Pearl Market Blog

THE REAL DIVINE MS. M

Meet Melissa Fast.  She’s officially on board at Capital Crossroads SID as Marketing Director.

Officially, she started last Monday.  Unofficially, she’s been supporting the downtown community for years.

As a local patron of the businesses, restaurants and arts scene, the new director has long celebrated the city’s core as its crowning glory.  She says, “I want to help promote the fact that it is a destination – whether it’s for a cup of coffee in the afternoon or a night of entertainment.”

She continues, “I really want to do my part to make sure that people embrace the fact that downtown is a cool place to be.  I think it’s important for the experience to be easy for people so they want to keep coming back.”  It’s everyone’s neighborhood.

Her favorite downtown finds have stories behind them – like the treasures from Pearl Market.  In fact, the Pearl Market itself is a great place to find a story.  The shops were just highlighted in The Columbus Dispatch… and the market caught the national spotlight when the Associated Press picked up the story for distribution.

Downtown Columbus is indeed a place with a great story.

Without question, Downtown Columbus is the most underserved retail location in Central Ohio.  With 100,000 employees; 5,500 residents; 250,000 overnight hotel guest; 31,000 college students; 65,000 in-town residents in the Short North, German Village and surrounding areas; and millions of day visitors to the Arena District, Convention Center, theatres and museums, there is significant demand for retail services.  But since the collapse of City Center, downtown has lost its retail sector and the ability to attract corporate retails stores.

Without a major developer pulling those corporate chains downtown, they likely won’t reemerge anytime soon.  But that does not mean that downtown cannot attract retailers.  Independent and start-up retail are the likely players in downtown’s retail future.  But after years of negative coverage surrounding City Center’s demise, there is a negative perception of downtown retail.

Capital Crossroads SID and the City of Columbus have developed a new retail initiative to educate independent and start-up retailers about downtown to and to help overcome the misperceptions that abound.  Announced by Boyce Safford, Director of the City’s Development Department, at the Capital Crossroads Annual Meeting in November, the City is offering several incentives to entice retailers downtown.

The incentives, which apply to the “Mile on High” are on High Street from Spring Street to Mound Street and from Front Street to Fourth Street, include cash incentives and tax abatement specifically for retail investments for property owners and retailers.

However, there remains a communication gap.  Work must be done to overcome the misapprehensions retailers hold and to share the information regarding the City incentives.  Relationships need to be built with independent retailers throughout the area to encourage them to consider downtown as a location.

To that end, Kacey Campbell, the former CCSID Promotions Coordinator, has been tapped as the new downtown Retail Recruiter.  Campbell will serve as a “matchmaker”, reaching out to retailers, answering questions, encouraging them to consider downtown, then matching them with leasing agents who can finalize the deal.

For the last four years, Campbell has connected with existing downtown retailers and with the many vendors who participate in the very successful Pearl Market.  She has an understanding of downtown and believes in its potential.

“There is a huge demand for retail in downtown,” says Campbell.  “It’s a matter of getting accurate information to people and then helping them navigate downtown.  It will take time to see results, but there is good opportunity.”

The seeds of success are already sewn, evidenced by the burgeoning pockets of retail on Gay Street and Fourth Street.  Programs such as this have also proven successful in other cities with a dearth of downtown retail, including Nashville, St. Louis and Minneapolis.  With new incentives from the City and a retail recruiter making the pitch, look for retail to return to the heart of Columbus.

PUT SOME SOUTH IN YOUR MOUTH

Lots of us can do an Aussie accent; or perhaps whip out a leetle somezing zat’s French sounding.

But can you do Cajun?  That one’s tough.

Today is Fat Tuesday.  In this country, that celebration is headquartered deep in the heart of Cajun Country, New Orleans (oopf, N’awlins).  It’s high time to put a little south in your mouth, and downtown’s Pearl Market is just lucky enough to have its very own in-house expert.  Patrons can find real New Orleans Pralines made by a real New Orleans Native: Chandra Noble.

