WESTFIELD – As local small businesses attempt to keep their heads above water, city and business officials are trying to throw them a lifeline.
“I think people are still cautiously optimistic about the economy and businesses have to take a hard look at their operations and the products and services that they provide,” said Kate Phelon, executive director of the Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce. “They need to figure out if they can work more efficiently and do more with less. The recession ended five years ago and this may be the new norm.”
Phelon said that her organization asks members to shop locally, but admits that she’s preaching to the choir.
“The Chamber doesn’t represent people, we represent companies. Small Business Saturdays, – we’re going to be promoting those again this year,” she said. “We have networking events for $10 where you can meet your business neighbors. There are ways to market that are affordable and can help, but the businesses have to participate.”
“I think it’s a great community, that we need to keep the momentum going and we need to be positive about it,” Phelon said. “But we only have so much disposable dollars and I think people are selective about how they spend those dollars.”
The completion of numerous city infrastructure projects will be a big boost to local small businesses, according to Phelon.
“When it is done, hopefully we can keep those folks alive down there because it is going to be a challenge during the next two construction seasons,” she said of the improvements to the city’s Gaslight District. “It’s going to be an enticing place for people to come spend their dollars.”
Phelon added that educating the city’s small businesses more on Westfield’s socioeconomics may go a long way toward improving the small business climate.
“We are a Gateway City, and if the businesses understood and were informed about what that really means, then maybe they’d be able to adapt to that,” she said, while also downplaying the city’s much-maligned parking issues. “I think we do have parking issues, but people can’t expect to pull up in front of a store every single time and walk in the door.”
“What’s wrong with walking a block or two? People go to the mall and walk from one end to the other, why can’t you park around the corner or in a lot and then walk to your destination?” she said. “But the parking garage will be a gamechanger, because once there is (more) parking, there is no excuse not to come to downtown Westfield.”
Community Development Director Peter Miller said that apathy in supporting small business is not unique.
“There are a couple of things at play with independent businesses and I don’t think it makes us any different than other communities,” he said. “The fact that we have a downtown that is reliant on independent businesses and that that is in direct competition with the big box retail presence on East Main seperated by less than a mile from one another causes that additional difficulty.”
“We have a Wal-Mart, an Ocean State Job Lot, a Staples, three grocery stores and national chain restaurants,” Miller said. “That is a good thing in a number of ways, but it is an incredible challenge for the independent businessman.”
Miller also referred to census data to highlight the plight of the city’s downtown as it relates to economic activity.
“The downtown (tract) I would suspect is the oldest and the poorest and the ones on the outskirts, that are closer to the East Main Street corridor, are more affluent,” said Miller. “It has been a tale of two communities in Westfield in a lot of ways.”
Miller said that, while he personally spends a considerable amount of time downtown, it “takes a commitment” to supporting downtown businesses.
“I couldn’t tell you the last time I was in Applebee’s, but I’ve been to Emma’s and Papp’s and all these restaurants that aren’t national chains,” he said. “I think it really is a cultural situation in Westfield.”
The number of Westfield residents who commute to Springfield or Hartford, Connecticut to work – cities where they inevitably spend money – has an incredible impact on the local economy, according to Miller, who cites Burlington, Vermont as a city with a similar size to Westfield, but an incredibly different business and cultural philosophy.
“You have the universities with students and the lake is an attraction, but the vibrancy is different because it’s a hub,” he said. “Hampden County, with Springfield as the seat of the county, is very scattered and Westfield is our own place and that is a challenge for the business community because people work somewhere else and come home.”
Miller said that space is there for businesses to move into the city’s downtown, but it is just a matter now of whether or not retailers and businesspeople want to take the chance.
“We have a lot of vacancy, but it’s middle of the road vacancy – it is not cheap but it is not upscale, either,” he said. “It’s almost like the labor force – there is no shortage of job openings but there is a shortage of qualified people to fill them. It’s something that we continue to work on.”
