Last year, the Kauffman Foundation in the U.S. and Make Your Mark , a business-led government-backed campaign in the United Kingdom, launched Global Entrepreneurship Week--one week out of the year when people around the world celebrate entrepreneurs. The goal is to inspire young people to be innovative, creative, think of new ways of doing old things AND become entrepreneurs.
Poudre River Public Library District is celebrating Global Entrepreneurship Week Nov. 16 – 22, 2009 by offering a series of films that introduce young entrepreneurs and the work they do.
During the week, we’re bringing in three young successful film makers from the TriMedia Film Festival to discuss how they launched their film making careers, how they enter film festivals, and more. Nick Tart, a CSU student and local entrepreneur who launched JuniorBiz, will discuss how young people can start their own businesses. We’re also showing one of Entrepreneur.com’s top ten films about entrepreneurs, Pursuit of Happyness, and a recent documentary, Lemonade Stories: Extraordinary Entrepreneurs and the Mothers Who Made Them (including Richard Branson and Russell Simmons--two major sponsors of Global Entrepreneurship Week). I hope you can come to one or all of the programs.
Here is the line up:
Tuesday, November 17, 6:30-8:00 p.m.
Main Library 201 Peterson St.
A series of short films from TriMedia Film Festival! Three young film makers will discuss making a successful film, showcase their emerging entrepreneurial talents, and share their experiences entering film festivals.
Wednesday, November 18, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Council Tree Library 2733 Council Tree Ave.
Pursuit of Happyness, film starring Will Smith--rated one of the top 10 films about entrepreneurs by Entrepreneur.com--with a short about Chris Gardner.
Thursday, November 19, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Council Tree Library 2733 Council Tree Ave.
Lemonade Stories - a film about extraordinary entrepreneurs and the mothers who made them. Discussion with Nick Tart, Founder JuniorBiz, LLC.
With Global Entrepreneurship Week’s goal to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity, I think our programming will encourage young people to think big, turn their ideas into reality, and make their mark.
The week is expected to exceed 3 million people worldwide, and 8,800 organizations around the globe. Check out the activities in your region at www.unleashingideas.org.
By the way, the Kauffman Foundation is a private nonpartisan foundation that works to harness the power of entrepreneurship and innovation to grow economies and improve human welfare. Founded by late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman, the Foundation is based in Kansas City, Mo. and has approximately $2 billion in assets. Please visit their wonderful website, www.kauffman.org and follow on Twitter.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Economic Development and the Arts
I recently ran across two interesting articles on economic development and the arts, a topic dear to my heart. I spent many years in the local arts world, trying to emphasize the economic development component of the arts, so was happy to happen onto these articles
“Arts, Culture, and Economic Development,” (Economic Development Journal Winter 2009 8/1 5-13) focuses on what the authors (Steve Nivin and David Plettner) consider the next phase of economic development, the Creative Age (or, Conceptual Age or the Design Age.) The article focuses primarily on a recent study of San Antonio’s creative sector, and the City’s and community’s efforts to enhance the economic impact of this sector -- San Antonio’s top 10 creative occupations by employment registers a sizable economic impact that is comparable to other industries ($3, 375.5 million), employing 26,744 with a payroll of $1,000.1 million.
More interesting to me, however, is how Nivin and Plettner describe the work being done by creative people at each stage of economic development (a concept developed by Richard Florida in 2002) As innovation becomes more important to regional economic development, it is vital for regions to develop a culture that fosters the “creative activity of innovation.” Not only must we innovate, but the designs of our innovations must be aesthetically pleasing—emotions, experiences and aesthetics now drive consumer demand. Where before those educated in science, technology, engineering and math were the key players in the innovation process, now those who are trained in the arts are necessary for proper product design and success in the marketplace. Essentially, now that our left-brain needs have largely been taken care of, our right-brain yearns to be fed.
“Cultural Policies and Local Planning Strategies: What Is the Role of Culture in Local Sustainable Development?” (The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society Spring 2009 39/1 45-63) carries this same concept. In this article, the authors present a strategic model of a progressive cultural district based on an asset-action matrix that intersects cultural policy drivers with capital resources. The authors define a new model of a cultural district—the system-wide cultural district—as an emergent, self-organized model of cultural supply. The concept is illustrated by several successful examples that include Austin, Texas, Gateshead, UK, Linz, Austria, and Denver, Colorado (among others)
In Austin culture has played a valuable role in economic development. The city has more than one hundred stages and production centers, a contemporary visual arts museum, a musical theater, and two national dance companies. More than 200,000 people attend the Austin City Limits music festival every year. The annual South by Southwest Festival features rock concerts and film screenings that utilize new media technologies. Austin’s economic evolution stresses a good quality of life and a development process based on creativity and innovation. Austin not only has creativity, innovation, and support from big companies, but other strategic tools stress a collective community approach. Foundations and private companies have invested heavily in Austin’s social infrastructure because they recognize the need for “human capital.” Austin is an example of a development model that focuses not only on the creation of new jobs but also on improving the community.
