Finding the right niche may be the key to making downtown Mokena a drawing card, consultants told about 30 people at a meeting at Mokena Junior High School.
Events such as the recent Chamber of Commerce Christmas Fest can bring people in and foster an attitude that, “This is my downtown. This is where I come to have fun,” said Bridget Lane of Business Districts Inc., the Evanston-based consulting firm hired to study Mokena’s downtown business area.
Rather than compete with the malls, downtowns are opting for atmosphere, “a festival marketplace,” such as Navy Pier in Chicago, Lane said last week.
Some towns have farmers markets and antiques shows as drawing cards, she said.
“I like to look at marketing as a staged activity,” she said. A theme of some sort gives customers a reason to come downtown.
A theme does not have to be based on one kind of business or activity, according to Terry Jenkins, president of the consulting firm.
“It has to be a cluster that gives you a reason to go (downtown) and stay,” Jenkins said.
He said the theme could be the streetscape or the appearance of the shops or an atmosphere that causes people to say, “Oh, this feels like Main Street.”
Interviews indicate business people in the area of Front Street and Wolf Road are looking for more customers.
Trustee John Mazzorana agreed on the need for a kind of theme to attract retailers and developers who gravitate toward busier thoroughfares, such as La Grange Road.