March was quite a lion with many deadlines, meetings, and conversations to get PGHretail’s first series of events in gear. Now that things are moving along and we’re past the initial goal posts, here’s more about what’s going on.
The California Ave. business corridor of Brighton Heights will be holding monthly events called The California Markets in Summer 2013! We’re so excited to showcase all the really amazing activity the Brighton Heights Citizen Federation has been doing behind the scenes, as well as, inviting local farmers, vendors, and businesses to share in a day of fun, contests, and being our neighbor! You will be able to find more event details, applications, and contact info under the California Markets page on the left. Also, follow PGHretail on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date!
Author Archives: daedaldagny
Designing Healthy Communities
Parking Garage Garden
Retail isn’t just buying or selling a product. Consumption is the lifestyle of America. For better or for worse, we do it everyday and in many opinions, it isn’t doing any person, animal, or environment any good as it stands today. Rebranding retail is more than just a new user experience product or store environment with the latest technology or the most wanted item or most convenient prices. Rebranding retail is about being conscious about our consumption lifestyle and acting in a way that supports positive changes that the retailers, transportation systems, and city planners make when it’s time to develop or redevelop our environment and essentially, our habits.
I was too late in finding out that Richard J. Jackson, MD, MPH had spoke at Carnegie Mellon on February 21st in a University Lecture Series called: “We are what we eat… and what we build: Designing Healthy Communities”. So, good thing Dr. Jackson has a blog which I found out more information about his views and that he’s been in Pittsburgh more than once talking about DHC. Below is an interview he had on KDKA this past October.
Visit his blog designinghealthycommunities.org for more info about what other cities are doing to DHC.
Here’s the gist: communities where you are able to walk to your material needs, family, and friends- makes for a happier, healthier individual & community. Seems logical and simple right?
GoBurgh: A Transit YES! Movement
I had the opportunity to attend the Pittsburgh Community Redevelopment Group’s presentation of a study done in collaboration with reconnectamerica.org/ that provides metrics and insight on our area and the way it relates to public transportation growth. Super informative and almost colossal in the agenda of how Pittsburgh will develop in to a super-efficient public transportation friendly city. Totally doable though!
The biggest thing, aside from financing, is awareness, education, and re-branding the way Pittsburgh sees public transportation here so that it becomes an effective means of getting around. GoBurgh.org/ is PCRG’s blog site that is developing the tools to promote this awareness and providing information for transit-oriented development (TOD). Check it out and get a pin!
New Wave of Contract Work
The Bay area and L.A. have seen a flourish of “runners” or contract-workers for hire websites that allow individuals and businesses to post paying tasks. TaskRabbit has totally capitalized on this wave of, exonerating or exploiting, the lack of work by building a platform that is expanding rapidly throughout the nation’s metro areas.
I personally saw the wonderful side of this first, like peer-2-peer car sharing, it’s a tool to utilize our under-utilized assets for a profit. Imagine if Pittsburgh small-retailers were able to get the assistance they needed, when they needed it, as they grow without breaking the bank. Starting a business is tough. Is it tougher than starting a family? Ask a full-time mom if she’d like to be able to get some assistance now and again. Many of these services are menial labor or errand running, posted by middle-to-high earning individuals and bid on by ‘runners’ who have been interviewed and cleared as compatible to the workforce requirements. The lowest bidder typically wins, and where it does bring the community together over the exchange of a dollar, there is likely a chance of misunderstanding and plain old abuse.
Of course being the largest of these providers, TaskRabbit has had the first penalty thrown at them. Read the “TaskRabbit Confessions” from the businessinsider.com/.
A journalist tries out three different task providing services: Taskrabbit, Cherry, and Postmate and describes it in his article “My Life as a TaskRabbit” in bloomberg’s businessweek.com/ .
In my research, I was unable to find too many businesses using TaskRabbit specifically, and continue to investigate other p2p service sites that may be on their way to Pittsburgh. On YELP, the LA satellite of TaskRabbit has been receiving pretty shoddy reviews. I personally don’t want Taskrabbit to come here. Like I stated earlier, it’s a great concept, and it puts a focus on sending requests out on the internet for professional assistance in a new way, like the good ol’ days of craigslist.org/ or backpage.com/. It seems that the inherent flaws of underbidding by the ‘runners’ and no screening for the ‘posters’, who are also liable to falsify adverts and commit abuse, is crippling to a business managing a workforce.
If you can’t find anyone from craigslist or backpage, try Angie’s List. They are membership supported and local businesses create a free account to advertise their service. I know people swear by it and it seems more transparent about the cost of management and user reviews. And if you still can’t find someone for the task, ask around and engage in the barter system. Value is subjective and you might have some product or service that’s worth the effort to them. Long live the word of mouth system!
Sign-Up for PGHretail Newsletter!