Gateshead, UK has seen economic regeneration by local investment in the Baltic Flour Mills, the Millennium Bridge, and the Sage Opera House. The Baltic Flour Mills is a center for contemporary art housed in a grain warehouse. The redevelopment cost (£33.4 million) was covered by regional arts council, public and private investors, cultural organizations, and universities. The Baltic Flour Mills is separated from the Newcastle Quayside by the Millennium Bridge, which opened in 2001 and is the world’s first tilting bridge. It is accessible only to pedestrians and cycles. With its changing colors and unique shape, it has quickly become a regional icon. The Sage Opera House opened in 2001 thanks to a £70 million donation from the Sage Software Group.
Linz’s culture-led regeneration is due to the creative interaction between local cultural tradition and the media’s cutting-edge technology, especially Ars Electronica, a museum, a laboratory, a competition, and a festival. The Museum of the Future, on the north bank of the Danube, is a six-floor space where visitors can learn about technology. Ars Electronica is home to one of the few public 3-D caves in Europe, which creates computer-generated visual art exhibitions for the public and technology-oriented artists. The Futurelab is a complex that consists of studios where workshops are held and researchers carry out innovative projects on digital surfaces, in virtual environments, and in interactive space. The Prix Ars is a multidisciplinary competition on cyber arts that includes digital media designs incorporating art, science, and society. The new modern art gallery, Lentos, was commissioned in 2003 to host the Linz Neue Galerie’s collection. The Centre for Contemporary Art is an experimental laboratory for exploring art that accompanies the implementation of an artistic work from the idea phase to the exhibition. A public platform and a laboratory situation are provided for artists, usually from a younger generation. Concomitant symposia, mediation work, and live acts form networks with art projects and recipients. The quality of culture in Linz has always been high, and cooperation between multimedia and art firms has helped increase the local economy’s competitiveness. Linz applies for state grants, but also accesses capital from the private sector. This cultural effort to boost human capital has resulted in the development of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship, in turn, has played a role in the success of Linz’s creative industries.
Finally, the authors focus on Denver, Colorado. The results of the City’s cultural policy have been extraordinary. Two agencies play a decisive role in Colorado’s cultural development. The Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) is a publicly financed agency whose aim is to support cultural organizations and activities in seven counties in Coloroado. The SCFD is a collaboration among rural, suburban, and urban counties that distributes more than $30 million to scientific and cultural organizations. It is supported by a 0.1 percent sales tax, which means that 1¢ of every $10 purchase in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, northern Douglas, and Jefferson counties supports metro Denver cultural organizations (2007). The Colorado Business Committee for the Arts (CBCA) serves as a catalyst for business-arts partnerships and creates awareness of the arts community as a vehicle for employee creativity, economic development, and business prosperity. The CBCA places business leaders on arts boards, sponsors organizational and audience development, and trains businesspeople to be arts advocates who use the arts to foster community development. The CBCA also serves as a resource for business by regularly monitoring the economic impact of cultural and scientific organizations in the region, informing the business community about arts issues that relate to business, enabling business leaders to understand the complexities of the cultural community, stimulate employee creativity and morale, build new businesses, and enhance their image.
According to the CBCA’s 2004 Study of Metro Denver Culture, culture in metro Denver had a $1.311 billion economic impact. The cultural industry employs more than 9,000 employees, disburses $86 million in wages, and pays almost $14 million in taxes. As a destination for cultural tourists, metro Denver attracted 2.8 million visitors from outside metro Denver and 1.4 million visitors from outside Colorado; these tourists had a $403 million impact on the economy. In 2007, the SCFD collected $35 million to invest in the cultural community. Of $1.3 billion in total economic activity, close to $500 million was the true economic impact. This represents a 14:1 return on investment, bolstered by the $35 million collected from a special taxation mode. Cultural facilities continue to transform metro Denver’s regional landscape.
In all of the examples, the marriage of art and business (though in different permutations) drove the economic success of the community.
These two articles are available through the Poudre River Public Library District’s business database, Business Source Premier.
“Arts, Culture, and Economic Development,” (Economic Development Journal Winter 2009 8/1 5-13) focuses on what the authors (Steve Nivin and David Plettner) consider the next phase of economic development, the Creative Age (or, Conceptual Age or the Design Age.) The article focuses primarily on a recent study of San Antonio’s creative sector, and the City’s and community’s efforts to enhance the economic impact of this sector -- San Antonio’s top 10 creative occupations by employment registers a sizable economic impact that is comparable to other industries ($3, 375.5 million), employing 26,744 with a payroll of $1,000.1 million.
More interesting to me, however, is how Nivin and Plettner describe the work being done by creative people at each stage of economic development (a concept developed by Richard Florida in 2002) As innovation becomes more important to regional economic development, it is vital for regions to develop a culture that fosters the “creative activity of innovation.” Not only must we innovate, but the designs of our innovations must be aesthetically pleasing—emotions, experiences and aesthetics now drive consumer demand. Where before those educated in science, technology, engineering and math were the key players in the innovation process, now those who are trained in the arts are necessary for proper product design and success in the marketplace. Essentially, now that our left-brain needs have largely been taken care of, our right-brain yearns to be fed.
