Thursday, July 12, 2012

Interested in Retail on H Street?

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H STREET MAIN STREET RELEASES RETAIL SURVEY; CALLS FOR RESIDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN RETAIL FOCUS GROUPS

H Street Main Street (HSMS) recently released a survey aimed at gathering information on area residents' and patrons' spending habits. This information will be used to help attract retail development to the corridor by providing meaningful data showing what consumers desire and what they will support, in addition to highlighting any areas of spending leakage. You can find the survey here.

"We are thrilled to launch this survey, which is the first initiative in a broad array of programs we're producing aimed at targeting and recruiting retail to H Street, NE," says Anwar Saleem, HSMS Executive Director. "This comunity-based approach to economic development can serve as a model for how the District and how it approaches neighborhood redevelopment and retail recruitment and retention."

The survey will close Monday, July 16 at midnight and all are strongly encouraged to participate. Following the close of the survey, HSMS will conduct three focus groups, followed by producing a retail summit aimed at recruiting retail businesses identified through the survey and focus groups.

HSMS is recruiting 60 people to participate in three focus groups scheduled for these dates: July 31 at 7 pm, August 1 at 2 pm and August 2 at 7 pm. Focus group participants need to reflect the community so the organization is specifically looking for residents with children, residents who live in a household with a total income of less than $85,000 and both African-American and Caucasian residents. Interested residents who fit any of those descriptions should contact Julia Robey Christian at at julia.christian@hstreet.org.

This initiative is being produced with the support of the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Retail Priority Area Grant program with the support of DC Department of Small and Local Business Development.

For more information, contact Julia Robey Christian at julia.christian@hstreet.org or 202.567.9705.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Asians, Hispanics, and Native Americans need not apply.

Anonymous said...

H & Pizza opens tomorrow

Julia Robey Christian said...

To clarify:

It is important that the demographics of our participants match (as closely as possible) the demographics of our community so that our results are not skewed in any one direction.

For example, at this point, in our survey respondents, we have very little representation from residents who have one or more children in their households. With the latest census results showing that 70% of households in 20002 have at least one child, it's imperative that our results mirror that as closely as possible. Same thing goes for income levels and racial distinction. This is not to say that anyone, regardless of socioeconomic and racial background, is discouraged from submitting their interest for focus group participation. It's simply to say that we need to ensure that our focus group accurately reflects a cross-section of our community as it stands now, otherwise the results may be skewed in one way or another.

I strongly encourage EVERYONE to take a moment to complete the Retail Survey that is open through Monday night.

If you are interested in participating in the focus groups, regardless of race, income, or parental status, please email me at julia.christian@hstreet.org.

Thanks!

Julia Robey Christian

Anonymous said...

I would be interested in either a wig shop or a liquor store, preferably both.

Anonymous said...

That last poster might want to move to rural Pennsylvania or somewhere in the mountains of Virginia or perhaps West Virginia. They have lots of wig shops and liquor stores in those areas. Gun shops too. I'm sure anon likes his/her tobacco. They got them there shops too!

Anonymous said...

A gun shop would be awesome, since there isn't currently one in DC, in violation of our Constitutional liberties.