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Holiday Shopping
November 25th, the day after Thanksgiving, is traditionally the start of the holiday shopping season and the period when most retail businesses make the majority of their annual income. Given that December is cold and wet in Portland and that the Internet is available from the comfort of the customer's warm, dry home, what can business associations do to improve the success rate for their members?
- Advertise the district - online, in local papers and city-wide papers, on the radio and TV. Group advertising can be inexpensive and offer many creative options.
- Define the shopping area - Nob Hill's trees are lighted all year, Foster Avenue lights windows, Broadway stages Lights on Broadway.
- Catch their eye - Hawthorne is displaying artistic wreaths, Belmont has garlanded the street.
- Make an offer - Division/Clinton offers a discount card with proceeds going to disaster relief.
- Throw a party - 42nd Avenue and Multnomah village hold holiday events.
Prosperity Now! - worth repeating!
Mary Means opened the conference by reviewing the history of the Main Street Program and its purpose to help communities strengthen the tissues that connect people to place.
Her advice to Portland's business districts is to find their niche and focus on it. She advocated for Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) to provide sustainable funding and explained that they could be as small as $20,000 a year depending on the district and its needs. She advised working with a Community Development Corporation or starting one to be eligible for foundation funding and named the Enterprize Foundation, the Bureau of Housing and Community Development (BHCD), and the Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC) as government agencies working on economic development. (LISC does not operate in Portland and BHCD and the Enterprize foundation focus on housing.)
Norm Winningstad's luncheon speech focused on how to turn adversity into advantage by researching what went wrong and fixing it.
Two of the most popular sessions were by PGE, Lowering your energy costs and Going Green, followed closely by sessions on product placement, banking, successful entrepreneurship, advertising, and advocating for small business.
According to exit surveys, many of the sessions should have been longer, and many of the support materials stronger. The majority opinion was that the event take place again next year, probably in October.
Grant Reports Rescheduled
The due date for reports for grants from the $100,000 supplemental grant fund has been extended to December 31, 2005, and the form has been simplified. You should have received a letter stating:
"A major part of this project and an essential part of commissioner Adams' expectations is that grant recipients will do a good job of documenting how the dollars granted increased involvement, sales, membership, available activities at your event, etc."
Put this date on your calendar and collect your data - we look forward to hearing how your project prospered.
Updating your business database
The APNBA has a list of businesses from the License Bureau, broken out by business districts. The list is based on current business license information, and contains the business name and address, the contact name and address, and the business district. Over 6,000 businesses have no listed business district and some BDAs have overlapping boundaries.
If you are interested in receiving a copy of the data for your district, contact the Editor. The files are in Excel and are small enough to be emailed. They require reviewing and editing, since the license data is not frequently updated.
Coming Events
November 24: Thanksgiving.
November 25: Start of holiday shopping.
November 26: Buy Local Day
Mention your event here - Contact the Editor for more information.
Photo credits:
Norm Winningstad, David Ashton - Bridget Bayer
All other photos, Eric Griswold Photography
Top of Page
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Prosperity Now!
Keynote Speaker
Mary Means
Luncheon Speaker
E. Norman Winningstad
Session Leader
David Ashton
Vendor Booths
PGE Gives advice
Animated Discussions
Volume 13 No. 11
The Business Voice is published 12 times a year by the Alliance of Portland Neighborhood Business Associations
P.O. Box 5123
Portland OR 97208-5123
E-mail: info@apnba.com
Web site: www.APNBA.com
Editor: Jean Baker
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