Population: 11,000
Situation: Downtown was looking to beautify but didn’t have a lot of money.
Action: Went to a local yard supply store and told them, at the end of the year, if you have any leftover potting inventory, we will buy it.
Result: Lined main street in potted plants and retail sales went through the roof.
If you live in a small town and don’t have much money to beautify the downtown area, this might work for you. This is an example of a very small creative city development that had a huge affect on the town.
Fredericksburg, Texas, unlike many of the town I write about it not on the edge of destitution. In many regards, this 11,000 person town is doing well. The creative city development I am writing here is not about coming back from the edge but rather when the town kicked its retail sales into high gear. Fredericksburg was already known as a shopping destination, with more than 100 shops, many of which are filled with “needless necessities” making it a fun shopping experience. How did they accomplish to have the highest retail sales per capita of any town in Texas?
The downtown had Identified that one thing they could do to their downtown would be to beautify a bit more. The buildings were nice and and benches were available but there was something missing.
Little known fact, 80% of purchase decision/shopping is done by women. It is very important to appeal to females while accommodating males. The benches were in place as convenient waiting spots, but the appeal to women could be increased, but how to do it with limited means?
The downtown chamber group collected as much as each business could donate and then went to their local garden supply and negotiated a deal that the town would buy chipped, cracked, or out of style planted at the end of the season for a discount. Point was, they wanted as many large pot planters as they could get for a few thousand dollars.
They then went to local groups like the boy and girl scouts, football teams, rotary clubs and found people to help out with the planting every year. This made the low maintenance creative city development even more low maintenance for the store owners. Fredericksburg put the community maintenance back in the hands of the community.
That following fall, a truck bed of large pots were delivered. People were allowed to take however and however many they wanted. Many people planted evergreens and let them grow, other still added pinwheels to add motion to their downtown, helping catch people’s eyes. Google “Fredericksburg, Texas Downtown” and you will be hard pressed to find a storefront without potted plants.
What is the result of the beautification of their downtown? They had the highest retail sales of any town in the state of Texas according to Roger Brooks .
What can we learn from Fredericksburg’s creative city development?
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