Economic Enhancements Committee Accomplishments

Mission/Goals | Agenda | Members | Accomplishments | Projects

2007-2008 Accomplishments

Business Recruitment

            The Economic Enhancement Committee works continually to improve its recruitment efforts and attract businesses to the downtown Newark area.  Since our last Annual Report, the Committee is pleased to welcome several new businesses to the downtown area, including Sweet n Sassy Cupcakes, Blue Bamboo Healing Arts Studio, Kildare’s Irish Pub, Cosi and The Cereal Bowl.  Outreach efforts continue to attract businesses to add to the retail/restaurant mix as follows:

  • Apparel and Accessories (Men's, Women's and Children's)
  • Home Accessories
  • Gourmet Grocery
  • Shoes
  • Art
  • Small Boutique Hotel/Inn
  • Craft Stores With Lessons
  • Party Supplies
  • Paint Your Own Pottery
  • Video Rental
  • Adult Destination/Restaurant
  • Gifts, Stationary, Cards

BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) Efforts 

Recruitment efforts were particularly intensive over the last year due to numerous meetings pertaining to the federal government’s Base Realignment and Closing (BRAC) program, and the plan to move a large number of U. S. Military functions from the closing Fort Monmouth, NJ to Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland.  In an effort to attract individuals and businesses to the Newark area, city officials have attended a number of relocation functions in Monmouth, New Jersey, and in cooperation with New Castle County Government and the Board of Realtors, sponsored two “Visit Delaware” days – one in June and one in October, 2008.  At this event, the City hosted a table to distribute information and talk about how Newark is a great place to live and do business.  Information was also provided on why "Downtown Newark is the best darn downtown around.”  Downtown businesses provided discounts for BRAC Visit Delaware Day participants and from all reports our efforts left a very favorable impression about Newark as a business and residential option on those affected by the base closings.   

DNP Business Recruitment Packages 

            The committee developed the Downtown Newark Partnership developed a Business Recruitment Package, which provides detailed information about downtown Newark and the advantages to operating a business here; the community’s demographic profile; the full calendar of events; Downtown Newark Partnership activities; parking opportunities, including validation; incentive programs and positive press about downtown.  Over the past year, 69 of these recruitment packages, with personalized letters, were sent out by the Committee to targeted businesses.  A host of other inquiries into the business climate and opportunities in downtown were handled on the phone and via e-mail.  This information is also available at special events and for distribution on a regular basis to inform the public of the DNP, its structure and goals.  

Business Retention 

            The Economic Enhancement Committee is always working to provide the best possible information, opportunities and technical assistance to the businesses downtown in order to help them grow and prosper.  To this end, the committee has been working in a number of different ways to disseminate information and help businesses, such as creating welcome packets, electronic newsletters, and providing technical assistance to businesses on a regular basis.  

Business Technical Assistance  

The Committee also encourages and promotes attendance at the SCORE, SBA and SBDC technical workshops offered on a regular basis, including an SBA session entitled Money! Money! Money! For your Small Business during which the SBA, SBDC, Innovative Bank, First State Community Loan Fund and local banks provide information on loan products and how to access capital for businesses.

 

Welcome to Newark Packets           

Out of town guests are welcomed warmly by the DNP whenever we are made aware of their presence.  For example, since the last Annual Report, participants of the CAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, Transatlantic Print Conference, the Institute for Transforming Undergraduate Education and more recently, the participants in BRAC “Visit Delaware Day” all received welcome packets from the DNP.  These packets include a welcome letter, a calendar of events, free parking vouchers, coupons for downtown businesses, and fliers about upcoming events and activities.  The committee works with the hotels where these individuals were staying in order to get the packets out to people just as soon as they get into town.  Several hundred packets have been stuffed and delivered this year all geared to having visitors patronize our existing businesses downtown and ring cash registers, as well as help bolster the growing conference trade in Newark, by insuring that conference participants enjoy their stay in Newark.  In this regard, the committee works closely with the Newark Destination Partners organization.  This approach is also used for special events where customized flyers are designed tailoring the promotion offered by downtown businesses to the event participants, examples of this activity include the Delaware Concert Band Festival in August, freshman orientation session participants at UD and the “coupon corner” promotion at Winterfest. 

Newsletters           

The Downtown Newark E-Newsletter was created as an electronic means of getting information about Downtown Newark to the community in a fast and efficient manner.  The e-newsletter is prepared and sent at the end of a month to highlight the activities, events, cultural opportunities, etc. in downtown the following month.  The mailing list for this subscription e-newsletter grows daily, and currently reaches nearly 1,000 interested individuals.  New e-mail addresses are gathered at each downtown event, and often by referrals.  The Downtown Newark E-Newsletter is an important business retention tool because it a coordinated and comprehensive clearinghouse for downtown activities which helps to promote downtown Newark as a retail, dining, cultural and entertainment destination for the region. 