“Cultural Policies and Local Planning Strategies: What Is the Role of Culture in Local Sustainable Development?” (The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society Spring 2009 39/1 45-63) carries this same concept. In this article, the authors present a strategic model of a progressive cultural district based on an asset-action matrix that intersects cultural policy drivers with capital resources. The authors define a new model of a cultural district—the system-wide cultural district—as an emergent, self-organized model of cultural supply. The concept is illustrated by several successful examples that include Austin, Texas, Gateshead, UK, Linz, Austria, and Denver, Colorado (among others)
In Austin culture has played a valuable role in economic development. The city has more than one hundred stages and production centers, a contemporary visual arts museum, a musical theater, and two national dance companies. More than 200,000 people attend the Austin City Limits music festival every year. The annual South by Southwest Festival features rock concerts and film screenings that utilize new media technologies. Austin’s economic evolution stresses a good quality of life and a development process based on creativity and innovation. Austin not only has creativity, innovation, and support from big companies, but other strategic tools stress a collective community approach. Foundations and private companies have invested heavily in Austin’s social infrastructure because they recognize the need for “human capital.” Austin is an example of a development model that focuses not only on the creation of new jobs but also on improving the community.
Gateshead, UK has seen economic regeneration by local investment in the Baltic Flour Mills, the Millennium Bridge, and the Sage Opera House. The Baltic Flour Mills is a center for contemporary art housed in a grain warehouse. The redevelopment cost (£33.4 million) was covered by regional arts council, public and private investors, cultural organizations, and universities. The Baltic Flour Mills is separated from the Newcastle Quayside by the Millennium Bridge, which opened in 2001 and is the world’s first tilting bridge. It is accessible only to pedestrians and cycles. With its changing colors and unique shape, it has quickly become a regional icon. The Sage Opera House opened in 2001 thanks to a £70 million donation from the Sage Software Group.
Linz’s culture-led regeneration is due to the creative interaction between local cultural tradition and the media’s cutting-edge technology, especially Ars Electronica, a museum, a laboratory, a competition, and a festival. The Museum of the Future, on the north bank of the Danube, is a six-floor space where visitors can learn about technology. Ars Electronica is home to one of the few public 3-D caves in Europe, which creates computer-generated visual art exhibitions for the public and technology-oriented artists. The Futurelab is a complex that consists of studios where workshops are held and researchers carry out innovative projects on digital surfaces, in virtual environments, and in interactive space. The Prix Ars is a multidisciplinary competition on cyber arts that includes digital media designs incorporating art, science, and society. The new modern art gallery, Lentos, was commissioned in 2003 to host the Linz Neue Galerie’s collection. The Centre for Contemporary Art is an experimental laboratory for exploring art that accompanies the implementation of an artistic work from the idea phase to the exhibition. A public platform and a laboratory situation are provided for artists, usually from a younger generation. Concomitant symposia, mediation work, and live acts form networks with art projects and recipients. The quality of culture in Linz has always been high, and cooperation between multimedia and art firms has helped increase the local economy’s competitiveness. Linz applies for state grants, but also accesses capital from the private sector. This cultural effort to boost human capital has resulted in the development of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship, in turn, has played a role in the success of Linz’s creative industries.
Finally, the authors focus on Denver, Colorado. The results of the City’s cultural policy have been extraordinary. Two agencies play a decisive role in Colorado’s cultural development. The Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) is a publicly financed agency whose aim is to support cultural organizations and activities in seven counties in Coloroado. The SCFD is a collaboration among rural, suburban, and urban counties that distributes more than $30 million to scientific and cultural organizations. It is supported by a 0.1 percent sales tax, which means that 1¢ of every $10 purchase in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, northern Douglas, and Jefferson counties supports metro Denver cultural organizations (2007). The Colorado Business Committee for the Arts (CBCA) serves as a catalyst for business-arts partnerships and creates awareness of the arts community as a vehicle for employee creativity, economic development, and business prosperity. The CBCA places business leaders on arts boards, sponsors organizational and audience development, and trains businesspeople to be arts advocates who use the arts to foster community development. The CBCA also serves as a resource for business by regularly monitoring the economic impact of cultural and scientific organizations in the region, informing the business community about arts issues that relate to business, enabling business leaders to understand the complexities of the cultural community, stimulate employee creativity and morale, build new businesses, and enhance their image.
According to the CBCA’s 2004 Study of Metro Denver Culture, culture in metro Denver had a $1.311 billion economic impact. The cultural industry employs more than 9,000 employees, disburses $86 million in wages, and pays almost $14 million in taxes. As a destination for cultural tourists, metro Denver attracted 2.8 million visitors from outside metro Denver and 1.4 million visitors from outside Colorado; these tourists had a $403 million impact on the economy. In 2007, the SCFD collected $35 million to invest in the cultural community. Of $1.3 billion in total economic activity, close to $500 million was the true economic impact. This represents a 14:1 return on investment, bolstered by the $35 million collected from a special taxation mode. Cultural facilities continue to transform metro Denver’s regional landscape.
In all of the examples, the marriage of art and business (though in different permutations) drove the economic success of the community.
These two articles are available through the Poudre River Public Library District’s business database, Business Source Premier.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Social Media
The new social media is not, at first, comfortable for a lot of us. The further you dig into it, however, the more comfortable and (actually) exciting it is. Your first Twitter send will be a bit stiff; your first Facebook comment a bit formal; your first YouTube instruction video will feel intrusive. Before you know it, you’ll be off and running. If not, check in with a 15-23 year old and they’ll be glad to get your comfort level up.
