This is a sure"lose/lose" for all parties involved. As Kathy stated, cooperation is the key here. All stakeholders- business owners, mayors, zoning officers, landlords, community members must work together towards common goals to reverse Main Street's deterioration.

Too many Chester Main Street businesses are closing and moving elsewhere.

According to Barbieri, the Boro is "... working with a liaison to the council and we have a committee working on additional signage designs that would match the historic codes of Chester." If this is the case, then let's get things settled quickly so businesses can post appropriate signs to attract customers.

The words "liaison", "council" and "committee", however, lead me to think this will not be a speedy process. And so the exodus may likely continue.

@ Barbara, I was heartened to see so many people at the egg hunt on Saturday spend their time walking around Main Street after the even ended. There was even a nice crowd of people eating at Once Upon a Table. It was a huge difference from previous weekends where I have seen Main Street in Chester virtually empty while similar places in Andover and Westfield were packed with shoppers. I think Chester still has a great shot when they spark interest and get folks into town.

@Kat...I understand your point. But unfortunately to get something like this done it is going to take time. I am expecting an update from Kathy soon with more info but I know she would like anyone with concerns to reach out to her and attend HCBA meetings so people know the latest and can track progress. My understanding is there is more communication than before, which is always a good thing.

Russ- It would be interesting to know if the people at the egg hunt were primarily Chester residents, or "out of towners." Also, did the local merchants see a spike in business? Anyone doing any market research?

Interesting question, Barbara. I know they were using coupon books and trying to engage folks to find out more about them. I mean, I saw a spike just being there for a few hours...what that translates into I don't know. The shift seems to be pretty heavy in terms of Chester not being as much of a destination town as it used to be.
All good questions, though. And I will discuss them with the HCBA.

I don't know if the owner of the store will read this, but a little advice: As the former owner of a succesful business on main street (we left town when the economy went south and the dope who owned the building wanted to keep raising the rent-i think he now gets about half of what I was paying-oops!) when the town zoning officer started in with the sign nonsense we hired Mr. Fox the local attorney to fight them about everything non-stop. It cost a few $, but by the third zoning officer they gave up, we never changed anything, and were never fined. Bring a gun to a knife fight and you generally win.

Re: Barbara's question....this is the first year that I saw a significant boost in traffic in my store for about an hour after the egg hunt. It is simply a matter of numbers; this was the best attended egg hunt ever, largely due to the fantastic weather as well as it being a growing event. I might add that the HCBA considers the egg hunt to be something we do for the community as opposed to other events that we sponsor with the primary objective being to bring shoppers to Chester. Also, I believe a large proportion of the "egg hunters" are Chester Borough and Twp. residents, but the event does draw from all off our surrounding communities, who by the way are key to the success of Chester's retail community. The Chesters simply don' have the population to Support Main Street on their own.

Thanks for taking the time to answer Steve! Very much appreciated.

Steve- I think you hit the nail on the head with your last sentence. The population can no longer support Main Street. The external "draw" to Main Street used to be the antique shops that are virtually all gone.

I am not sure what sort of store you have, but as a long time Chester resident with kids who are beyond "egg hunt" age, what does Main Street offer me? I don't need more candles, wind chimes or used clothes :)

Marketing 101's lesson is to "give the customer what they want" and the HCBA might want to do a community (and beyond) outreach to find out what that is.

The Farmer's Market is a great initiative that DOES attract locals. It should be expanded to a year-round program.

I think there are other problems that keep people (both local and from afar) from visiting Main Street. One of them is the fact that it looks "run down" not like a vibrant and "fun" place. Earlier today, I drove by the building housing Taylor's. Shame on the landlord.

If people are to come shop on Main Street, a collaborative pact among all stakeholders must be signed! That means landlords, government, store owners and the community. Figure out what you (collectively) want the end result to be and then work backwards to achieve it. There are lots of very smart people in town. Enlist their expertise in bringing Chester back.

Marketing 101 may teach "give the customer what they want", but what it does not teach is how to achieve it. There is only one entity that has control over what type of businesses (shops) that come to town and it is not the Borough, other retailers nor the business association. It is the landlords, and as much as I too would like to see a more diversified mix of stores, I understand their position. If a property owner has a space that has been open for 6 months and another what I call "me too store" comes along, he is going to rent his property.

Again to the business association, in our goals and objectives we recognize landlords as one of four key stake holders in Chester. We have been and will continue to reach out to retail property owners for a number of reasons, one being the importance of a good mix of customer attractive stores for the long term viability of Chester's retail community.