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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1986-01-08, Page 5THE inizt.N, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1986. PAGE 5. Book shows how main streets fought back Main streets like that in Brussels with its Victorian-period architecture have a charm of their own that helps them compete with shopping centres if the proper approach is taken. The Heritage Canada pilot projects tried to show merchants how to take advantage of the assets they had without huge expensive renovations. REVIEWED BY KEITH ROULSTON Main streets have always had their cycles, cycles in the local economy, cycles in the energy and enthusiasm of the businessmen who run the main street businesses and thus cycles in the well-being of the heart of the community. But the coming of shopping centres both in terms of large shopping centres that drew away merchandising dollars from an entire region and smaller shopping centres that locate on the edge of smaller towns, brought a crisis to main streets all across the conti- nent that spurred action. "Reviv- ing Main Street" is a report on the successes and failures of the program started by Heritage Can- ada Foundation to breath new life into main streets across Canada and help them fight off the effects of the shopping centre boom. Concerned with the decline of "Main Street Canada", the found- ation set up a number of pilot programs between 1981 and 1985 to see how the trend could be halted and turned around. In Nelson, British Columbia; Fort Macleod, Alberta; Moose Jaw, Saskatche- wan; Cambridge and Perth, On- tario and Windsor and Bridge- town, Nova Scotia a co-ordinator was sent in, first to learn as much as possible about the history and problems of the community, then to assist the local businessmen in doing something about them. The name Heritage Canada conjures up ideas of building preservation and that indeed was one of the Foundation's concerns but it realized, through watching projects taking place elsewhere in the world, that it wasn't much sense trying to save buildings if -'-kkk,--1114/4fr there wasn't a need for the buildings. There is only a need for buildings on main street when there are healthy businesses a- round. The goal of the program then was to rejuvenate the downtown of the various communities and by doing so, save many of the historic buildings that made up Canadian main streets. The co-ordinators grasped the fact that if main streets were going to compete with shopping centres, they had to look at what was making the shopping centres successful in attracting customers. They had to face the fact, for instance, that there is something in the psyche of human beings that will make them think a 200-yard walk across the parking lot of a giant shopping centre is more convenient than a 200-yard walk around a block from a parking spot to a main street business in a small town. But looking at shopping centres they could isolate these attributes: ease of access, consumer choice, pleasant environment, effective market analysis, effective adver- tising, unified identity, positive image, controlled design, clear direction and effective manage- ment. They realized that most small towns need improvement in all of these areas but tried to isolate the areas most needing improvement and set attainable goals for the first year of the project. One of the positive aspects of main street is the character of the buildings. Shopping centres have even tried to recreate the "main street" feel as the theme for their shop fronts. Over the years, however, in an individualistic attempt to "moder- nize" Main streets, merchants have added signs and changed the appearance of the buildings until there is none of the "unified" identity that is one of the things that attract shoppers. The solutions the co-ordinators came up with were not pie-in-the- sky, big budget ones. They worked with individual businessmen to try to improve the look and the image of their business. From storefront refurbishment to new signs, the solution they came up with often cost only a few hundred dollars. What they offered most was Book Review expertise and advice. Most people have an idea what they'd like in decorating their store but have no idea how to attain it. In big cities, an architect may be hired but small merchants don't have those re- sources. In some cases miraculous changes were made in buildings by stripping away former "moderni- zations" to let the classic lines of the building stand out again. In another case, a furrier moving to a new location replaced gaudy, interior-lit plastic signs on his old building with well-designed and placed brass lettering on the new building that gave the feeling of quality he wanted to project and it cost him only $250. The drive wasn't always to go back to the way the buildings were when they were built. One of the most interesting "make-overs" pictured in the book (there are many "before" and "after" photographs) was of a little shop in Nelson, B.C. called the Comic Shop. It was an 1890's frame structure that had been covered in white vinyl siding. The dominant feature of the building though was an airconditioner that stuck out above the door. The machine was needed to keep the heat down in the building so couldn't be removed. The inventive solution was to create a cartoon car filled with comic characters, painted brilliant cartoon colours and make the grill of the airconditioner the grill of the car. Total cost for the dynamic new image for the business was less than $500. Some building owners were and "Reviving Main Street" is both a report, and a handbook for those who want to make the same kind of efforts in other communi- ties. One of the most worthwhile points it makes is the comparison to the shopping centre and the small town main street. The shopping centre has a manager who has all the projections on what kind of business his centre should do. Each month he gets gross sales figures from all his tennants and plots them out to see if they meet the projections. He may decide that the "mix" of stores, (the range of shopping services), is wrong. He is constantly recruiting new businesses to improve that "mix" or fill vacancies. His goal is to make his shopping centre as efficient as possible and makes as big a profit as possible. There is no manager of the "shopping centre" that is main street. No individual has the kind of clout the shopping centre manager has to make things happen. Often it's hard to get main street merchants to agree on something even as vital as shopping hours. But progressive communities can still accomplish many of the same things. Business associations can set up committees to look into the missing elements in a shopping "mix" and go about recruiting new businesses. To do so they need to have an inventory of the locations available and information about, population breakdown, family size and market area. In short, combin- ed effort can accomplish the same kind of goals of efficiency and profitability that the shopping centre manager aims at. This is a book that many people in the community could gain by reading. For property owners whose business depends on the viability of main street it is a must, as it is for the merchants who make up main street. It has enough practical information that it should be of interest to carpenters, bricklayers and sign-painters who will be active in renovating main street businesses (an main street rejuvenation creates jobs). And local politicians and government employees should be interested. Main street is, after all, the heart of the community. If a main street looks dumpy, the people are likely to feel that their community is down in the dumps too. The overwhelming result of these projects across the country is a feeling ofpride and enthusiasm that in itself, helps pick up a community and hurl it toward prosperity. REVIVING MAIN STREET, edited by Deryck Holsworth, University of Toronto Press. 246 pages, hardcover. (Also available through the Huron County Library). ready for bigger renovations spurr- ed on in some cases by mainten- ance problems caused by altera- tions to the original structure in earlier modernizations. The co- ordinators tried to work with the merchants and in some cases with architects, the make the building fit in well with its neighbours. In some cases the co-ordinators also tried to work with builders of new buildings to make these harmonize with the rest of main street. Over the years among the greatest culprits in destroying the character of old time main street have been the federal and provincial govern- ments and banks. The post office, for instance, in the 1960's had a number of standard designs for post offices that were pulled off the shelf and duplicated no matter whether they fit in with neighbour- ing buildings or not. Some banks have been particu- larly guilty, tearing down magnifi- cent Victorian period buildings to put up utilitarianmodern boxes that make no effort to accommodate themselves to their surroundings (one of the first laws of architecture is that a building should fit its surroundings whether in the countryside or in an urban setting.) The co-ordinators went much further to try to revive main street though. In some cases they helped organize new activities like Santa Claus parades or farmers markets. In Perth, Ontario, they brought in experts to conduct a seminar on window displays. They helped conduct market surveys. This phase of the project is over Although not unattractive in its own way, designs like that of the 1960's-era Blyth Post Office contrast rather than complement the Victorian-period neighbours. New doesn't necessarily have to be jarring as the expanded George Radford Construction Ltd. building shows on Blyth's main street. The company came up with the concept for the building then used the Blyth architecture firm of Chris Borgal to do the plans fora building that suits its neighbours well.