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Times Advocate, 1994-11-2, Page 17Frenchman's Inn Restaurant Everyday 5 to 6:30 p.m. Dinner starting at $ 16.95 � 235-2008 Second section - lsovember 2, 1994 Time for small towns to fight back Exeter retailers need to find out where and why their customers shop elsewhere, says expert EXETER - If a "junior de- partment store". such as a small Wal Mart. were to open.on the out- skirts of Exeter, it would wipe out most of the existing downtown businesses. That warning came from Emrik Suiches, a Toronto-based con- sultant, who says small towns will have to learn to fight back if they want to survive the "new format re- tailing" wars. Suiches remarks were addressed to an audience of about 70 local businesspeople at Thursday evening's Small Business Seminar, sponsored by the Exeter Business Association [BIAJ, the South Huron Economic Develop- ment Committee, Huron Com - triunity Futures, and the Federal Business Development Bank. But Suiches also said the threat of a "big box store" is not the only concern to small-town retailers. Exeter, he said, should be very aware of "outflow" of dollars to other shopping centres. Census data, he said, indicates Exeter has a trading area of about 25,000 people. "We don't realty know where those people spend their money," said Suiches, but suggested the ef- fects of London shopping malls are being felt. He said those 25,000 people spend about $28.5 million in gro- cery stores and supermarkets, and Emrlk Sulches told a group of Exeter businesspeople Thurs- day evening that the town will have to fight back against retail competition that could include "big box" department stores, and London shopping malls. with average sales of $400-$450 a square foot, Exeter could support up to 71,000 square feet of grocery store space. He estimates the town has only about half that food store space. "You will probably find people do not spend as much of their food - dollars in Exeter as we would like," he said, noting a full study would be needed to come up with hard figures beyond his estimates. Suiches spent the afternoon before the seminar quietly touring Exeter and surrounding communities to size up the retail market. He cited figures suggesting Exet- er has half the drug store space it could, and less than a quarter of the clothing store space it could. The conclusion, he said, is that local people are shopping elsewhere some, or most of the time: Not only is Exeter affected by the impact of large urban shopping malls, he added, but other small towns are affected - as is downtown London itself, which Suiches de- scribed as "a disaster area...empty store after empty store". Empty stores don't pay as much taxes, crime increases, and urban blight and unsightliness follow, he warned. The first step for Exeter would be to conduct a "shopper intercept study", he said, to find out where shoppers come from, why they came to Exeter, what they buy, and to find out why they shop' else- where. Strategies will then have to be set up to find ways to make the town more competitive "back ACLU .way --ii go " Suiches said, referring to when he did an economic development study in the late 1970s for Grand Bend, and found neighbouring Ex- eter a healthy retailing town. He strongly recommended re- tailers "consider a special shopping activity to bring people to town, in the spring...on a back to school ba- sis...on a Thanksgiving basis." The BIA should form the basis of these promotions, he said. "You have to do it together," said Suiches, and pointed out some busi- ness communities of Exeter's size have BIA budgets four times great- er. "You can do it. You did it in the '70s when 1 was dealing with the Ruta nou_ pram ...YES, THIS ALSO INCLUDES ALL® iv �.j heom n walze Auto Parts nacho Ihaek 110 MAIN N. EXETER 235-0800 DASHWOOD UNE 237-3150 Mary Lynn MacDonald (left), Peter Darbishire, Stu Homuth, and Emrik Suiches formed a dis- cussion panel to offer advice to the audience, and take questions on specific issues. ti people here Suiches. Losing trade to other centres can be for a variety of reasons, he said, Biting such things as competitive pricing, or opening hours. Shop- ping malls, he noted, are open until 9 p.m., while Exeter is almost en- tirely closed up by 6 p.m.. making it "convenient to go there [London[ after work." As for the threat of "big box" warehouse - type retailing, or Targe department stores, Suiches said if such a "junior department stop" o ned Hi Way 83 o � on Exeter's outskirts, it could generate sales ex- ceeding the entire in- ventory of stores in town, and, he added, ''a store on the highway doesn't pay the same kind of taxes". Listowel, he said, is being considered for a 115.000 square foot Wal Mart. which may generate sales of $300 a square foot for a total of $35 mil- lion. "All of Listowel's downtown only does $27 million," he noted. Relying on the planning approv- als process to fight off such a large store usually doesn't work, he at the time," said warned. Wal Mart, he said, can af- ford to appeal any decision with the Ontario Municipal Board until the town runs out of legal fees. A four- week appeal in Collingwood has. now stretched into nine weeks. "There's no way the town of Col- linwood can stand up to that, or Exerer stand up to that." he said. What the town needs is an Of- ficial Plan that carefully sets out the role of the downtown retailers, he said. "You have to give the Ontario Municipal Board the tools to rep- resent your interest," concluded Suiches. "You it. wliei dealin the here Can do You did '70$. i l was g with people at the time." said Suiches' com- ments seem to strike home with recent de- velopments on coun- cil, particularly the dis- putes with the county planning department. "We think, quite honestly. the planning department of the county is out of touch with the '90s," said Shaw. and said council has been trying to make sure pol- icies exist to keep the town's core alive. A panel discussion followed, with Mary Lynn MacDonald from jobsOntario's Goderich office dis- cussing training alternatives for Hu- ron County businesses. Peter Dar- bishire from AIS Communications presented market planning for small businesses, and Stu Homuth from Homuth Taylor and Partners discussed advice for maximizing fi- nancial goals. Angela Jackson, a business con- sultant, who includes the "Ontario, It's Incredible" slogan among her credits, then presented tips on im- proving customer service. She said the difference between bad. in- different and excellent treatment of customers makes a huge difference in overall business success. She said customers need to be made aware of the,attributes of your busi- nesss--and also how. they are ap- preciated as customers. Karen Brown, Exeter BIA man- ager, later said she was "enormous- ly pleased" with the success of the seminar. "One could always hope to have more people," she said, but noted with 70 people paying $20 each, the evening more than broke even. Two messages, she said, seemed to come loud and clear from the evening's speakers. 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