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Main Street director reports rising downtown visits, $347M retail leakage and a $250,000 grant application
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Summary
Main Street Director Amy Burd reported increased visitation and social-media reach downtown, identified $347 million in county retail leakage, and said the city applied for a $250,000 3-Star grant to hire a retail consultant to help recruit businesses.
Amy Burd, Main Street director, told the Fayetteville City Council that downtown visitation is up and that the organization is stepping up planning and data collection to guide future investments.
Burd said First Saturday attendance this season increased 21% and that total district visitation reached 38,000, with October showing a 72% increase month-over-month; market visits were 7,200 this year compared with 3,600 last year. She reported 5.7 million social-media views and 422,000 unique users year-to-date.
Burd highlighted downtown improvement grant activity (6 of 12 projects complete) and said Main Street applied with the Industrial Development Board for a three-year, $250,000 3-Star grant to hire a retail consultant to support recruitment and infrastructure planning. She said the grant application is intended to help Fayetteville prepare for anticipated growth related to nearby regional developments and to capture lost retail spending.
On retail leakage, Burd said Lincoln County was losing about $347 million a year to shopping outside the county and identified the top out-of-county destinations. She characterized the grant and downtown strategies as efforts to capture a portion of that lost revenue and support long-term downtown vitality.
What’s next: Main Street will continue the property inventory work required for accreditation, pursue the 3-Star grant decision expected in the coming weeks, and provide more detailed reinvestment statistics to council when available.
