seaforth
) Melody Hodgson urges local
businesses to capitalize on popularity
of social media
Marco Vigliotti
Huron Expositor
The new chairwoman of
the Seaforth Business
Improvement Area is
encouraging local mer-
chants to do more to
attract younger shoppers,
such as bolstering their
presence on various social
media websites.
Melody Hodgson says
Seaforth's business com-
munity needs to "find rea-
sons to keep people in
town," not only as resi-
dents but also as "daily,
weekly and monthly
shoppers."
Although stating that she
doesn't believe "shopping
and Instagram" will neces-
sarily "save the town,"
Hodgson says storeowners
are missing out on an
opportunity to attract
younger people to shop in
Seaforth "by not capitaliz-
ing on the popularity of
social media."
"Now is the time we have
to take advantage of the
opportunity to support our
businesses (and) show to
the younger demographic
everything this town has to
offer because we have a lot
to offer," she said in an
interview with the Exposi-
tor on March 3.
Too much attention,
Hodgson says, is being
paid to attracting retired
people to move to Seaforh
as opposed to "capitaliz-
ing" on those already liv-
ing here.
She says the population
of the community is too
small to focus almost
exclusively on one popula-
tion group. Rather, the
focus should be on attract-
ing "all demographics,"
Hodgson says.
"Seaforth is not just a
retirement community.
We're putting all of our
eggs into one demographic
basket," she said. "We do
have great hospitals...
but we're not capitalizing
on an existing population
base."
Hodgson is inviting all
merchants with shops on
Main Street to share their
ideas on how to rejuvenate
interest in Seaforth's
downtown core at the next
BIA meeting slated for
March 11. It is expected
that the 6:30 p.m. meeting
will be held at town hall.
Hodgson says she wants
to hear ideas on how to re-
inject vitality in the
community's business
community.
"I plan on scrapping the
typical format, inviting all
merchants on the Main
Street to attend and having
and ideas session on how
we can better serve them
and how we can keep peo-
ple shopping locally," she
said. "I am making the
rounds this week to dis-
cuss and invite them all
personally, so hopefully we
have a good turnout and
shake things up a bit."
Hodgson says the dated
structure of BIAs, most of
which were formed back in
the 1970's, haven't kept
pace with the demands of
today. The group's man-
date, she says, needs
to "reflect the current
needs of merchants more
so than it currently does."
A big component of lur-
ing both residents and out-
side visitors is a "strong
downtown core," as well as
a sense of vitality in the
community, Hodgson
adds.
"Perception is an impor-
tant part in the financial
vitality of a community,"
she said. "I know person-
ally, the only reason I go
out of town to shop is to
purchase something I can-
not get in Seaforth, and if I
didn't have to leave I prob-
ably wouldn't nine times
out of ten."
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