Some More Specifics About Small Town Entrepreneurial Environments (STEEs)

By N. David Milder

Introduction

Back in October of 2017, DANTH, Inc posted my white paper “Toward an Effective Economic Development Strategy for Smaller Communities (under 35,000)”(1).  A central concept in that strategic approach was the STEEs (Small Town Entrepreneurial Environments). I then stated that: “Though I strongly suspect that such environments exist today somewhere in the USA, to date, I have not encountered one.”  I then proceeded to outline what I then thought the major components of s viable and effective STEE might be. Since then, I have done additional research and visited and worked in a number of smaller communities and learned a good deal more about possible STEE components. The objective of this article is to detail those recent findings.

Viewing STEEs as Informal Business Incubators.

For a number of years now, I have been arguing that small town downtowns could be informal business incubators. My recent work made me realize that STEEs function much like informal business incubators. They are informal in the sense that all the elements of a business incubator are not in one building operated by an organization tasked to do incubation. Instead, they are dispersed within a downtown in different locations, and each may have a separate management organization. An interesting blog post by Jim Metcalf on the SCORE blog argues that incubator functions may be  spread beyond the downtown and be found in the whole small town (2).

Formal business incubators have long been a fairly widely adopted economic development tool. I would argue that they will always have a vital  role to play for firms that have substantial growth aspirations, that yearn to be big in terms of revenues, profits and employees, that want to be the next Apple, Facebook or Amazon. However, that usually means that the formal incubator will nurture a relatively small percentage of the businesses in a smaller community. For example,  the well regarded Wyoming Technology Business Center operates incubators in the cities of Laramie,Sheridan and Casper and:

TABLE 1

  • In Laramie ,the incubator has 8 clients and there are 657 residents who are self-employed, but have unincorporated businesses in the city (see Table 1).
  • In Sheridan, the incubator also has 8 client sand there are 340 people who are self-employed, but have unincorporated businesses in the city.
  • In Casper, the incubator has 12 clients and there are 1,567 people who are self-employed, but have unincorporated businesses in the city.

Informal incubation functions can help the micro and very small businesses that are usually fairly numerous  even in smaller towns, as is evidenced in Table1. Their operators very often have more modest aspirations, mainly focused on how to have more stable and/or higher annual personal incomes and the steps that might help them to achieve those goals.

Many of these micro business operators work from their homes.  Back in the 1990s,  these home-based operators were not deemed of interest by many economic development experts, because it was thought that their numbers were few and that they seldom if ever hired any employees. More recent research, however, suggests that their numbers are far from insignificant and, at least in some instances, can be very significant (3). As Dave Carlson, the administrator of Lancaster. WI, has noted, these micro businesses, in aggregate, can equal the number of jobs provided by his town’s largest employer. Also, recent research indicates that these home-based entrepreneurs may indeed hire some employees (4).  

My recent work in a few smaller communities in Upstate NY confirms Metcalf’s view – the towns had many incubator components, and many were frequently being performed in the town, but not in the downtown. The downtown obviously will be stronger if it’s the location where the vast majority of these functions are performed.

STEEs Do More Than Micro and Very Small Business Incubation

STEEs are very much related to the nurturing of creative endeavors within our smaller communities. However, they can also be a huge asset in the retention of a town’s current creatives and the attraction of more of them from other towns and cities. Those in large central cities within a 2.5to 3.0 hour drive are where the best prospects now live and work.

As I have demonstrated in several other articles and as noted in a recent article in the New York Times, a significant number of big city creatives are being drawn to rural local communities either as second homeowners or in complete, year round relocations (5). These relocations are being motivated primarily by quality of life considerations. While many create new jobs in their new towns, others bring their old jobs with them or create new jobs because the local broadband pipe allows them to telecommute. More affordable housing , a lower cost of living, family, great scenery, and a stronger sense of community are other Q of L lures.