Union Arcade- The story behind a bankrupt beauty of a building
Built in 1915, what is now known as the Union Trust Building, has seen better days and is in economic peril as many of us are. Read more at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article in December 2012.
When it was known as the Union Arcade, it hosted 240 retail shops and galleries with enough space for 700 offices. With Saks Fifth Avenue out of the picture downtown, there’s a serious, serious lack of retail options. Apart from Macy’s and Burlington Coat Factory, there are a few local small-businesses, some have been there for years, some have just arrived on the scene thanks to the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership’s Pop-Up Project Pittsburgh grant awards. There is word on the street that there will be a rejuvenating of Wood St.’s hey-day of a fashion corridor with the new PNC building with commercial space available in 2015.
Let’s take a look at the Union Trust Building again though, it’s in a perfect location off Grant St., next to the W. Penn Hotel, and across from the UPMC building that houses many employees with lunch breaks. It really can become the gem it once was with a little help. In the PG article, there is a young man named Scott Shorr who is looking to fund the purchase of the building with an intent to bring the Transatlantic Economic Council’s headquarters here. It’s a large project, a fantastic idea, and PGHretail would love to see this building flourish again as an international hub and retail market space. See more information about his project at uniontrustbuilding.org.
StrongTowns Curbside Chat
I am forever optimistic, even in the situation that say, PGHretail comes in second in a one award grant decision, there’s still so much to learn and be grateful for in the experience. So, despite the sad news that we are unable to fund a large bang to the beginning of this social-venture, we are nevertheless on the street learning and networking with those who share a passion for growing communities.
We went to CityLab’s hosted event for StrongTown’s Curbside Chats at the new BrunoWorks in downtown Pittsburgh. You can hear a short podcast update about their Pennsylvania Curbside Chat tour that we sat in on and were definitely re-inspired to continue this seemingly strange relationship between business corridor and public transportation success.
If you’re interested in how our highway, road, stroad, and street infrastructure is a black hole sucking our tax dollars- you should definitely check out their blog. If you get past the fury that is what most feel towards politics and government, it does open the perception of what exactly transportation was intended to be and begins to mull over the tedious question of how it should become in regards to lifestyles, business, necessity, and luxury.
Re-Routing our Efforts
We have been anticipating the Sprout Fund’s decision on the grant award. We heard back today and it has been decided that Bricolage in partnership with the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group (PCRG) received the award to put on a collaborative program called “Transit Tales”. We congratulate them and share more about their programing at a later date. Today we will begin re-routing our strategy in order to break down our initial programs as to move forward in a realistic means towards PGHretail goals.
Retail’s Interactive Experience Future
It is Christmas day, we’ve all had our fill of coffee, cookies, and wrapping paper as we tore through the gifts from loved ones. My most valuable gift this year was a renewed subscription to the Harvard Business Review, which I would like to share some of the great knowledge I’ve garnered through my perusing of this publication.
We know tomorrow, the Next Day, most stores will flocked to much like Black Friday with all of the after holiday sales. For retailers, this is the biggest time of year, and though superficially great for the economy, how are the locally owned stores going to compete the rest of the year?
I have worked in wholesale, resale retail, and forward-thinking collaborative retail projects where buying can be seasonal or mostly inexplicable in layman’s terms. Most of the things we buy, we don’t need, and in an atmosphere such as is unknowingly to be in 2013’s revealing of our fiscal cliff for-certain catastrophe, most consumers are looking for deals.
This may not always be the case though, if your store is selling a style or mind-set, in the way that Apple does. In this HBR article, Ron Johnsonn, the former VP of Retail for Apple describes that their main selling point that gets folks in the store to buy is the experience.
Part of that experience is the mobile check-out abilities of tablets and smartphones that allow the customer to have a face-to-face relationship with the sales clerk. This means small stores need to take after the likes of Target, who’s mobile application and coupon center is by far the slickest I’ve seen, and integrate technology in their operations. Again, another great HBR Article describes just how and why this should occur.
Want to see deep in to the future? It’s not too far off in this developing virtual supermarket in Korea. The technological abilities to organize, superimpose, and assist decision making for customers with smart technology has just begun.
With all that being said, when tomorrow comes and you’re in a big box store searching for the super-holiday-end deals, check out the mobile devices, photography equipment, display ideas, and convenience appliances that would enhance your customer’s experience so that you save while you expand your sales plan.
Grant Announcement Post-Poned
We got the news yesterday that the grant announcement will be postponed until January 11, 2013.
In any event, we will move forward with our campaign and begin a fundraising initiative to off-set the costs to begin. We’re moving on from our planning and putting it in to action. We thank you in advance for your support!
A snippet of what is to come is group marketing materials and events for local businesses. If you are a business owner or part of a CDC, contact us pghretail [@] gmail.com
Pittsburgh Retail 