Breaking down barriers: Downtown leaders, owners address challenges

MARSHFIELD – An Oct. 23 Town Hall gathered Marshfield downtown business owners and local leaders in a forum coordinated by Main Street Marshfield, held at the Chestnut Center in Marshfield.

The event was facilitated by Paul Knoff of Main Street Marshfield

The purpose of the event was to “strengthen communication, share resources and encourage property investment and collaboration downtown.”

Panelists for the roundtable discussion included Forward Bank VP/Senior Commercial Loan Officer Dave Krause in commercial lending, Ashley Fredrick representing real estate, Marshfield City Administrator Steve Barg and HSR Associates Architect/President Emeritus Brad Simonson in the building sector.

During the roundtable, Marshfield Mayor Lois TeStrake stated that more retail was needed downtown, as it builds more excitement and gets more people coming to that area.

“When you're talking about revitalization, the first and foremost component of that is understanding your needs and goals,” Simonson said regarding more retail.

“There are three components to it. One is understanding your needs and goals. Next is creating a vision. You need to from those needs and goals, understand where you want to go with this. What's your vision for satisfying your needs and goals?

“Thirdly, it's implementation. You need to get the experts involved that will be able to help you kind of implement your vision, and again, it kind of comes down to those three things, pretty straightforward, but the primary piece of it is understanding where you want to go, what you need, and then how do you want to get there?”

“A lot of it, too, is just having the open spaces available for retail,” added Fredrick. “So some of the places that are available right now are 10,000 square feet, which might not work for someone; so having the ability to piece together potential different parties and just working all together to let each other know when places are available for lease.

“So, sometimes they're listed with realtors, sometimes they're listed privately with a sign in the window. And some people that are looking for places to rent might miss those as well.”

“And I also think one of the things we always look at when someone has a funding request is kind of their analysis of the market,” added Krause.

“And I don't think a current business owner should be afraid of inviting collaborative, other businesses — not competitive businesses — but they shouldn't be afraid of having a competitor next door. There's example after example: car dealerships. They all cluster together. You're going to go shop for a car; there are eight different dealerships there. Galena, Ill., comes to mind, all of the antique stores there.

“Here in Marshfield, there's a great boutique; why wouldn't that business owner invite others so that people can come down and shop down the street? It's the reason we have malls, because it's all in one local area.

“There's no reason we shouldn't have that and not be afraid of that competition, and invite, actually, those people, and maybe look for those people to come in and say, ‘Hey, we're doing pretty well here. We think we can do better, because you're here too. You offer a little bit different line than we do. But I think, if someone's in shopping, if they can't buy from me, they can buy from you.’”

During the event business owners also expressed frustration over the lack of available liquor licenses — seen as a barrier to attracting new restaurants crucial to downtown vitality.

The event also brought out conversation on other important factors, including supporting local small businesses over big chains and researching grant opportunities to aid local businesses.