Dec 14, 2009

Marketing Main Street for the holidaysBy Cynthia HenryPhilly.com

Snow squalls are in the forecast for Collingswood’s business district through Christmas Eve, creating a winter wonderland for shoppers and diners.

“It’s very Bedford Falls,” borough spokeswoman Cassandra Duffey said.

Facing tough competition from malls and chain stores, Main Streets from Collingswood to Doylestown are working hard this year to market themselves to shoppers on limited budgets. Merchants are working together on discounts, sponsoring giveaways, and revamping traditions. A free parking meter doesn’t cut it anymore.

Last holiday season, the Collingswood business improvement district diverted several thousand advertising dollars to rent snowmaking machines in the hope that impromptu flurries would generate excitement and foot traffic. The machines are at it again, pumping out flakes for store events and weekend caroling under the town’s quarter-million twinkling lights.

“It snows at different spots on Haddon Avenue. People love it,” Mayor Jim Maley said. “It certainly adds to what Collingswood is at the holidays: a hometown.”

“Everyone is looking to find out what’s going to work postcrash,” said Bill Fontana, executive director of Pennsylvania Downtown Center, a statewide nonprofit dedicated to the revitalization of older communities.

An event like West Chester’s Jingle Elf Run, he said, can acquaint consumers with a business district they didn’t know existed.

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