Today’s New York Times has a feature on mom-and-pop businesses turning to social media, especially Twitter. For many mom-and-pop shops with no ad budget, Twitter has become their sole means of marketing. Since small businesses grow half their customers through word of mouth, Twitter is the perfect avenue for spreading the word. “Umi, a sushi restaurant in San Francisco, sometimes gets five new customers a night who learned about it on Twitter…” New York Times, July 23, 2009.
In Groundswell, a 2008 book on how businesses can win in this evolving world of social technologies, the authors note that the groundswell of social media and self-organized information transfer is like any other human activity. If you understand it, you can work within it and even thrive in it. It just takes knowledge, experience and enlightenment to get there. The book offers a great introduction to the entire social media world. But more than that, it covers why you should care about it. “Online entrepreneurs are highly competitive, and speed can create a dominant edge because whoever gets to an idea first gets first crack at the visitors (and traffic)…Online, people can switch behaviors as soon as they see something better…” (Groundswell, p. 12).
This groundswell, crowdswell, crowdsourcing or digital swarm (however you want to refer to the phenomenon) has transformed the way business is conducted. Social networks, such as Facebook, MySpace, Linked-In, and Twitter, as well as blogs and the mother lode for any business, your website, can be powerful tools in sales, marketing, recruitment, and opportunity identification.
There are workshops all over town introducing people to the new social media and how to use it for business. I attended Integrating Social Media into Your Marketing Strategy (NoCoEntre.net) and by the time the workshop was finished, barriers to understanding, appreciating and using the new social media had broken down completely. I was sold, because I finally understood it.
I’ve been ordering social media books for the library business collection. Check us out at: http://read.poudrelibraries.org/adult/business/ .
Have a great summer weekend.
Today’s New York Times has a feature on mom-and-pop businesses turning to social media, especially Twitter. For many mom-and-pop shops with no ad budget, Twitter has become their sole means of marketing. Since small businesses grow half their customers through word of mouth, Twitter is the perfect avenue for spreading the word. “Umi, a sushi restaurant in San Francisco, sometimes gets five new customers a night who learned about it on Twitter…” New York Times, July 23, 2009.
In Groundswell, a 2008 book on how businesses can win in this evolving world of social technologies, the authors note that the groundswell of social media and self-organized information transfer is like any other human activity. If you understand it, you can work within it and even thrive in it. It just takes knowledge, experience and enlightenment to get there. The book offers a great introduction to the entire social media world. But more than that, it covers why you should care about it. “Online entrepreneurs are highly competitive, and speed can create a dominant edge because whoever gets to an idea first gets first crack at the visitors (and traffic)…Online, people can switch behaviors as soon as they see something better…” (Groundswell, p. 12).
This groundswell, crowdswell, crowdsourcing or digital swarm (however you want to refer to the phenomenon) has transformed the way business is conducted. Social networks, such as Facebook, MySpace, Linked-In, and Twitter, as well as blogs and the mother lode for any business, your website, can be powerful tools in sales, marketing, recruitment, and opportunity identification.
There are workshops all over town introducing people to the new social media and how to use it for business. I attended Integrating Social Media into Your Marketing Strategy (NoCoEntre.net) and by the time the workshop was finished, barriers to understanding, appreciating and using the new social media had broken down completely. I was sold, because I finally understood it.
I’ve been ordering social media books for the library business collection. Check us out at: http://read.poudrelibraries.org/adult/business/ .
Have a great summer weekend.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
The Future of Shopping Malls
Real estate developers, leasing agents and retail executives met in Las Vegas in May for the 2009 International Council on Shopping Centers. What is the future of regional shopping malls? This question is especially pertinent since the owner of the local Foothills Fashion Mall, General Growth Properties, recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
According to a survey conducted by TNS Retail Forward, about 30% of primary household shoppers visit a regional mall on a monthly basis, down 4% from just three years ago. Gaining the most traffic, by a wide margin, is the power center (Front Range Village here in Fort Collins, where our new Council Tree Library is located)—with 60% of primary household shoppers visiting monthly (49% visit a strip mall with supermarket anchors monthly, and 42% visit online shopping sites). (SBG 10/08)
With tough economic times and rising food prices, consumers are gravitating more to power center retailers like Wal-Mart and Target, for convenience and one-stop shopping. And with Wal-Mart and Target adding food to their mix, power centers are increasing their one-stop-shopping appeal. This is one of the many issues facing the mall owners and leasing agents in Las Vegas.
The economics of a regional mall have, in the past, depended on the anchor department stores; once the customers got to the department store, they gravitated into the mall. With the arrival of category killers—from consumer electronics to bedding and linens—whole departments once owned by department stores have disappeared. The category killers and the power centers are forcing regional malls to find ways to become “destinations” again.
