I traded emails with Rodd Hall, owner of the Great Harvest Bread Company .. he was so kind as to allow me to publish his thoughts:
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: A Silver Spring Construction Prediction
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:35:20 -0500
From: Rodd Hall
To: <KevinBuckleyWFB@gmail.com>
Kevin,
In your 9/20 Village Spillage blog you refer to the effect of Silver Spring construction between October and January on the merchants in the area. You couldn’t be more correct. Most retail businesses barely make a go of it, sometimes even expect to lose money from January through September, knowing the holiday shopping season will provide the bulk of their profits for the year.
I know from experience the devastating effect road construction can have on shopping habits and on the fortunes of a small business. During the 1994 reconstruction of Lake Drive, I lost 25% of my customers and income. It didn’t matter that at least two lanes were open at all times; it didn’t matter if construction was actually happening anywhere near my store on any given day; it didn’t matter that my customers still had easy access to some of the best parking around. They still stayed away in droves.
Combine these two phenomena and I have a prediction. The planned construction on Silver Spring, if it is truly started any time before January, will ultimately cause some Silver Spring merchant to finally decide it’s just not worth it and to close their doors … probably more than one.
And I say started because it won't matter if construction is stopped between Thanksgiving and January 1. If they so much as put up a single orange sign or traffic barrel, it will look like a road construction zone, and too many customers will stay away.
Rodd Hall
Great Harvest Bread Co.
Whitefish Bay
He had a few other nuggets that should also be shared:
I know this is very much a minority opinion, but as a business-person I can't understand why everyone gets so excited about 'streetscaping'. Sure, a nicer looking Silver Spring wouldn't hurt.
(snip)
Why not instead spend the tens (hundreds?) of thousands of dollars on attracting new, exciting merchants to the street. Better yet, why don’t we spend zero dollars on finding every possible way for the Village to make it easier, rather than increasingly more difficult, to run a business on Silver Spring? (emphasis mine -kb)
I'd say we need to do both. With some luck, perhaps contracting with Kilduff will help recruit businesses to Silver Spring. Unfortunately with the economy, the timing, which is certainly years late, may not work out for us.
Finally, this:
What most people don't understand – and rightly so; I certainly didn't until I tried it myself – is that most small businesses, no matter how strong they may appear from the outside, spend most of their time just one bad decision or one bad break away from failure. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for sympathy; I chose this life and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
There are a lot of advantages, but the constant disadvantage is that you are always living life very close to the edge of disaster.
I think if the Village government had a better understanding of this basic fact of small business life, priorities might change. (emphasis mine -kb)
This comment got my attention. Great Harvest sure looks like one of the top 10 businesses on Silver Spring. Great product, great location. It honestly did not dawn on me, that a seemingly thriving business like GH would ever struggle, as he suggests.
What did we learn this morning, children?
- The timing of Silver Spring's construction is not optimal for business survival. The holiday season is make-or-break time for merchants.
- Hall is probably correct. Even though construction will be "stopped" from Thanksgiving to Jan 1, Silver Spring will most likely be thought of as a construction zone. There WILL be less parking. It WILL be tougher to get around SS, for cars and pedestrians alike.
- While I believe Street-scaping is important, Hall has a point, that we should (have been) spending dough on recruiting businesses.
- As I've called for before, the Village Trustees must look through all codes and eliminate merchant-unfriendly items NOW. Not November, not December, not 2009. NOW.
- Finally .. SHOP LOCAL. Make an extra effort to SHOP LOCAL when Silver Spring is under construction!
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