Table 2, below, presents 12 STEE functions that are in bold and underlined type. The more of them that are present in a town, the stronger will be the town’s ability to attract and retain creative enterprises. The more of them that are in the downtown, the stronger it will be economically. Under each function are “tools” that can be used to perform that function. Here, the question is not how many can be used, but the strength with which they perform. Better to have one thing that really works than several of marginal utility. Yes, it’s better still to have several that really work well.

TABLE 2

Many town and downtown STEE assets are not recognized or properly appreciated by local leaders. This matrix can be used by downtown leaders to assess their STEE assets.  This should help them to then determine:

  • The elements they may want to think seriously about adding.
  • How the existing elements can be organized so that they are better known and more easily utilized.
  • How these STEE assets can be marketed to attract more creatives to move and do business in the community and the downtown.

The matrix includes such typical incubator functions as providing a work space, technical assistance for business operations (e.g., marketing, bookkeeping, human resource management, etc.), networking opportunities, and help with financing. It also includes such things as affordable housing, accessible broadband, and an existing cluster of creatives – important factors in recruiting creatives. Additional elements listed are the presence of an organization tasked to maintain and grow the STEE and someone to manage the provision of technical assistance. Downtown EDOs have typically avoided like the plague the latter two types of endeavors, but one may reasonably argue that, under the new normal, cultivating a strong, vibrant STEE will need to be a growing part of their missions.

Some Observations About Specific Types of STEE Components

While in the past few years I have come across some co-worker spaces and a few incubators that are located in in small towns, they were not the STEE components that impressed me the most. Here are some that impressed me as being far more important.

Libraries. In more and more small towns, the public library has become – or is becoming – an anchor component for its STEE.Libraries are changing big time. As one blog has described it, many libraries are now  “in the process of transitioning from a content collection-only facility to a content creation-inspired makerspace” (6). Not only do they provide spaces where “makers,” a term that is often broadly defined, can meet, learn from each other, and network, but they also provide a wide range of equipment the makers can use in the library. A few are even assembling an inventory of maker “kits” that are loaned out to makers for their use off site. Some librarians are arguing that libraries need to become “creative spaces.”

The Phillips Free Library in Homer, NY (pop 6,200) is a good example. It has two writers clubs, a film making club and a significant Makerspace, filled with a lot of equipment (see Table 3).

TABLE 3

Arts Coops. In many of these small towns there are a fair number of artists and artisans. Few are likely to get all their incomes from their artistic endeavors, so many will need additional employment. As one artist in Small Town X told me, and several of his artist friends then concurred: “Small Town X is a great place for artists – except for those who want to earn a living.”

Most lack business related skills and want help in marketing and getting exposure. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to get these small town artists and artisans the technical assistance they need and often want because the assistance  simply does not exist and/or the artists’ great need for independence, that they share with other small businesspeople, makes them resistant consumers.

In these small towns, getting say 20 artists and artisans the technical assistance they need may be a daunting and resource burning task.For that reason, coops are an appealing concept. When they are functional, they substantially diminish the needs of the participating artists for technical assistance. The coop can handle a lot of an artist/artisan’s marketing and bookkeeping needs, while creating a social network among the coop members.  

However, coops are often unstable and short-lived. In recent months I have found one that closed, another that was reorganized and a third that appears to have some long-term stability. Even the venerable Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA, had a recent organizational and financial crisis. Someone, who was involved there on the management side, noted that managing artists was like trying to herd cats. Coop leaders very likely to face a similar challenge.

The questions that comes to my mind are:

  • Can the management of a coop be improved more easily, efficiently and effectively than improving the business-related skills of their 15 to 30 artist/artisan members? Getting them to individually attend an eight-to-ten month course comprised of four 10-hour workshops and up to six two-hour interim sessions, as a highly regarded program in Montana does, requires a significant amount of commitment from the artists/artisans.
  • The Montana program is indeed interesting and useful, as well as a model for similar efforts in other states. In Montana, it has improved the entrepreneurial skills of 400+ artists over 5 years, resulting in impressive increased net sales of 397% with a 44% increase in out-of-state sales, on average, since participating in the program. Nevertheless, I still find myself asking: could the development of a program aimed at making coops more successful be a cheaper and more productive way of meeting the technical assistance needs of artists and artisans (7)?    