Which is where the International Council on Shopping Centers conference comes in. The ICSC held a design competition. Most entries evidently responded less to the future of the shopping mall than to the glory days “to which we’ve recently bid adieu.” (NYT, 6/2/09). For example, the role of technology in future mall life was largely confined to all the ways one could shop using an iPhone and body scanning; if a shopper expresses a desire for some retail object, it is automatically sent straight to the shopper’s home. CommArts Crossroads City, however, provided some groundwork for what the future mall might look like--generate sales, of course, but also grow food, create crafts, manufacture products, generate energy, and provide education. The mall can become a social center, a “spectacle of hands-on demos, lectures, performances, classes, tastings, parties and shows.” (NYT 6/2/09)
Outside of the ICSC conference, there are changes taking place in mall-world. The Miami-based extreme sports retailer, Adrenalina, has seen sales and traffic grow at its four mall locations because of its prime attraction: FlowRider, an in-store wave-making machine that allows riders to surf a 10 ft. wave while shoppers and onlookers watch through a glass partition. (Chain Store Age 5/09) Or, U.S. mall owners could borrow from their Australian counterparts and have grocery stores anchor the mall. The Newport Beach Film Festival is underway at the still-in-the-running Fashion Island mall in Newport Beach, CA. (WWD 4/28/09).
Custom events do appear to draw major traffic to the malls. Tysons Corner Center in McLean, VA introduced a quarterly women’s networking night called The Ultimate Girls Night Out. Biltmore Fashion Park in Phoenix ran a two-month Movies in the Park program, where classic films drew up to 700 people a week.
According to Nina Robinson, VP of marketing and communications for three Orange County shopping centers, “People still want to be a part of a community, gather, eat, shop and be entertained. They want to escape. The can come and stroll, shop, dine or watch a movie.”
David Holmes, director of the forensic research group for psychology and social change at Manchester Metropolitan University in Manchester, UK says that the consumers’ urge to frequent shopping malls regardless of whether or not they can afford to buy is primal. Human have been exchanging money for goods for 4,000 years. (WWD 4/28/09)
Architect Daniel Libeskind, of Denver Art Museum’s $90.5 million renovation fame, is taking on smaller projects these days. “The world is suffering. But this is exactly the time to do exciting things. It’s not the time to hide our heads…it’s when we use our imaginations to try new materials, new ideas. Not just add gold and chandeliers!” For his project in Switzerland, he wanted to reinvent shopping. He moved beyond stores and restaurants and added such offerings as housing for the elderly and a gas station. The floor plan is more a labyrinth than a series of straight lines leading from shop to shop. (Business Week Online 4/21/09)
On a less grand scale, the Galleria at Fort Lauderdale recently leased 12,000 sq. ft. to the Fort Lauderdale Children’s Theatre. The nonprofit occupies several of the storefronts in the mall’s east wing, and is considered by the mall ownership to not only be the most creative addition to date, but a safe bet.
A twin issue to reconfiguring the shopping mall is the change in suburban living. The Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech predicts that by 2025, there will be a surplus of 22 million large-lot homes (on 1/6 acre or more) in the U.S. (Time South Pacific 3/23/09). In a word, the suburbs need to be remade. Suburbs such as Lakewood, CO and Long Beach, CA have repurposed boarded-up malls as mixed-use developments with retail stores, offices and apartments. In auto-dependent suburbs that were built without a traditional center or a downtown, old shopping malls offer a chance to recreate downtowns without destroying existing infrastructure--by recycling what is known as underperforming asphalt. For example, in Austin, MN an old K-Mart is now the Spam Museum. In Denton, TX an old Food Lion Supermarket is now a public library. Baco Raton, FL turned a shopping mall into a mixed-use town center. In Mashpee, MA, a strip mall is now Town Commons.
An even more interesting movement that actually resembles CommArts Crossroads City from the ICSC conference is the Ainsworth Street Collective, a group of some 50 households in Portland, OR that came together out of a mutual interest in sustainability and community, and created a micro-economy within their few square blocks. They published a directory of services provided by neighbors from tax preparation to massage services to cat-sitting—encouraging local transactions. They’ve instituted tool-sharing, car-sharing, bulk food-purchasing and even own a farmer’s market that sells produce, baked goods and other items made by its members.
There will always be mega-malls but developers and architects should not ignore local, grassroots solutions to the empty or emptying regional mall. The question that has driven retailers for a thousand years is still the issue: how do we get people to buy stuff?
For these articles and more on the future of shopping centers, go to Business Source Premier via the Poudre River Public Library District business databases link: http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business/.
According to a survey conducted by TNS Retail Forward, about 30% of primary household shoppers visit a regional mall on a monthly basis, down 4% from just three years ago. Gaining the most traffic, by a wide margin, is the power center (Front Range Village here in Fort Collins, where our new Council Tree Library is located)—with 60% of primary household shoppers visiting monthly (49% visit a strip mall with supermarket anchors monthly, and 42% visit online shopping sites). (SBG 10/08)
With tough economic times and rising food prices, consumers are gravitating more to power center retailers like Wal-Mart and Target, for convenience and one-stop shopping. And with Wal-Mart and Target adding food to their mix, power centers are increasing their one-stop-shopping appeal. This is one of the many issues facing the mall owners and leasing agents in Las Vegas.