Actually, Noble was born in Ohio – but she spent the first thirty years of her life down in The Big Easy.  While her voice is usually velvety smooth, she can whip out that distinctive dialect from her roots in a heartbeat.

There is a RIGHT was to talk about her New Orleans Pralines.  While we say pray-lines, back south they say prah-lines… or worse.  Noble says, “Sometimes it’s like the L and the R are switched.”  Then she pronounces it in a silky southern style that sounds like a cross between prah-reeeeen and plah-reeeeen.

“Or,” she continues, “We just call it pecan candy.”  Only she does it with an accent again.  Suddenly pecan has three syllables: peh-cah-wnnn.

Regardless of your accent, you can celebrate in Fat Tuesday-style every Friday with New Orleans Pralines in the Pearl Market.  No worries about pronouncing the sweet confections: we all sound the same with a mouth-full.

February is Crafter’s Month at the Winter Pearl Market (20 E. Broad Street)!  We are looking to close out our inaugural winter market with a bang.  Because the MARKETPLACE (where local handmade arts, clothing, crafts and other gifts have been sold on consignment) has been so popular, we are expanding on that idea and making the whole month of February “Crafter’s Month.”

But we need crafters to participate, so if you are interested, please email Heather Brown at heather@downtowncolumbus.com for more information. 

DOWNTOWN SPEAKS

You know how suggestion boxes work?  Fill out the form, put it in the box… and it goes away forever.

We’re not that way.  At the end of last year, we asked for reader thoughts and suggestions, you followed through and offered all kinds of comments.

Now we’ll follow through too.  Here’s the plan:

1.  You want more places to have lunch, including fast food chains.
Although our focus has been on independent operations (here’s our online directory of almost one hundred eateries), we welcome all sorts of purveyors.  Heck, if there’s room for Dunkin Donuts, we’ve got room for a McWendy’s King.  But please be patient.  The chains will be slow to return to downtown.  In the meantime, check out the quick bite places in the directory…  we promise good eats are ahead!

2.  You want more retail stores downtown.
We do too.  Since the survey, Capital Crossroads SID has announced that it will create a retail recruitment program for downtown with Kacey Campbell taking the lead on revving up downtown retail.  You can be proactive in this process too: shop at downtown’s Pearl Market, nurture those businesses and they’ll grow into a full-scale retail community.  And support the downtown retails we have.  You can find a list of retailers here.

3.  You want to know about marches and rallies happening downtown.
Duly noted.

4.  Some readers wanted City Center open again as a mall; some wanted it to remain standing and repurposed.
City Center ran its course as a mall.  It faced fierce competition from Tuttle, Easton and Polaris malls.  Its closed-off-fortress design was no longer cool.  So bye-bye mall; hello sweet opportunities!

As for redesign, the mall was build to be a mall.  Did you know it doesn’t even have a heating system, because the lights and people generated enough heat?  The best evidence indicates that the single most cost effective way of dealing with the structure was to disassemble it entirely.  To do otherwise would be a statistically improbably gamble.

5.  Readers want the magic of their childhood.
Can we pull a rabbit out of the hat and make our downtown dreams come true?  If you care, and we know you do, then we can!

THANKFUL MANNERS

A good guest never arrives at a party empty handed.

If ever there was a fundamental law from the etiquette police, it’d be that one.  Even if your host is named “Mom”, it’s just gracious and grown-up to offer a small token of appreciation for the effort it takes to host a big turkey dinner.

And yes, the Winter Pearl Market has you covered.  Come down to Broad Street (20 E. Broad Street) immediately (Tuesday, 10:30 am – 2 pm) to pick up a very cool, locally made gift of goodie for Thanksgiving.

Honestly, you won’t need a gift guide or advice.  The moment you walk inside the winter market, you’re surrounded with darling things.  It’s a giant maze of wonder.

You might pause for a moment at the collection of ceramics by local artist Nicki Strouss.  Her coffee mugs require close inspection.  No ordinary vessels, the grips on these cups are ergonomically angled to suit the way humans really hold mugs.