I do not know of anyone who has addressed the question of how to make arts coops more stable and successful. Someone perhaps should take a stab at it.

 Vendor Marts. I have long been familiar with antiques malls, but somehow vendor malls, their kin, had not been on my radar until I recently came across one in a smaller community in Upstate NY.  However, I had seen one in a downtown in NJ a few years ago that was being pitched as a retail incubator in the owners attempt to win support from the downtown’s EDO and city officials.

Indeed, my recently aroused interest in vender malls is precisely because of their incubation and STEE  capabilities:

  • They provide small, maybe about 150 SF,  and comparatively affordable spaces, maybe about $2,700/yr,  for aspiring retailers, artists and artisans.
  • The vendors must “mind the store” and be behind the cash register for at least a few days a month, so they can get some retail experience. For many artists and artisans, whose primary concern is creating, not selling, this can be a very attractive feature.
  • Vendors that do well then can “graduate” and lease a regular storefront elsewhere in the downtown or town. The vendor mall I recently visited in Upstate NY had just had such a graduate.

Any competent downtown EDO should be able to set up a vendor mart in an empty storefront. It could increase the incubation capabilities of the vendor mart by helping the vendors learn about available technical assistance providers and then helping the vendors to connect with the TA providers. Of course, if the downtown already has a vendor mall, it could similarly increase their incubation capabilities.  

Project Generated Local Investment Groups. A few years ago, in the twin cities of Scottsbluff and Gering in Nebraska, I came across informal investment groups that were formed within the local business community. One such group, for example, has helped the development of a new hotel in downtown Gering. I recently heard of similar type group being formedt o help fund the significant expansion of a local craft brewery in a smaller community also located in Upstate NY. The town may well have lost the craft brewery had not the local investment group emerged and taken action.

These groups usually are formed in response to a public need that has been identified by local officials or by well-known private sector needs.   

Opportunity Zones (OZs). Recent congressional action has significantly increased the capital investment incentives that can be offered in OZs.  While many in the economic development community are waiting to see how those incentives are used and the positive impacts they produce, there now is a hopeful optimism that those incentives can be powerful.

I have come across a number of downtowns that are entirely or partially covered by OZs, but do not tout them very much. Perhaps their new incentives are just too new for local leaders to figure out how they can be used. It also may be that the incentives go to Qualified Opportunity Zone Funds:

“A Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund is any investment vehicle which is organized as a corporation or a partnership for the purpose of investing in qualified opportunity zone property (other than another qualified opportunity fund) that holds at least 90 percent of its assets in qualified opportunity zone property (8).”

Many REITs and other commercial real estate investment funds are making OZ investments. For smaller towns to attract these big time investors, they will have to market the opportunities offered in the OZs  and compete for the available investment dollars.

Might it be better to have the local residents and businesspeople who participate in the informal investment groups form their own QualifiedOpportunity Zone Fund?  

Some Final Comments

Since I published the white paper I have been repeatedly impressed by what I have found in the smaller towns I have visited and read about. (See especially: “Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey Into the Heart ofAmerica” by Deborah Fallows and James Fallows). I certainly recognized that they have significant challenges, but I also found a large number of capable and inventive people and capable organizations. Together, they are often building communities rich in their quality of life, if so far not in household incomes and corporate profits. There are often substantial human, organizational and economic resources in these communities that go unnoticed by outsiders and locals alike. Rather than disappearing, I expect that within the next 10 years or so our smaller communities, especially those within a three-hour drive of a major city, will become “hot” and attract many new residents and jobs. And that’s the view of a dyed in the wool New Yorker, who may like to visit smaller towns, but would never live fulltime in one – unless he has to.  

