Retail Marketing Strategies from Main Street South Australia’s David West
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Downtown Wheeling, WV | Credit: Wheeling Heritage Media
Today, the Brookings Bass Center for Transformative Placemaking released a new series of research briefs, developed in collaboration with the National Main Street Center, focused on the role that place governance organizations, like Main Street programs, play in revitalizing rural downtowns and promoting equitable rural economic and community development. The research briefs represent in-depth insights from on-the-ground data collection conducted in three Main Street communities between February and March 2020— Emporia, Kansas; Laramie, Wyoming; and Wheeling, West Virginia.
The Brookings Bass Center approached the study out of an interest in understanding how place-based strategies, and the place governance structures that support them, can spur economic revitalization, build resilience, and foster inclusive, vibrant, and connected rural places in the long term. For the Bass Center, Main Street organizations represent a clear subtype of place governance organizations, alongside Chambers of Commerce, civic associations, and so on, that can be critical forces in driving rural resilience.
To investigate this theory, the research briefs focus on three central questions:
Whether downtown/Main Street revitalization efforts have been successful at enhancing economic, built environment, social, and civic outcomes in rural communities;
Whether pre-pandemic downtown/Main Street revitalization efforts are helping rural small businesses more durably weather the COVID-19 crisis now; and
What further policy and capacity-building supports are needed to ensure Main Streets not only survive the pandemic but can be key drivers of rural recovery and long-term resilience in the months and years to come.
To answer these questions, researchers from Brookings and Main Street interviewed 62 residents, business owners, Main Street staff, and other key stakeholders in the three communities, and convened four focus groups with residents and entrepreneurs. We analyzed respondents’ insights based the four pillars of the Brookings Bass Center’s transformative placemaking framework and supplemented the qualitative information from the interviews and focus groups with quantitative data gathered from the U.S. Census Bureau, Esri Business Analyst, and local data sources. You can read more about the background and context of the research in the project's introductory brief.
Emporia, Kan. | Credit: Emporia Main Street
Main Street organizations advance local solutions to help small businesses survive and thrive. In the research brief focused on economic ecosystem outcomes, we show how:
Downtown Emporia, Kan. | Credit: Emporia Main Street
Rural resilience leans on a flexible, accessible, and healthy built environment. In the research brief focused on the built environment and quality-of-life outcomes, we show how:
Travel Inn Farm Wall in Laramie, Wyo. | Credit: Downtown Laramie
Rural Main Streets can’t achieve inclusive economic revival without bridging social divides in their communities. In the research brief focused on social environment outcomes, we show how:
Community members pose in front of the fish mural in downtown Laramie, Wyo. | Credit: Downtown Laramie
Rural communities build resilience through a strong network of community-led civic structures. In the research brief focused on civic outcomes, we show how:
There is much more detailed information in the full set of briefs, including more creative approaches and solutions from the three case study communities that can be adapted and tailored to other rural small towns' local contexts. In addition to their potential for inspiring new ideas, we hope the series can serve as a tool for Main Street organizations to advocate for greater support for your programs. The Brookings-NMSC collaborative research illuminates ways local Main Street programs are at the vanguard of rural downtown revitalization and the ways Main Street can be critical to community resilience and recovery.
This research was aided greatly by the participation and support of the Main Street managers in the three case study communities: Alex Weld in Wheeling, Casey Woods in Emporia, and Trey Sherwood in Laramie. We appreciate their support.
View full set of briefs on Brookings.edu or jump to specific briefs using quick links below:
Brief 1: Why Main Streets are a key driver of equitable economic recovery in rural America
Brief 2: Rural small business need local solutions to survive
Brief 4: Rural Main Streets can’t achieve true economic revival without bridging social divides
Brief 5: Creating a shared vision of rural resilience through community-led civic structures