Another important E-Newsletter is the DNP News You Can Use, created for downtown businesses.  This newsletter is a vital tool for the Committee, as it fosters better communication between the DNP and downtown businesses.  The newsletter provides important and timely information to businesses about opportunities to promote themselves through participation in events, activities, group discounts and advertising, and other issues of importance such as road construction and lane closures.  This e-newsletter supplements the Merchants’ Committee’s Block Captain System.   

            A change for the better for both of these DNP’s newsletters and mailing lists that took place this year is the switch from using the City’s in house Outlook Express E-Mail System to the professional e-newsletter system Constant Contact, a company that specializes in email marketing management.  The Constant Contact platform allows email addresses to be added and removed much more rapidly and efficiently than before, and provides more useful and interesting templates for sending out emails.  This should also reduce the staff time required to work on the newsletters each month.  In addition, Constant Contact allows for easy linkages to websites and the insertion of photos, etc to make the e-newsletter more useful and visually appealing.

Technical Assistance: Free Energy Audits 

            Energy is becoming more and more expensive, and as a result is making up a bigger and bigger portion of businesses’ cost structures.  In an effort to improve the profitability of downtown businesses, the Delaware Economic Development Office and Delaware Energy Office, partnered with the DNP to perform free “energy audits” for various businesses, to help them determine how they could work to reduce energy costs in October 2008.  The timing was especially important since the City had to increase electric rates in August to keep up with the rising cost of supplying electricity.  These energy audits were offered to all downtown businesses free of charge, via the News You Can Use e-newsletter and Merchants Committee’s Block Captain System, and coordinated by the Economic Enhancement Committee.   

            Five businesses participated in the energy audits:  Fusion Fitness Center, Gecko Fashions, Caffe Gelato, California Tortilla and Newark Deli and Bagels.  The Economic Enhancement Committee was pleased to be able to offer this vital service to downtown businesses.  

Downtown Gift Certificate Program

Downtown Newark Gift Certificate Program was started in 2003 with in-office and limited in store gift certificate sales and through the DNP website since October 31, 2006, using Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express and PayPal.  The program has been very successful with more than 70 businesses participating.  The Partnership, however, is always seeking to improve and streamline the Downtown Gift Certificate program to reduce the time required to process claims, to make better use of staff time and make sure that merchants get their funds as quickly as possible, and to improve the ease of purchasing the certificates by the public.  Over the last year, several options, from several different vendors, were examined to provide third-party gift certificates with instant or nearly instant reimbursement for merchants, and to provide much simpler tracking of inflows and outflows.  The Economic Enhancement committee, with the assistance of a Merchants’ Committee Working Group made a recommendation to the full Merchants Committee about the change of format for the program.  The Merchants Committee approved the change at its November 5, 2008 meeting and the DNP Board will review the matter in December.  The EE Committee hopes to have the new system, if approved, in place by the first of the year. We believe that by simplifying the reimbursement submittal process and reducing the time it takes to process the reimbursements, the more businesses will take advantage of this fantastic business retention program, which is offered free of charge to downtown businesses.   

Advertising 

The Economic Enhancement Committee strives to market downtown as a shopping and dining district as part of its Business Retention efforts.  The effort this year included Downtown Newark ads in all UD Football and Basketball Programs and in Delaware Today magazine.  This year the committee also sponsored a holiday commercial to be used in web advertising, on Channel 22 and budget allowing, TV.  The commercial which features a hapless family distraught over the hassles of holiday shopping at the mall being magically transported to downtown Newark on a magical trolley driven by Mayor Funk in full Santa costume for a shopping and dining experience that makes their holiday shopping trip fun!  The commercial is still under-production but the committee hopes to have it available for view shortly.  The committee extends its sincere gratitude to Bradley Zweig for the commercial concept and script and to Film Brothers for production. 

 

Web Page Improvements 

            Downtown Newark’s web page is the district’s window to the world, and as such, the Economic Enhancement Committee works hard to keep it updated.  In addition to schedules and calendars of events, the website contains leasing opportunities and links to downtown businesses’ websites so that residents and visitors, as well as current and potential merchants, can have a great deal of information at their fingertips simply by logging onto the website.  The Committee works hard keeping the information current and adding other information whenever it is available.   Check it out at: www.enjoydowntownnewark.com; or at our other domain names:  www.eatdowntownnewark.com and www.shopdowntownnewark.com