Downtown Nanaimo has a variety of businesses and services and delivering that message can only be done as a group, according to floral shop owner Jim Turley, who’s put out a call for collective marketing.
Turley and Flying Fish owner Glen Saunders want to know if downtown businesses are interested in joining forces on marketing and events for the heart of the city.
Property owners were previously in a business improvement area, paying taxes matched by the city and used by the Downtown Nanaimo Business Improvement Association, which put on events and promoted the area. The city pulled funding to the DNBIA last year and members ultimately voted to dissolve the organization.
A BIA has since only been revived in the Old City Quarter.
Turley said he and Saunders want to find out from businesses if they are interested in trying to find funding for co-operative marketing and events and if they are, will roll up their sleeves and get something going again.
A BIA is one possibility.
“If one business just does marketing that’s great for them, but it doesn’t give the impression to the consumer, particularly the north end, that there is a lot of different types of businesses in the downtown core,” he said.
Saunders said his share of the BIA was $1,000 and he was happy to be a part of it to have a half a million dollar marketing campaign and people in place to do things. He hopes work can be done collectively again but he doesn’t see it happening anytime soon.
“Your money goes so much further when you can work as a co-operative, whereas a small store, a 1,000-square foot store only has a certain amount of money they can allocate towards marketing and it’s like you don’t have much of an impact,” he said.
Bill Carter, owner of Bastion Jewelers and on the board of the former Downtown Nanaimo Business Improvement Association, believes Commercial Street has taken a severe blow and has lost its voice downtown, mentioning parking meters as an example.
As for marketing such as co-operative advertisements, he said he’s interested and he misses that, but does not support another BIA.
news@nanaimobulletin.com