Endnotes

1) See: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tnwdomfzwrkv5i1/White-Paper-Toward-an-Effective-Economic-Development-Strategy-for-Smaller-Communities-1.pdf?dl=0

2) Jim Metcalf. “Small Towns as Business Incubators.” SCORE Blog, March 29, 2018. https://www.score.org/blog/small-towns-business-incubators

3) “According to the 2012 GlobalEntrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Report, 69 percent of all businesses are started from home and 59 percent are still operating from their homes three years later. Additionally, ‘only one-fourth of the entrepreneurs surveyed stated they had no employees working for their businesses. Given the high prevalence of entrepreneurs operating at home (two-thirds of Total Entrepreneurial Activity),this finding suggests that many actually had employees in their home-based businesses.’” Melissa Davidson. “FOCUSING ON HOME-BASED BUSINESSES: The Forgotten Sector. IEDC EconomicDevelopment Journal,  Volume 17 / Number 1/ Winter 2018, pp.11-18, p 11.

4) Ibid.

5). N, David Milder,  “Quality-of-Life Based Retail Recruitment: CommunitiesWith Populations Under 35,000,” IEDC Economic Development Journal,  Volume 16 / Number 3 / Summer 2017. Seealso:  Brooke Lea Foster. “Forget theSuburbs, It’s Country or Bust  “ New York Times, Dec. 14, 2018    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/14/realestate/forget-the-suburbs-its-country-or-bust.html

6) There’s even a librarian guide to makerspaces. See: https://oedb.org/ilibrarian/a-librarians-guide-to-makerspaces/

7) For the Montana program see: https://art.mt.gov/map. “Artists in the program (2009-2014) report increased net sales of 397% with a44% increase in out-of-state sales on average since participating in the program, proving that the program works. The Montana Artrepreneur Program has earned national acclaim and has impacted nearly 400 artists across Montana.” “FY2019Activities

8) See:  https://www.wellsfargo.com/the-private-bank/insights/planning/wpu-qualified-opportunity-zones/

Downtown Tourism: Boon or Bane?

By N. David Milder

Introduction

As my years spent in the downtown revitalization field increased, I gradually realized that I unconsciously had been working with the view that bigger and better defined a successful downtown. With time, I also realized –perhaps in an embarrassingly late fashion — that making a downtown better was much more important than making it bigger. Indeed, for many communities, a bigger downtown would essentially change the whole character of the town.

As I came to realize that better was more important than bigger, I also began to think more critically about tourism. Downtowns large and small are often lured into economic growth strategies with large tourist attraction components. NYC’s mayors and economic development agencies, for example,  for decades have targeted tourist growth and lauded how many millions are attracted annually, how much money they spend, and how many jobs they generate. Smaller communities, especially those in rural areas, often see tourism as a major way to overcome the small populations and low consumer spending power in their market areas. It is often seen as a way to strengthen a Main Street’s retail shops. Well regarded organizations that work to support Main Street and downtown revitalization often suggest increasing tourism as a viable component of an economic growth strategy – as do many economic development consultants. Unfortunately, tourism can be a two edged strategic sword, a boon or a bane – or even a boon and  a bane. In my experience, too may downtown andMain Street leaders leap at a tourist growth strategy without properly thinking through its possible drawbacks as well as its advantages

Some Boons and Banes

The Character of the Community. Over the past year, several articles have appeared that indicate that I am far from the only one who is concerned about what is, for me, the worst  possible drawback about tourism: that too many tourists can change the character of a downtown and/or the community in which it is located. For example, the November 18, 2018 edition of the Washington Post had an article headlined:

“DETOURING. Top world destinations are overrun. Take our suggestions for roads not taken.”

Earlier in the year, the German newspaper Der Spiegel noted that European tourism officials were reporting frequent problems of “overtourism,”where too many tourists and/or unacceptable tourist behavior threaten to severely diminish the very attractions that lure the tourists.  In response, local officials:

“…want to redirect the streams of tourists, as officials in Rome are trying to do, or even to limit them, as Dubrovnik is doing. Barcelona is no longer approving new hotels, Paris has strictly regulated Airbnb and other apartment?rental platforms….(1)

Nicole Gelinas, in a very thoughtful article in the City Journal, has argued that:

“While much of this change ( increased global travel) is positive in economic terms, the ongoing invasion of global cities by people who stay for a few days or a few weeks can fundamentally transform the character of places whose unique charms are what attracted tourists in the first place.” (2)

