Are Downtowns Obsolete?

Reasons for downtowns' near-obsolescence are varied but include a few mistakes on the part of independent storeowners. Don't make the same mistakes.

One mistake includes viewing stores within your as competitors. Unless they are "category-killers," they are unlikely to be true competitors: why would a competing store enter a niche that's already filled in your neighborhood? On the other hand, shoppers can and do view neighborhoods as a "virtual department store," so neighborhoods can and should compete against one another for retail customers.This is a good idea for the same reason as is ThinkOneKC, a Kansas City economic development organization which seeks to get neighborhoods to stop competing and to cooperate. But ThinkOneKC's "market" is not retail customers but corporate relocations.Retailers should be attuned to the metro-area concerns but should realize that they are in neighborhoods. They do compete as neighborhoods, and they could do so better if they would take this into account.

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