Not so fast, Nick Cortolillo: Branding downtown New Albany

NA Confidential returns to the sentiment voiced in Sunday’s Tribune by longtime downtown New Albany business owner Don Preston:

“Let’s stop kidding ourselves – there’s no reason for general, multi-purpose shopping downtown; it’s mostly for specialty stores.”

Quite obviously, Preston Arts Center is one such specialty store. It has survived by realistically surveying the marketplace, targeting a niche therein, and being very good at serving it.

By doing so, Preston Arts Center has become a branded destination for those consumers who choose to eschew the lowest price, opting instead for the most knowledgeable service, and willing to go a bit out of the exurb to find it.

NA Confidential believes that the same niche/destination principles that work for Preston Arts Center and others will work for New Albany’s downtown retail district as a whole.

Downtown New Albany itself must be transformed into a brand, which is defined as “the proprietary visual, emotional, rational and cultural image that you associate with a company or product.” In this instance, instead of a specific product or company, the brand will refer to the area itself.

The overall strategic object of city government, its Develop New Albany ancillary and the revived Downtown Merchant’s Association should be to work toward organizing the actual physical space of downtown New Albany to best encourage its branding and reconstruction along the lines of niche and destination retail – shops, eateries, pubs, galleries and the like.

Tactical corollaries of this strategic design should include matters like instigating downtown’s beautification and greening, the addition of municipal surface parking, and a savvy public relations effort along the lines of the Labour Party’s “Cool Britannia.”

However, the single most important task is one reserved to city government itself, because it and only it possesses the broad means to set the agenda and to persuade downtown property owners to use their buildings, not just to exploit the tax benefits of rotting lumber, but in such a manner that niche and destination retail start-ups have a level playing field upon which to participate.

Look no further than the precedent established by consecutive mayoral administrations. Municipal activism has been deemed fitting and proper when it comes to acquiring the land and properties needed for the construction of Scribner Place. Certainly the same logic is valid when it comes to dangling carrots and wielding sticks with the aim of restoring the infrastructure of downtown to use and usefulness, as these are goals firmly within the mandate of government to act in the public interest.

There will be those who protest that this has been tried already in various ways, among them the “business incubator” model like the White House, in the ongoing operation of DNA, and in success stories like our downtown antique malls, a smattering of under-appreciated eateries and existing specialty retails businesses.

NA Confidential agrees that much hard work has been proffered by diligent and dedicated people, but with all due respect, these ventures have met with only mixed success, failing to achieve the required critical mass and the establishment of downtown New Albany as a viable brand because there has never been a well-defined idea of the target consumer for downtown New Albany, and consequently, of the target type of business for downtown New Albany.

Furthermore, the reason why there has not been a well-defined idea of the target consumer for downtown New Albany is because traditional cadres of leadership have not possessed the fundamental conceptual ability to see beyond New Albany to the wider world outside.

Indeed, this is the essence of vision, and it is as common in New Albany’s leadership circles as snow in Miami – it happens occasionally, but don’t pack your mittens.

The development of vision is precisely the reason why minor considerations of education, diversity and multiculturalism really matter. Just as regular exercise leads to physical fitness, regular thinking leads to intellectual vigor, to an expanded outlook, to creativity, and to the vision necessary to see beyond karaoke, mashed potatoes and Budweiser to Thai spices, reggae and microbrewed ale.

Is this elitism? I think not, but even if so, it is a variant of elitism calibrated to encourage a broadening of human experience as the best way to achieve expanded opportunities for all segments of society. This is the meritocracy that should be, not the passivity that currently passes for a plan.

Undoubtedly, almost every person involved with the effort to revive downtown New Albany has traveled to some locale or another, in America or abroad, and witnessed successful examples of the sorts of branded, destination-driven retail development that is so very suitable for downtown New Albany.

They act as though returning to New Albany requires checking their observations at the city limits and promising not to remember.

For decades, passive amnesia has failed to resolve the decline of downtown New Albany. If for no other reason, the process of elimination ordains that activism be given a chance.

Is there anyone in City Hall or DNA capable of formulating an activist agenda that seeks to lure a precisely targeted business that draws a certain type of customer to spaces that will be available for use?

If so, please step forward.