Gelinas goes on to argue that in the West’s central cities, tourist pedestrian behavior has changed their character:

“Central­ city sidewalks designed decades or centuries ago can’t handle today’s foot traffic, particularly when people don’t walk like the local commuters and residents of decades ago did.Today’s pedestrians walk slowly, several abreast, stop frequently to take photos or look at maps on their ever­ available phones, and wheel bulky luggage behind them, ensuring that fast walkers can’t pass. Tourists to a large extent have become the central cities.” (3)

Unhappily, Yogi Berra’s quip that “nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded” is increasingly applicable to many of our most attractive city centers, public spaces  and arts venues. Can you really appreciate the Mona Lisa at the Louvre if you are standing 50 feet away in a dense crowd (while few are looking at the marvelous Raphael’s and Titians nearby?) Or appreciate an exhibition at NYC’s MoMA in rooms packed like a sardine can, but with people and no olive oil? Most visitors to both museums are tourists – 75% at MoMA, 70% at the Louvre.

Many NYC residents stay away from Times Square because it is too crowded, filled overwhelmingly with tourists and passé attractions – we no longer feel it is one of “our” places. It is this ability of overtourism to make local residents feel dispossessed that is most troubling.

Sadly, too,  problems being caused by tourism are not confined to large central cities. In smaller towns, it is tourism’s insidious ability to make local residents feel dispossessed that is perhaps even more troubling, because a strong sense of community is what so many residents cherish about living in them.  I have run into small town residents who feel that way in a number of communities such as Montauk, NY, Chatham, MA, and Lambertville, NJ.  Montauk used to be known as the Hampton’s blue collar community, a great, affordable place that middle income folks could go for terrific fishing, attractive beaches,  and some good, if funky, eateries. Today, it is the pricey summer recreational town for affluent hipsters. The whole tone of the town has changed.  

In a very useful article, Tomoko Tsundoda and Samuel Mendlinger looked at the economic and social impacts of tourism on the small and very attractive town of Peterborough, NH( 4). They showed that there long has been an awareness of  a number  of wide ranging impacts, both good and bad, that tourism can have. On the positive side are:

  • Increased jobs
  • More  business opportunities
  • More interesting shops and entertainments
  • Heightened demand for local housing and commercial properties
  • More tax revenues

On the negative side are:

  • Loss of the community’s character
  • Higher retail and restaurant prices
  • Higher housing prices
  • Businesses favoring tourist patrons over local resident patrons
  • Low-paying or unsustainable new jobs
  • Increased traffic and poorer air quality
  • More quality of life crimes

One of their most concerning findings was that wealthy families and working families may view the benefits of tourism quite differently.

Much can be said about each of the above impacts, but that would take a far longer article than this one. My key point here is that downtown leaders who are thinking about avidly pursing a tourist growth strategy should carefully assess these potential impacts on their communities.

Tourism as a Strategy to Improve a Downtown’s Retail

I do want to do a bit of a deep dive here because in recent years I have so often heard this argument offered by downtown leaders  to explain why a tourist growth strategy should be developed.


I would say that,  in my experience, almost invariably when clients and client prospects have suggested pursing tourist growth, their primary reason for doing so is to improve the downtown’s retail.  To put the potential benefits in some perspective, it is useful to look at how much of tourist spending goes to retail, see the table above. It shows that, for example, tourists in NY spent about $64 billion in 2016, but only about 9.9% of this hefty amount went for retail. Expenditures for recreation and entertainment were slightly larger 10.0%,while expenditures for food and beverages was much higher, 23.7%. All of these expenditures can help the types of merchants that downtown can attract – if there are those types of shops already present or if the tourist spending potential is large enough to spark their development. In many instances, these types of operations do not exist, and the tourist spending potential is not sufficient to stimulate their creation. Retail in MS accounts for a seemingly impressive 26% of tourist expenditures, but this is partially due mathematically to the extremely low expenditures for recreation and entertainment. In NC, on the other hand, tourist spending for retail rivals, in absolute dollars, those expenditures in NY, and surpasses it on a percentage basis, 20.2% to 9.9%. In NC, the percentages of tourist spending that go for both recreation-entertainment and food and beverages are relatively low, but the level of absolute dollars spent does suggest that retail merchants in that state are rather good at capturing tourist dollars.