The economics of a regional mall have, in the past, depended on the anchor department stores; once the customers got to the department store, they gravitated into the mall. With the arrival of category killers—from consumer electronics to bedding and linens—whole departments once owned by department stores have disappeared. The category killers and the power centers are forcing regional malls to find ways to become “destinations” again.
Which is where the International Council on Shopping Centers conference comes in. The ICSC held a design competition. Most entries evidently responded less to the future of the shopping mall than to the glory days “to which we’ve recently bid adieu.” (NYT, 6/2/09). For example, the role of technology in future mall life was largely confined to all the ways one could shop using an iPhone and body scanning; if a shopper expresses a desire for some retail object, it is automatically sent straight to the shopper’s home. CommArts Crossroads City, however, provided some groundwork for what the future mall might look like--generate sales, of course, but also grow food, create crafts, manufacture products, generate energy, and provide education. The mall can become a social center, a “spectacle of hands-on demos, lectures, performances, classes, tastings, parties and shows.” (NYT 6/2/09)
Outside of the ICSC conference, there are changes taking place in mall-world. The Miami-based extreme sports retailer, Adrenalina, has seen sales and traffic grow at its four mall locations because of its prime attraction: FlowRider, an in-store wave-making machine that allows riders to surf a 10 ft. wave while shoppers and onlookers watch through a glass partition. (Chain Store Age 5/09) Or, U.S. mall owners could borrow from their Australian counterparts and have grocery stores anchor the mall. The Newport Beach Film Festival is underway at the still-in-the-running Fashion Island mall in Newport Beach, CA. (WWD 4/28/09).
Custom events do appear to draw major traffic to the malls. Tysons Corner Center in McLean, VA introduced a quarterly women’s networking night called The Ultimate Girls Night Out. Biltmore Fashion Park in Phoenix ran a two-month Movies in the Park program, where classic films drew up to 700 people a week.
According to Nina Robinson, VP of marketing and communications for three Orange County shopping centers, “People still want to be a part of a community, gather, eat, shop and be entertained. They want to escape. The can come and stroll, shop, dine or watch a movie.”
David Holmes, director of the forensic research group for psychology and social change at Manchester Metropolitan University in Manchester, UK says that the consumers’ urge to frequent shopping malls regardless of whether or not they can afford to buy is primal. Human have been exchanging money for goods for 4,000 years. (WWD 4/28/09)
Architect Daniel Libeskind, of Denver Art Museum’s $90.5 million renovation fame, is taking on smaller projects these days. “The world is suffering. But this is exactly the time to do exciting things. It’s not the time to hide our heads…it’s when we use our imaginations to try new materials, new ideas. Not just add gold and chandeliers!” For his project in Switzerland, he wanted to reinvent shopping. He moved beyond stores and restaurants and added such offerings as housing for the elderly and a gas station. The floor plan is more a labyrinth than a series of straight lines leading from shop to shop. (Business Week Online 4/21/09)
On a less grand scale, the Galleria at Fort Lauderdale recently leased 12,000 sq. ft. to the Fort Lauderdale Children’s Theatre. The nonprofit occupies several of the storefronts in the mall’s east wing, and is considered by the mall ownership to not only be the most creative addition to date, but a safe bet.
A twin issue to reconfiguring the shopping mall is the change in suburban living. The Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech predicts that by 2025, there will be a surplus of 22 million large-lot homes (on 1/6 acre or more) in the U.S. (Time South Pacific 3/23/09). In a word, the suburbs need to be remade. Suburbs such as Lakewood, CO and Long Beach, CA have repurposed boarded-up malls as mixed-use developments with retail stores, offices and apartments. In auto-dependent suburbs that were built without a traditional center or a downtown, old shopping malls offer a chance to recreate downtowns without destroying existing infrastructure--by recycling what is known as underperforming asphalt. For example, in Austin, MN an old K-Mart is now the Spam Museum. In Denton, TX an old Food Lion Supermarket is now a public library. Baco Raton, FL turned a shopping mall into a mixed-use town center. In Mashpee, MA, a strip mall is now Town Commons.
An even more interesting movement that actually resembles CommArts Crossroads City from the ICSC conference is the Ainsworth Street Collective, a group of some 50 households in Portland, OR that came together out of a mutual interest in sustainability and community, and created a micro-economy within their few square blocks. They published a directory of services provided by neighbors from tax preparation to massage services to cat-sitting—encouraging local transactions. They’ve instituted tool-sharing, car-sharing, bulk food-purchasing and even own a farmer’s market that sells produce, baked goods and other items made by its members.
There will always be mega-malls but developers and architects should not ignore local, grassroots solutions to the empty or emptying regional mall. The question that has driven retailers for a thousand years is still the issue: how do we get people to buy stuff?
For these articles and more on the future of shopping centers, go to Business Source Premier via the Poudre River Public Library District business databases link: http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business/.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Social Entrepreneurship
This month the British Library Business and IP Centre’s Inspiring Entrepreneurs Series is offering Kick-starting the Sustainable Economy. For anyone interested in general entrepreneurship and/or social entrepreneurship, this seminar will be offered on BIPCTV--YouTube 24 hours after it is held: http://www.youtube.com/BIPCTV. The panel for Kick-starting a Sustainable Economy includes Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project;
Paul Myers, President of the World Fair Trade Organization; Safia Minney, founder and director of Fair Trade fashion brand People Tree; Albert Tucker, Independent Consultant and formerly of TWIN TRADING, a founding partner in Café Direct and Divine Chocolat; and
Anne MacCaig, CEO of leading Fair Trade brand Cafédirect.
