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Downtown Dreams
New Haven merchants discuss how they would market the city center
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Business New Haven
8/21/2000
By: Fiona Phelan
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New Haven needs to promote its assets and bill itself as a destination - not just someplace to drive by on I-95. At least that's the opinion of many downtown business owners.
By finding ways to connect the plethora of theaters, museums, coffee shops and restaurants, bookstores and distinctive clothing shops, jewelers and shoe stores, the whole of New Haven could be a visitors Mecca.
Add shuttle buses, trolley cars, conference and convention facilities and the city's annual three million visitors
could easily get from Whitney Avenue to Ninth Square, to York Street and upper Chapel Street, to the stores on Broadway and out to the Connecticut Tennis Center.
Connecting the various pieces of the city's existing infrastructure will create a New Haven that tourists and shoppers will want to experience time and time again. The hotly debated Long Wharf mall will not create the kind exposure the city and its businesses need, say downtown merchants.
“This is the retail center of the city,” notes jeweler Peter Indorf. “We don't need another mall; we're ringed by malls.”
But the mall has already had one positive benefit: It has become a catalyst for renewed discussion about the city's downtown area which accounts for only three percent of New Haven's land mass but 46 percent of the city's jobs and one third of its tax revenues.
The mall proposal has prompted downtown merchants to unite and develop innovative ways to market their businesses to their constituents: Yale University students and downtown employees. One marketing ploy will show up in the dorm room of every incoming Yale freshman this month. Each student will receive a gift basket that includes goodies from downtown merchants, gift certificates to local stores and a downtown guide listing area businesses.
The merchants are also working hard to get the word out that there is free parking downtown on the weekends, says Chip Croft. Croft, owner of Seychelles and president of the United Merchants Association, says that parking is the biggest issue for downtown retailers - there's not enough of it and some spaces are perceived as being too far from where visitors want to shop.
“There's a psychology with shopping in a downtown area that if you can't park right in front of the store you want to visit, then it's too far to park anywhere else,” says Croft. The merchants association is working with city officials and representatives from Yale to resolve many of the downtown issues, he adds.
“The United Merchants Association is pro-downtown. We are not anti-mall,” he stresses. “We have a small window of opportunity to improve downtown before the mall comes, and we have to do it before the mall opens in order to lure mall shoppers here, too.
“There's so much to do downtown that we don't have time to fight the mall,” he adds.
Croft notes that it's ironic that city officials are now paying attention to the needs of downtown. In the past year, two marketing plans have been aired and the city recently hired a new marketing director, Susan Hartt (see story, page 3). These measures are aimed at improving the city's image locally and nationally.
“This is a city with a huge amount of potential,” says Croft. “We're strategically located between Boston and New York. We attract students and their families from around the world. The city needs to make sure that people leave here with a favorable impression.”
Along with their own ideas for the city, a number of merchants also support the so-called Buckley Plan. Generated by Ernst & Young consultant Michael Buckley, the ambitious strategic plan recommends the creation of a themed specialty retail district with distinctive stores, an urban entertainment center including a cinema, café and exercise club/spa on the site of the Chapel Square Mall, a public market and a host of other goodies.
That plan captures the imagination of existing downtown retailers more so than the big-box mall that may become just another stop off the highway.
“I was in a mall for ten years,” says Larry Spector of Spector Eye Emporium. “I have nothing against malls, but they're just destination shopping. You go in, get what you need and get out. Those shoppers aren't going to filter downtown, so they're not going to see any of the things that the city has to offer.
“A mall is like the drive-through window at a Burger King. You place your order, pay your money and move on,” he adds.
Spector's vision is of a New Haven that takes advantage of its harbor for waterfront activities like a promenade, perhaps miniature golf and other family-oriented activities.
“The waterfront is a precious resource that the city really hasn't taken advantage of,” he adds. “Putting a mall on the waterfront is not the best use of that asset. We should be finding ways to bring people here to spend the day,” he states.
Spector is not alone in his thinking. John Isaacs, owner of Barrie Limited, stresses that the city should take advantage of the things that are already in place that make New Haven an interesting place.
“New Haven has interesting architecture, a world-class university, rail and water transportation, interesting stores and restaurants. A mall can be built anywhere - it's just cars driving by,” Isaacs states.
“The city needs to market itself and all of the things it has to offer - not just the theaters,” says Rich Savitt of Savitt Jewelers. “We need to let people know what downtown has to offer.”
Savitt notes that a lot goes on in the city that people aren't aware of. From arts festivals, concerts and plays, museum exhibits and tennis tournaments to fine and casual dining, unique clothing and gifts, New Haven has a lot to offer, he states.
One of the city's biggest obstacles, he notes, is the highway system. Travelling to or through New Haven is already a nightmare, he notes. Construction of the mall, combined with construction of a new bridge over the harbor and other long overdue improvements to I-95 will exacerbate the situation - making it even more difficult for visitors to enjoy what downtown has to offer.
“The city needs to fix what's here and not build something new,” Savitt asserts. “The mall will be just another commuter location. I think the mall will end up being a dinosaur. It will burn itself out in ten years.
“Shoppers will realize that they can get the same stuff at any mall. If they're looking for something a little different, they'll have to come downtown.” BNHDowntown Dreams
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