Stoney Creek's Downtown: Part Eight, 'What to do, what to do?' The reasons.

I'm particularly passionate about several areas of Life. 'Causes'. Fitness. Eating. Health. Societal value systems. And when I'm discussing them, I keep a personal belief in mind at all times:

'In order to effect change, in order to 'solve a problem', in order to 'make things better', before you do anything, you need to a) examine what happened, b) understand the reasons why it happened (why what unfolded in the way that it did), c) use this information to construct a strategy of change, of correction, of improvement.'

Otherwise? Don't bother. Unless you have a firm grasp on the 'Why?'s, unless you truly 'get' the situation, you're better off not to faff about and pretend you're doing something that is bound to end in success.

Of course, before you can do any of this, you have to admit that there is a need for change. That there is a problem. That things need to be made better.

So; what's this got to do with Stoney Creek's 'downtown'?

(Before I launch, the requisite disclaimer: None of this is 'personal'. I have absolutely nothing against anyone currently doing business there, especially those who have striven so hard over decades to contribute to the success of this community. However, I owe no allegiance to anyone in these arbitrary observations. I do not hold membership in the 'Ought To' society, nor do I have any obligation to 'toe the line' insofar as how some might see being supportive of the status quo. I'm interested in Downtown Stoney Creek being a vibrant and vital and worthy of celebration as is possible...and have spent the time constructing this series towards the hope that, at the very least, some dialogue is created, dialogue that brings the area closer to its potential -no matter how anyone defines this term- because right now, it's not even in the vicinity.)

The impression I get walking down King Street is that what's there is the result of nothing better having established itself.

That if it were a shopping mall, the P.A. system would be playing that familiar little ditty, 'Crickets'.

Why is it this way? Hmm... Here's a few suggestions off the top of my head.

-The pressures of a changing world; it's hard for small businesses to compete with chains, with malls, with online retailers.

-A no-margin-for-error economy; not even the strong survive.

-The tradition of Downtown Stoney Creek being there, but not really 'being there'; it's never been a force. It seems to have been happy to 'be the way it is for the people who shop there'. The result is vulnerability. (A contributing factor to the paid parking brouhaha.)

-The difficulty in shaping a 'cohesive neighbourhood business district': a) it's not like a mall, where the property owner can sculpt the vendor list, and b) everyone expends most of their energy just attempting to stay afloat, so they don't have the resources to contribute to a 'master plan'...especially one that might not even see them as a part of 'a better vision of the Downtown'.

-There's insufficient retail on King to produce any momentum, to generate any 'drawing power'. You've got a Royal Canadian Legion, a denturist, a spa, a salon, another salon, a counselling service, a lawyer, a doctor, two empty buildings, an empty lot, a dry cleaners. Remember, this is the premier Downtown property we're talking about. Prime frontage. Not to put too fine a point on it, all-in-all, it's currently being squandered. And when you're talking about only two blocks defining your downtown, your BIA, can you really afford to take such a cavalier attitude to making the most of what you've got?

But getting back to the credo I introduced at the beginning of this piece, we'd need not only the Downtown's 'history' in order to come up with a strategy, we'd need a much information as possible about who currently shops there and who might shop there.

Therefore, were I the Downtown Overseer and Machinator of Change, Here's what I'd love to know:

1) What are the Primary Catchment Area demographics? (This being arbitrarily defined as Centennial to Gray, Hwy #8 to the Escarpment.) Who lives in this area?

2) What are these residents' shopping habits? Where do they shop? How often do they shop downtown? What do they spend money on there?

3) What are the current Downtown's Shoppers' Demographics? Their age, their income level, where they reside.

4) What's the breakdown of a typical visit to downtown? The frequency, the average expenditure, whether or not each visit results in a single transaction or a multiple one, and how they get there.

Once all of the above was known, then the Target Customer could be defined. As it stands, whatever grasp there has been of this, I'm not convinced it's been properly understood and actively focused on, strategy formed because of. If it had been, Downtown would have an entirely different profile and its state would be something greater than that of 'treading water'.

Is the Target Customer 'The Retiree'? Is it 'The Middle-aged, Middle-income Person'? Would it be an ideal enclave for new families?

You can't address a market until you know what the market is. (Unless you're defining the market, and in that case, we're having an entirely different conversation.)

Having said all that, and now that some of you are ready to see my head on a pike, allow me to say this: Downtown Stoney Creek is, to my eyes, a tabula rasa. A veritable blank slate. An awesome opportunity, a wealth of potential that simply isn't being tapped. Maybe never has been tapped, not even in its halcyon days, which I'm arbitrarily (there's that word again; there must be some significance to me in it...) slating as circa 1965.

Think about it:

-Geographically, it sits conveniently. It's not at the 'end' of a road. (And maybe this partially explains why it's neither turned into a ghost-town, or reinvented itself as a retail/service micro-power.)

-It is the emotional heart of Stoney Creek...even though it's arguably not its commercial heart. (Not that I'm convinced that there's substantive reason that it should be thought of this way...aside from the 'Ought To' factor. In truth, it should be both the spiritual heart and an economic engine. And yes, I apologize for making a dog's breakfast of the analogies.)

-It has an established Primary Catchment Area. And aside from the demographics shifting about profile-wise, as I've maintained elsewhere in this series, it's been consistent for fifty years.

-The demographics within this catchment area are solid, if not stellar; not niched towards the boutique-riche, yet not slanted towards the low-income, neither.

-Zoning- and planning-wise, it's stable; it's not going to be obliterated by any bizarre development plan.

-And though this might be a classic 'backhand compliment': Because it is the area that has never had much expected of it...it has the capability of surprising everyone.

Everything factored in, Downtown Stoney Creek is a phenomenal urban landscape laying in wait, with potential far in excess of what most people have been inclined to consider.