This seminar should be of interest to the Fort Collins social entrepreneur community which acknowledges that the world of business is changing, and many consumers and entrepreneurs are supporting businesses that exhibit genuine values and integrity. In this more difficult economic climate, generating jobs and evolving a sustainable economy can fall to these ethically driven entrepreneurs.
Check with the British Library Business and IP Centre for more information: http://www.bl.uk/bipc/
In its May 1 online issue, BusinessWeek SmallBiz published a list of its most promising social entrerpreneurs. BusinessWeek SmallBiz team asked readers to collaborate on tracking down trailblazing companies, in operation for at least a year, that aim to turn a profit while tackling social problems. Here are some of the nominees: $4 million BigBelly Solar, based in Needham, MA, has sold more than 2,000 solar-powered trash compactors around the globe, promising municipalities savings on time, fuel, and trucks used to haul garbage. CraftNetwork, with offices in New York and Bali, boosts employment in marginalized communities by connecting artisan producers with wholesale and retail customers in wealthy nations. Its founder predicts over $600,000 in revenue by the end of the year. And 12-year-old PharmaJet, based in Golden, CO, which just received clearance from the Food & Drug Administration to sell its needle-free injection device, plans to commercialize the gizmo in third-world countries to prevent injury and the spread of disease.
Here are the top three (by vote):
No. 1 Better World Books: a 200-person company sells books it gets for free from a network of individuals and institutions across the country. The Mishawaka (ID)-based company has donated over $5 million to literacy programs and libraries around the world since it launched in 2002. Better World Books expects to secure around $4 million in equity investment in total, to bring in $30 million in revenue this calendar year and be profitable in 2010. The company sells about 10,000 books a day.
No. 2 Impact Makers, based in Richmond, VA, is a $300,000, nine-employee health-care management and consulting company that constructs disease-management programs, and performs IT work, systems consulting, and program audits. One of its big social goals is to provide free medication to the uninsured through its primary nonprofit partner RXpartnership.org.
No. 3 Stonyfield Farm Londonderry (N.H.)-based organic yogurt.
The online magazine is a good tracker of the social entrepreneur community and should be a favorite for all entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs. http://www.businessweek.com/
To learn more about Social Entrepreneurship, check out the PBS series on The New Heroes: http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/whatis/ .
Paul Myers, President of the World Fair Trade Organization; Safia Minney, founder and director of Fair Trade fashion brand People Tree; Albert Tucker, Independent Consultant and formerly of TWIN TRADING, a founding partner in Café Direct and Divine Chocolat; and
Anne MacCaig, CEO of leading Fair Trade brand Cafédirect.
This seminar should be of interest to the Fort Collins social entrepreneur community which acknowledges that the world of business is changing, and many consumers and entrepreneurs are supporting businesses that exhibit genuine values and integrity. In this more difficult economic climate, generating jobs and evolving a sustainable economy can fall to these ethically driven entrepreneurs.
Check with the British Library Business and IP Centre for more information: http://www.bl.uk/bipc/
In its May 1 online issue, BusinessWeek SmallBiz published a list of its most promising social entrerpreneurs. BusinessWeek SmallBiz team asked readers to collaborate on tracking down trailblazing companies, in operation for at least a year, that aim to turn a profit while tackling social problems. Here are some of the nominees: $4 million BigBelly Solar, based in Needham, MA, has sold more than 2,000 solar-powered trash compactors around the globe, promising municipalities savings on time, fuel, and trucks used to haul garbage. CraftNetwork, with offices in New York and Bali, boosts employment in marginalized communities by connecting artisan producers with wholesale and retail customers in wealthy nations. Its founder predicts over $600,000 in revenue by the end of the year. And 12-year-old PharmaJet, based in Golden, CO, which just received clearance from the Food & Drug Administration to sell its needle-free injection device, plans to commercialize the gizmo in third-world countries to prevent injury and the spread of disease.
Here are the top three (by vote):
No. 1 Better World Books: a 200-person company sells books it gets for free from a network of individuals and institutions across the country. The Mishawaka (ID)-based company has donated over $5 million to literacy programs and libraries around the world since it launched in 2002. Better World Books expects to secure around $4 million in equity investment in total, to bring in $30 million in revenue this calendar year and be profitable in 2010. The company sells about 10,000 books a day.
No. 2 Impact Makers, based in Richmond, VA, is a $300,000, nine-employee health-care management and consulting company that constructs disease-management programs, and performs IT work, systems consulting, and program audits. One of its big social goals is to provide free medication to the uninsured through its primary nonprofit partner RXpartnership.org.
No. 3 Stonyfield Farm Londonderry (N.H.)-based organic yogurt.
The online magazine is a good tracker of the social entrepreneur community and should be a favorite for all entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs. http://www.businessweek.com/
To learn more about Social Entrepreneurship, check out the PBS series on The New Heroes: http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/whatis/ .