Or maybe a crazy bag made from recycled fabrics?  Ethel Jayne Originals takes textiles like rugs and shower curtains and gives them a new life as very edgy satchels for gals AND guys.

Bottle stoppers made from old doorknobs and outdoor faucets can be found at IKC design.

A duct tape pen?  Hand-painted slate?  You really need to stop in to see this stuff.  These goods can’t be found at Walmart.

Of course, edible gifts abound too: pumpkin pies, breads and muffins… and fresh fare from our farmers.  Or perhaps an extra-special olive oil from The Olive Orchard for the gourmand in the kitchen?

We’re thankful to have Pearl Market downtown!

We have a Winter Pearl Market, so not surprisingly, we have a Winter Pearl Market Moment.  Check out this video to get a sneak peek at the new indoor market at 20 E. Broad Street and meet market vendor, Take Ten Body Therapy.

Pearl Market Moment: Inside the Winter Market! from Downtown Columbus on Vimeo.

T’IS THE SEASON

Fall is here in all its golden glory.  With Halloween goblins and ghouls, pumpkins and gourds, football and more football.  Surely Ohio farmers are putting their beds to bed for a long winters rest, and farmers markets are closing their shutters for the season.  Nope, not in downtown Columbus.

Although the outdoor Pearl Market wraps up its season this Friday, the indoor Winter Pearl Market will come right in on its heels.  Thanks to a grant from the US Department of Agriculture’s Farmer Market Promotional Program, Capital Crossroad SID has extended Pearl Market’s season through February.  It’s an idea that came from vendors and shoppers alike, who told Pearl Market staff that they would like to continue selling and shopping.  So more Market they shall have.

Starting next Tuesday, you can shop each Tuesday and Friday from 10:30 am – 2 pm on the first floor of 20 E. Broad Street.  Approximately 34 vendors will be there with their wonderful good and local produce (yes, it’s all still local – mostly grown in greenhouses), baked goods, meats, cheeses, oils, syrup, jams, eggs, soaps, jewelry, sweaters, bags, dog-friendly items, and much more.  There will also be an art gallery produced by the Create Columbus Commission and a Holiday Marketplace with gift items.  Also new for the indoor Market, customers can shop with the Ohio Direction Card (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/Food Stamps).

The season for shopping never ends.

Business First reported a new, but small, trend in retailing on October 23:  the pop-up store.  These stores “pop up” in small spaces and operate for brief periods of time.  According to the article, they typically lease space “as is” and highlight specific product lines.

Risk to the retailer is low.  Because these stores operate for limited periods of time, they have an event quality to them that draws shoppers.

Retail-starved downtown could use some pop up stores.  There is a large inventory of vacant storefronts.  Property owners would certainly consider short-term leases.  Could Toys R Us make some money in downtown during the holiday season?  After all, many of the 100,000 time-pressed downtown employees have children.

Capital Crossroads opens its own pop up store on Tuesday, November 3.  Pearl Market vendors are working with the SID to create a retail co-op at 20 East Broad Street that will be open on Tuesdays and Fridays from 10:30 to 2 pm through February.  If this experiment is successful, the concept might be expanded next year.  Who knows where this effort might lead?

Kimberly Esque-Marino is the owner of a really cool local indie company catering to dog owners: Potty Pocket.

“We love the opportunity to be among creative individuals who have unique products that are hand crafted with care.  As the small independent retailers are disappearing from the market place it is  nice to know that consumers who are looking for quality items have a place to go and shop.  When we support local artists and farmers, we are supporting our community, thus ourselves.”

 

“It was important to me that they be made here in Ohio.  Potty Pocket is a group effort.  Family and friends have helped to get this idea off the ground.  I designed and make the product, a friend designed the logo and web sight, my sister and husband help to sell them and everyone gives unending enthusiasm and support that has made this challenge a lot of fun.”

 

Check out her website and visit POTTY POCKETS at the market each week. Tell her the Market Maven sent ya!