Purpose: To strengthen and broaden the economic base of the Main Street District.
Ongoing Projects
- Christmas in July promotion
- Encourage and incentivize shopping local day to day
- Host quarterly ‘Business After Hours’ events (weekly coffees); Gather businessowners to listen, learn and create connection
- Host three business-oriented trainings (Succession planning, Employee recruitment, Employee training, Customer service, How to start a new business, marketing, social media, finding employees, creating and maintaining websites if applicable, making sales through websites if applicable, Website/eCommerce training, Get businesses to have a web presence)
Ongoing Program Activities
- Business Succession Planning
- Business Visits
- Collect and distribute basic market data (including available downtown properties)
- First Dollar Presentation/ribbon cutting to new businesses
- Maintain list of properties for sale/lease
- Open 4 Business application
- Publish newspaper articles for business anniversaries
- Recruit businesses to fill vacancies
- Research available funding sources and share with investors/developers
- Share district’s investment statistics with stakeholders on regular basis (city council, board, businesses, etc.
- Work to keep an eye on problematic or derelict properties
2022
First Tier Priorities
- Roll-out Market Study and Strategies Results
- Publicize recent survey results to community
- Create materials to share survey data with developers/investors to show housing needs
- Highlight what product lines businesses should expand on (i.e. have a salon start providing women’s clothing), then promote those expansions
- Culinary Contract
- Get businesses to have consistent hours, extended ours and coordinated hours so everyone is open at the same time.
- Create incentives for buildings and new/expanding businesses
- Work to enhance relationship with development group for housing programs
- Share survey results with them
- Create public housing needs list
Second Tier Priorities
- Share pros of 2nd story housing with business owners
- Share with business owners the data that shows a great deal of workforce that leaves Coon Rapids for work and
- come up with plan to keep more people working local.
- Share with public the types of jobs that exist in Coon Rapids to show them they may not need to commute for work.
2023
Update building & business inventory
Market our needs for new businesses and vacant buildings to new businesses
Recruit new businesses: Identify top 3-4 needs/wants (shopping, food, medical (dentist/optometry); Identify building space opportunities; Recruit; Incentivize
2024
Market Analysis – Ready to Recruit
Work to recruit more daycare options for Coon Rapids
To volunteer or for more information contact Chair
Joe Stitz.