N. David Milder, founder and president of DANTH, Inc. is a nationally recognized authority on downtown revitalization and a leading proponent of developing market niches. He has more than 35 years of experience utilizing market research and management skills to help revitalize business centers.
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I have been an avid film buff since my Mom took me to see Anchors Aweigh in 1945. Though I liked James Cameron’s Terminator 2, one Alien was more than enough for me and I could not bring myself to see Titanic. Cameron, in my book, did not belong in the same league as Lean, Ford, Hawks, Lubitsch, Capra, Wilder, Spielberg, Cukor, Hitchcock, Coppola, Scorsese et al.
But, on Christmas Eve I went to see Cameron’s latest, Avatar, a 3D film, …
Read More...This is a follow up to my 3/10/09 and 4/24/09 posts on this subject.
Same store sales in November 2009 reported by retailers specializing in clothing and accessories for teenagers showed a 7.8% yr2yr decline, making it the worst performing retail sector.
Even Hot Topic, a former high flier, had a double digit drop, while Abercrombie & Fitch had its 19th straight month of reduced sales revenues.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the current teenage unemployment rate at 26%. With fewer …
Read More...This posting was updated on 12/10/09.
Bayonne, NJ is the kind of place that folks form deep attachments to. Even when they move away or find another workplace, those warm feelings remain.
Last week I had lunch in Bayonne with an old friend and colleague, the city’s planner. It had been almost a year since I was last in the Bayonne Town Center and I was eager to see how it had held up during the Great Recession. After walking around the …
Read More...My October 29, 2009 posting on the new normal for downtown retailing prompted a number of requests for additional information about “backdoor retailing.” I am very happy to comply since, for some time now, that has been a topic I have wanted to write about, but just never got to.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Downtown merchants with backdoor operations have two customer streams and revenue sources. First are the walk-in shoppers they draw from the downtown’s pool of visitors. Every downtown business …
Read More...In a June 2006 posting I described how the staff of the Bayonne Town Center worked with Vincent Margiotta of Pastime Hobbies to bring slot car racing to the district’s car shows.
The slot cars now have graduated to their own venue, PHM Racing, next door to Pastime’s shop. There is a larger and more sophistcated layout, where four cars can race, an electronic score board and even real racetrack sponsors.
At the heart of this operation is …
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