052311 Market study shows downtown heading in the right direction
By Sharon Haught
May 16, 2011
297
Summary: A market study recently completed by students on the Social Entrepreneurship Team from the College of Wooster shows that while shoppers want more products and services available in downtown Wooster, the city is on the right track.
When the College of Wooster Social Entrepreneurship Team of Katie Morton, Duc Minh Chu and Andrew Licking arrived on campus last fall little did they know that they would soon be undertaking the challenge of completing a market study of downtown Wooster.
After hundreds of collective hours of assembling and processing 900 responses from internet and intercept surveys from members of the community the team was ready to present their findings to Wooster City Council on May 2.
According to Councilman Jon Ansel, the team, which partnered with Main Street Wooster and the Wooster Chamber of Commerce to complete their task, examined demographic data such as gender, age, income level and zip code in order to decipher the differences between users and non-users of downtown amenities.
They were very thorough in their definition in terms of there are people who use the downtown and there are people who dont use the downtown. They wanted to find out why some do and some dont, said Ansel of the methodology used by the students.
According to Ansel the last such survey was conducted in 2003 but in order to apply for grant funding under the Community Development Block Grant program for the continuing revitalization of downtown, fresh data was necessary.
In addition to supplying this all important data, the market study gives us a roadmap to plan and identify some of the perceived - but maybe not actual - deficiencies of our downtown so we can overcome those perceptions, said Ansel.
This isnt a tactical analysis. This is more of a strategic interpretation of the deficiencies and the pros of downtown Wooster, Ansel added.
According to Economic Development Coordinator Justine Starlin, the students work will be used to develop a strategic plan for the future development of downtown.
The students findings confirmed what many members of the community have observed.
Downtown Wooster is on the right track in terms of being responsive to the needs of the community, especially in terms of restaurant offerings.
It shows that once you whet the appetite with the kind of restaurants that have developed over the past three or four years, people want more, said Councilman Jon Ulbright of the survey results that showed the need for even more restaurants in the downtown area.
It seems to me that the survey shows that weve made tremendous strides in downtown with regards to restaurants and people want more. I think its a good sign, said Ulbright.
The study showed that in order to attract more shoppers the breath of services and products available in downtown needs to expand.
Though the students werent required to do so as part of their task, they made recommendations on the types of stores respondents wanted to see in downtown including an apparel store, music/cd store, a store that caters to the needs of children and a venue to enjoy live music.
I think it is important to give credit where credit is due, said Ansel noting that the students provided the study to the city free of charge.
We have a very fine deliverable here to utilize in our planning and our strategic direction for downtown, said Ansel adding I commend the College of Wooster for the spirit in which this survey was completed and giving us this document to work from for the next several years.
This is where synergy works – where we have a resource like the College of Wooster and the ability for them to do things like this at no cost to us, which in these economic times is something we need to explore more of, said Councilman Mike Buytendyk.
