Niche strategies can help a downtown compete in the competitive retail environment. A niche is a specialization that allows a business district to gain dominance in certain categories of the retail market.
This article provides examples of how some communities have developed a niche focusing on particular goods and services. Many of these ideas were drawn from a new book titled Niche Strategies for Downtown Revitalization by N. David Milder1.
Examples of niches based on categories of goods and services include:
Successful communities often have two or three successful niches. Typically, the more niches that can be developed, the more the downtown will be able to support multi-purpose visits. These communities also benefit from an expanded market area as their specialization’s often draws customers from beyond the traditional trade area. Once a niche is established, other businesses are often attracted to the community who are interested in selling to the same consumer segments.
Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin (pop. 6,000) is a successful Main Street community that identified, developed and promoted a distinct downtown niche. After doing a market analysis, local leaders better understood that this downtown's retail strength was its growing cluster of home improvement businesses. It was already home to quality businesses selling furniture, paint, fixtures, wallpaper, kitchen supplies, antiques, outdoor home accessories, fireplaces, and more. The analysis of this home improvement cluster showed that these business were very complementary and shared many of the same customers in the county-wide trade area. Sheboygan Falls was establishing itself as the place to go for home improvement needs. The Sheboygan Falls Main Street program worked to capitalize on this existing niche with appropriate promotional events and targeted business development efforts. Main Street's promotion committee developed a "Home and Hearth" retail event in the spring that promoted the downtown's home improvement niche. This event included in-store demonstrations, sales, and prize giveaways. The event was successful in its debut, and has been a solid promotion for several years. Annually, the event garners nearly 100% participation from downtown home improvement businesses. Main Street's Economic Restructuring Committee focuses its efforts on retaining and attracting businesses that strengthen the home improvement niche. The opening of Bemis Manufacturing's retail outlet store in 1995 in a restored, historic building is one example of this targeted business development. This store's merchandise includes home accessories and outdoor furniture. Downtown Sheboygan Falls' niche continues to grow. |
* Ryan is a business development specialist with the UW-Extension Center for Community Economic Development. Engle is Assistant Coordinator with the Wisconsin Department of Commerce, Main Street Program
1 Drawn from: N. David Milder's Niche Strategies for Downtown Revitalization, published in 1997 by the Downtown Research & Development Center.
All material Copyright © 1998 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. University of Wisconsin-Extension, Center for Community Economic Development, all rights reserved. If you have questions or comments about this page email us at: cced@aae.wisc.edu.
