Good Day,
I know that I can be a lot. I see opportunities everywhere and am passionate about trying to get people to take advantage of them. This often leads to what I call my “soapbox” moments, which is my way of trying to rally the troops and getting us all to push forward. The funny part is, most of the things I talk about, you already know. However, knowing and acting are two different things. That is why I continue to bang the drum.
And it is starting to work. I was recently up on my soapbox at the Uxbridge BIA Annual General Meeting, touting the importance of working together to solidify Uxbridge as a welcoming destination for visitors and residents alike. I was energized by the head nods and was on a role, when someone said, “you’ve got to see this” and handed me an empty take-out cup. It took me a second to understand why Rebecca Harman from The Bridge Social wanted me to have her cup, but when she told me to look at the back side, it almost brought a tear to my eye.
On her branded takeaway cups, she had highlighted other great things to see and do in Uxbridge and linked her visitors to the Discover Uxbridge website. She said she had heard me talk at another event about the importance of working together to create a destination and came up with this idea. It is absolutely brilliant!!
And, just today I saw a Facebook Post asking people to tag their favourite places to visit in Uxbridge so they can be featured on the next run of cups. It is interactive and engaging.
The best part is, it really didn’t cost anything to implement. Rebecca needs a steady stream of cups to keep her amazing beverages rolling out the door. What Rebecca has done is provide her guests – people that she knows already like what she provides – reasons to visit more often. When they do, a stop at The Bridge Social will occur, meaning by sending people to other places, she is benefiting in the long run.
This WOW moment at the Uxbridge BIA AGM, led to a broader discussion about extending evening hours and opening on Sundays. I had travelled from Georgetown to Uxbridge to arrive in time for the 6:30pm meeting. The drive up Brock Road from the 407 was a solid caravan of cars, most of which had to have been commuters returning home for the evening. Along Toronto Street, the large stores all had fairly busy parking lots and all of them were open. When I turned onto Main Street in the historic downtown, there weren’t many vehicles parked and only one or two stores open.
I talked about this and provided information about shopping patterns in small commuter / tourism towns. Retail experts, such as Roger Brooks, estimate that up to 70% of retail sales occur after 6:00 PM, a time when most traditional small-town businesses have already closed. Residential and “commuter” areas show a significant increase in activity starting around 3pm as commuters begin to return home. Studies also indicate that Sunday retail sales can account for roughly 14% to 20% of total weekly sales in many retail environments. However, in smaller towns or for specific independent retailers, this figure can be lower due to limited operating hours or Sunday. This Sunday shopping information was backed up by our own research which showed that in one of our historic downtowns, the split of all weekend visitation was almost even with 53% visiting on Saturdays and 47% visiting on Sundays. This boded very well for the few businesses in that town that remained open on Sundays.
We talked a little bit about why it works including:
- Lower Opportunity Cost: Just need to pay for a part time staff and a bit more to keep the lights on.
- Reliability Factor: Consistent evening and weekend hours relieve customers of the need to “check” if a store is open, which research suggests creates a long-term increase in foot traffic.
- Captured Demographics: Most residents don’t want to go anywhere else and visitors who have enjoyed an activity or dinner, will be encouraged to stick around.
And lastly, we talked about what is holding businesses back from doing it. Reasons included other businesses aren’t doing it, the owners already work full-time, they tried it once and it didn’t work, and they can’t afford it. With a little bit of math and logic, it is easy to articulate how being open more hours spreads your liabilities out, meaning the cost per hour to operate is less (and therefore your breakeven revenue per hour is reduced).
In many instances, the hesitation is about letting someone else run their business during the extended hour periods. It can certainly be scary at first, however, each owner will be able to instill their passion for the business in the right person, who will then treat the business like it is their own. I know I have said this before, but at GlowZone 360 we have 17- and 18-year-olds opening, closing and managing a staff of peers at locations that see hundreds of visitors each day. When you pick the right people and provide the right training, it is easier to give up control. It is also nice to know that you are making money while enjoying dinner with your family.
Where we landed on this discussion is that the businesses that were present were going to help rally the other businesses to meet and finalize plans for extending their hours for the upcoming season, supported by Discover Uxbridge, Durham Tourism and CCT communications. They are not going to see overnight success, but with the new consistent hours both residents and visitors are going to be on the streets in the evenings and Sundays.
If you are part of a downtown, I encourage you to reach out to CCT to help facilitate similar discussions. I really do believe that, because we have over 7 million people living within an hour and a half of any destination in the region, staying open later and being open on Sundays is the lowest hanging fruit to increase visitation and sales.
Thanks again to Rebecca from The Bridge Social for making my month! We should all jump on the bandwagon to figure out how we can promote others without having to spend additional funds.
Have a great day!
Chuck