The above table shows the percentages of tourist spending that went for food services, retail and recreation in 11 multi-county regions in PA in 2016.Retail  accounted for a lower percentage of tourist spending than food services or recreation. The highest percentage for retail expenditures among the 11 regions was 18% and the lowest was 12%.

My observations over many years suggests that towns with strong tourist sales all have strong retail offerings: outlet centers (e.g., Manchester, VT), major urban retail streets like Fifth Ave, Rodeo Drive, Michigan Ave, or ritzy tourist havens where lots of rich people have 2nd, 3rd or 4th homes (e.g.,East Hampton, Bal Harbor, Palm Beach).

Unique offerings in the other towns can indeed sell, but I hear more about how they can sell than I see merchants actually doing it.

In the towns most downtown leaders would want to emulate,  quality merchandise is offered to tourists in attractive and often charming shops.  Unfortunately, there are also towns that are tourist nightmares. I shall refrain from mentioning any of them, but they are usually busy, gaudy, and filled with a lot of shlock merchandise. As with obscenities, you know them when you see them.   

Suggested Take Aways

The above leads me to make the following observations:

  • Most downtowns should not expect tourism to be the savior of their retailing. Retail expenditures will probably typically account for only 10% to 20% of local tourist spending. Tourism can provide local retailers with the equivalent of the  whipped cream and cherry on top of a sundae, but not the two scoops of its ice cream.
  • Attractive local hotels and restaurants are likely to capture most local  tourist expenditure dollars.  Is a tourism growth effort worth it if those types of enterprises are by far the primary beneficiaries?   
  • Crappy retail shops selling crappy merchandise will usually not capture many tourist dollars.But the real danger is that, if there is a lot of such shops, they just will attract a lot of crappy tourists. This can create town – tourist problems.
  • The major retail needs in many smaller communities are grocery stores, pharmacies, a hardware store, etc., the types of neighborhood retail that tourist expenditures are unlikely to support. If tourist focused retail is dominant, and these needs are not met, then some hairy town –retailer/tourist problems can emerge.
  • To attract lots of tourists, your town needs to be well-located and accessible. If you do not have significant levels of auto traffic now, or strong nearby scenic magnets, assume that you probably cannot quickly build a base of local tourist attractions that will significantly increase the flow of tourist customers.
  • To succeed you probably need enough local attractions to keep tourists in your downtown for four times the length of time it took them to travel there.  Your downtown needs some real there, there.      
  • If there are significant tourist flows nearby and your downtown is not capturing significant traffic from them, correcting that should be the first order of business of any tourism development program.
  • Tourism that endangers the community’s character is never worth it. Why kill the goose that’s laying golden eggs?
  • Yet, tourism certainly can be beneficial for a downtown. Programs to attract more tourists should be thoughtfully designed, with an eye on possible emerging problems, not just a look at potential financial gains for local businesses and residents.

ENDNOTES

1. Der Spiegel staff. “Paradise Lost: How Tourists Are Destroying the Places They Love.”  Spiegel Online.  http://www.spiegel.de/international/paradise-lost-tourists-are-destroying-the-places-they-love-a-1223502.html . Posted: 08/21/2018 01:20 PM

2. Nicole Gelinas. “Planet Travel. Globalization has created a tourist boom in world cities—but masses of tourists create new challenges.” City Journal. August 31, 2018. https://www.city-journal.org/html/global-tourism-16143.html

3.Ibid.

4.Tomoko Tsundoda and Samuel Mendlinger, “Economic and Social Impact of Tourism on a Small Town: Peterborough New Hampshire.”  J. Service Science & Management, 2009, 2: 61-70
Published Online June 2009 in SciRes (www.SciRP.org/journal/jssm)