Happy Valentine’s Day! I’m blessed to have met and married my Valentine over four decades ago (and NOT decades of the Rosary though I have had a few of those said on my behalf in my time).
These words today are not necessarily about her, but about where we’ve come to call home. I have a sticker on the back window of my auto (and some have suggested an invisible tattoo approximating the same idea on my heart) expressing my fondness for this city so you need to know that going in.
We came to Norwich with two young children more than twenty-five years ago and, like you, have lost count of all the grand schemes and big ideas that ‘will turn Norwich around.’ While past performance has too often not matched promise in terms of progress, I believe we have cause to be cautiously confident.
A journey of a thousand miles says the proverb, begins with a first step, and that, I submit, has already been taken. Admittedly, the seven-foot sheet metal man known as Sweezor would have difficulty walking and yet as you should have read last Friday, he has made his way to Foundry 66. And based on the hub of activity that address has become in a little more than a year after it got started, he arrived not a moment too soon.
What’s that? You don’t live in downtown Norwich, so what’s my point?
Glad you asked! Have a seat.
We’ve all heard/read stories how, once upon a time, ‘shopping malls’ devastated downtowns and the businesses that were there and then, decades later, how computers and connectivity created the Internet which, in turn, spawned online shopping and begat Amazon, Destroyer of American Retail, and if we can’t get people "off of Amazon," all is lost in terms of economic revival.
Except we’re not going to get off of Amazon and we need to accept that and move on. I concede buggy whips don’t sell these days, online or retail, the way they once did, but in the age of Amazon, perhaps a more attainable and sustainable goal for brick and mortar merchants of all stripes everywhere is to offer and assure enhanced customer service and experiences which exceed online shoppers' expectations.
And in case you haven’t been downtown, that’s exactly what’s been happening. The retail revolution on almost every corner is driven by the little engine that could, and does, Foundry 66, called an incubator, a sparkmaker, a test pad, a drawing board, and a dozen other sobriquets. It’s all in the same location and so easy to find you can’t miss it. They have Sweezor in the lobby. Bring the kids and take a selfie.
And take a look around while you’re at it because the distinguishing characteristic about the businesses which flank Foundry 66, both These Guys Brewing and Epicure is the positive experiences their expanding legions of patrons continue to enjoy. And that enjoyment, marketing folks call it ‘buzz,’ is building and echoing across downtown.
Take a walk around. There’s Encore Justified, Doll Me Up BKS, Rose City Athletics, (almost) countless restaurants offering unique menus for whatever you feel like, as well as a half dozen and more other retailers, all redefining Norwich as the place for goods and services found nowhere else.
And by all accounts the best is yet to come; not brag, fact. So, if you enjoy feeling bad about living here, you’ll need to move. Foundry 66 is helping make Norwich better and improving our quality of life, opportunities and revenue streams, and the ripples from downtown successes are being felt across the city.
I’m not saying Norwich is perfect, not even on Valentine’s Day, far from it. But what needs fixing can be done by everyone in Norwich to include Foundry 66, as a model and a great example of what we can do when we make up our minds and do it.
No comments:
Post a Comment