Committee works to develop retail in downtown area

Members of a new retail committee formed to keep Bloomington’s downtown thriving have met for the last six months to discuss possible new shop front businesses that
will best appeal to Bloomington locals and IU students.

The committee was organized by Downtown Bloomington Inc. Executive Director Talisha Coppock and Miah Michaelsen, assistant director for the arts for Economic
and Sustainable Development.

Coppock said the retail committee is comprised of a variety of members representing
different interests, from property owners to realtors.

“It really is the community coming together to help retail, which helps make the
community vibrant and also serves needs,” Coppock said.

Michaelsen said the committee hopes to figure out what mix of retailers is optimal for
Bloomington’s community.

The committee is in its beginning stages, Coppock said, and has not had a chance to
start significant reform.

“The idea is to identify what we might be looking for and to help make sure that
potential retail, as well as current retail businesses, have the right information about demographics,” Michaelsen said. “Who’s shopping downtown, what do they want to
spend, what products, what hours are best for them?”

Michaelsen also said the committee hopes to facilitate communication between city government, management companies and downtown retailers, both prospective businesses and those that are already established.

The board thinks the committee will help draw in potential investors and give them incentive to buy, she added.

The committee will provide research and possibly some workshops for retail businesses focused on changing business environments in Bloomington and in general.

“Up until now, we really have relied on word of mouth, someone coming into town seeing a sign in a window for a lease or going to talk to the property owners on their own,” Coppock said.

“With this new economy, with Internet competition and with retail continuing to be a tough business, we really need to have savvy owners. They need data.”

The retail committee hopes to provide prospective investors with all the information they need to make the best financial decisions for themselves and for Bloomington, Michaelsen said.

Michaelsen and Coppock also spoke about the health of the food sector. Though the committee wants to attract new restaurants, it also wants to balance the different types of services downtown has to offer.

The city is on board with the committee’s approaching initiatives, Michaelsen said.

“I think that there is really a lot of interest and focus on the retail environment downtown,” Michaelsen said. “I think that people are highly motivated. They know that we need only a strong mix of entertainment, restaurant and bar options.

“There’s a new commitment and new interest in being much more engaged in that process than there has been in the past,” she added.

Both Michaelsen and Coppock said they think the committee will be successful in creating a popular array of retail businesses while appealing to a good number of downtown residents and visitors.

However, Coppock said it will not be a quick process.

“It’s more of a culture and system of referral. It’s showing spaces and finding people able to plan for those spaces and knowing what spaces might become open,” Coppock said.

“We just want to make sure that we have a good balance of different types of services in retail.”