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Financial Crisis, Continued
The Fort Collins Public Library has a new name, new website, a new library branch and a new logo. The new Poudre River Public Library District (www.poudrelibraries.org) is now a network of gathering places with the mission to create learners, satisfy curiosities and encourage imagination in children, teenagers, and adults in northern Larimer County, Colorado. Check it out!
We also updated the business and nonprofit webpage, adding new books, new websites, and highlighting some changes in our databases: http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business/
Under Hot Websites, please notice the Financial Resource Guide. This is an excellent guide developed by the Business and Economics Librarian at Colorado State University, and can answer almost any question you might have on the present financial crisis. Please note, too, the How Things Work—Economics weblink. If you have any questions on basic economics, check this one out.
I also added four of our new books: Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism by Kevin Philips; A Demon of Our Own Design : Markets, Hedge Funds, and the Perils of Financial Innovation by Richard Bookstaber; The Foreclosure of America : The Inside Story of the Rise and Fall of Countrywide Home Loans, the Mortgage Crisis, and the Default of the American Dream by Adam Michaelson; and The Partnership : the Making of Goldman Sachs by Charles D. Ellis (http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business/)
At first glance, these books may appear to be just more depressing news while we’re going through this economic crisis, but each of them provides great incite into their topics. The books reminded me of some of my favorite readings from the 1980s crisis. Remember Den of Thieves by James B. Stewart, about junk bond kings Michael Milken, Ivan Boevsky and Martin Siegel? In fact, remember Michael Milken and Ivan Boevsky? How about, Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis? Lewis, then a rising bond trader at Salomon Brothers, provided us with a funny, straightforward explanation of America’s new found obsession with leverage in the late 1980s, as well as our new-found obsession with greed and self-indulgence. Check out these and others at our (or your) library.
We also updated the business and nonprofit webpage, adding new books, new websites, and highlighting some changes in our databases: http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business/
Under Hot Websites, please notice the Financial Resource Guide. This is an excellent guide developed by the Business and Economics Librarian at Colorado State University, and can answer almost any question you might have on the present financial crisis. Please note, too, the How Things Work—Economics weblink. If you have any questions on basic economics, check this one out.
I also added four of our new books: Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism by Kevin Philips; A Demon of Our Own Design : Markets, Hedge Funds, and the Perils of Financial Innovation by Richard Bookstaber; The Foreclosure of America : The Inside Story of the Rise and Fall of Countrywide Home Loans, the Mortgage Crisis, and the Default of the American Dream by Adam Michaelson; and The Partnership : the Making of Goldman Sachs by Charles D. Ellis (http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business/)
At first glance, these books may appear to be just more depressing news while we’re going through this economic crisis, but each of them provides great incite into their topics. The books reminded me of some of my favorite readings from the 1980s crisis. Remember Den of Thieves by James B. Stewart, about junk bond kings Michael Milken, Ivan Boevsky and Martin Siegel? In fact, remember Michael Milken and Ivan Boevsky? How about, Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis? Lewis, then a rising bond trader at Salomon Brothers, provided us with a funny, straightforward explanation of America’s new found obsession with leverage in the late 1980s, as well as our new-found obsession with greed and self-indulgence. Check out these and others at our (or your) library.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Small Businesses Weather the Downturn
The New York Times has a great two-part video on how three small businesses are weathering the economic downturn. Check it out here: http://video.nytimes.com/video/2008/12/27/nyregion/1194836413339/small-business-weathers-the-recession.html
Owners of a New York butcher shop, bicycle manufacturer and movie tourism service talk about the hard realities of keeping business alive during the down economy.
James J. Hill Library's business website -- www.biztoolkit.com -- provides small business owners with quality links and an up-to-date library of original research as well as journal articles. Here is the link to 3 Perks that Work in Lieu of Raises: http://www.bizinfolibrary.org/index.cfm/article/3-Perks-That-Work-in-Lieu-of-Raises. Biztoolkit's Biz Info Library is a service from the entrepreneurial experts at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Edward Lowe Foundation, and the James J. Hill Reference Library. Registration is free, quick, and easy. Check out their other small business publications.
Also check the Library for recent business articles--use two databases: Business Source Premier and Small Business Resource Center--both of which have up-to-date journal and trade articles on the financial crisis, recession, economic downturns and small businesses. Link here: http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business/. Go to the "databases" section on the right.
Owners of a New York butcher shop, bicycle manufacturer and movie tourism service talk about the hard realities of keeping business alive during the down economy.
James J. Hill Library's business website -- www.biztoolkit.com -- provides small business owners with quality links and an up-to-date library of original research as well as journal articles. Here is the link to 3 Perks that Work in Lieu of Raises: http://www.bizinfolibrary.org/index.cfm/article/3-Perks-That-Work-in-Lieu-of-Raises. Biztoolkit's Biz Info Library is a service from the entrepreneurial experts at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Edward Lowe Foundation, and the James J. Hill Reference Library. Registration is free, quick, and easy. Check out their other small business publications.
Also check the Library for recent business articles--use two databases: Business Source Premier and Small Business Resource Center--both of which have up-to-date journal and trade articles on the financial crisis, recession, economic downturns and small businesses. Link here: http://library.fcgov.com/adult/business/. Go to the "databases" section on the right.
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