Six Downtown Business Owners Attend “Destination Bootcamp”

Six representatives from the Puyallup Main Street Association along with the association’s Executive Director returned recently from Colorado after an intense “Destination BootCamp”, where they learned ways to bring more customers and tourists to their businesses in Puyallup. They were among 30 business owners from across North America who attended the concentrated two and one-half day workshop. It is all about owning a business, rather than merely having a job in the business. Then letting the world know about it.
        Members of this group are the first business people from Puyallup ever to attend the Destination BootCamp. The “Six +1” program is designed to revitalize the Downtown business district by providing six representative businesses and one program coordinator with concepts, techniques and resources to expand the drawing power of Downtown Puyallup. BootCamp attendees included: Patty Rody, owner of the Comfort Food Organic Café; Shaun Nestor, owner of Coffee Bar; LaTona Carr, owner of A Simple Wish; Tom Neumann, owner of the Liberty Theater; Jen Quaschnik, owner of Indulge Cupcakes; and Arla Cuddie, owner of Newell Hunt Furniture Gallery. Puyallup Main Street Executive Director Dave Eatwell attended the BootCamp.

       The two and one-half day “Destination BootCamp”, created by marketing consultant Jon Schallert, teaches independent business owners to reposition their businesses as “consumer destinations”. According to Schallert, a business using these strategies can compete effectively with superstores like Wal-Mart and Home Depot, and significantly impact a local community. According to Schallert, it is not uncommon for destination businesses to create change in an entire city by drawing consumers from outside the immediate marketplace of a community. According to Tom Neumann, “But he (Schallert) gave me answers using simple logic and proven methods.  No class I ever took in college gave us real-life business road maps.”

        Shaun Nestor comments, “There is a huge network of business owners facing the same thing. Rather than “competition”, my neighbors can be partners to build our businesses.” Though the group meets regularly twice monthly, individual members come together throughout the month to help each other brainstorm daily challenges, marketing ideas, or just to share.
            “I have seen what Schallert’s ‘Six+1’ program can do for a business district,” reports PMSA Executive Director Dave Eatwell. “It is possible to drive through those areas and see which businesses have implemented Schallert’s program. It works!” Eatwell applied to and received funding from Puyallup’s Lodging Tax Committee to help defray costs of participating in the program. “We greatly appreciate the support of the Committee in making this happen.” 
            Eatwell will coordinate the 6-month post-BootCamp program, which includes regular trainings with the group, using audio CD’s, conference calls with Schallert, and a site visit by Schallert on Wednesday, August 13th. Anyone interested in attending the group’s Wednesday morning meetings should contact the Puyallup Main Street Association at (253) 840-2631.
 

Schallert to Speak August 13th

Destination Marketing consultant Jon Schallert will speak on “Increase Sales & Profits with Branded Marketing” from 8:00AM until 9:30AM on Wednesday, August 13th  at the Liberty Theater on W. Main Street. Schallert’s presentation is co-sponsored by the Puyallup Main Street Association and the Puyallup/Sumner Chamber of Commerce. Admission is $15 per person for PMSA and Chamber members, and $20 per non-member attendees. Anyone interested reserving a seat or in meeting with the BootCamp group contact Dave Eatwell at (253) 840-2631.

Not the Last Word

Since my first week on the job here in Puyallup, the most common topic of conversation as I have met with building and business owners has been “Parking.” That is not new. It has been that way in every business district in which I have worked. I would imagine it is the same for every Main Street program manager in Washington State, and may be so for most of all the Main Street managers in the U.S. It is not a new topic. But, just because parking is a problem every where does not mean that the feelings, attitudes and observations of Puyallup’s business owner have no value. Every business district has its own mix of resources, demands and challenges.

 

The comments and complaints passed on to me by the good people of Downtown Puyallup follow three dominant themes:

     1. My customers have no place to park near my store!

     2. I and/or my staff have no place to park all day long. Every three hours I must shoo out the customers, lock up the store for 10 to 15 minutes to go move my car to another location.

     3. Sound Transit riders are getting a free ride.

 

Everyone brings their own point-of-view to the situation, and every point-of-view is valid. Though traffic counts, demand studies, and resource inventories result in stacks of statistics and colorful maps, they do little to soothe the nerves of the business owner frustrated on a daily basis.

 

In an attempt to get a grip on the problem, I copied an aerial photograph of the Central Business District from Google Earth and, using graphic software, shaded all off-street areas dedicated to parking. One thing becomes obvious: Within the core commercial area of Puyallup, the single dominant process carried out every workday is the storage of vehicles. Unfortunately, in Puyallup’s core commercial area, that single dominant process results in no money changing hands. That goes against the purpose of a commercial district.

 

Remedies run along two strategies: 1) Find a way to charge for parking, or 2) Find a way to get people downtown without their cars. Though there is a perception that Puyallup has a parking shortage, there is not such a demand that people will pay much for it. Puyallup is a long way from making a commercial parking structure viable. Short term recommendations will focus on a shuffling of space, redistribution of access, cooperation, and creative search for unused resources.

Again, Puyallup is not alone. Every hamlet along the Sounder tracks from Tacoma to Seattle shares the condition. The long term remedy will demand creativity, commitment, and coordinated investment from all levels of government. It will not be quick, and it will not be cheap.