Centralia Square Antique Mall

Historic Downtown Centralia is home to over 350 antique dealers who display their inventory in over 15 downtown locations. Centralia Square Antique Mall, located at 201 S. Pearl Street is the largest and most diverse of all of the antique venues in Centralia. Centralia Square Antique Mall calls the former multi-story Grand Elk’s Lodge home. At Centralia Square you will find a huge selection of art glass, pottery, china, vintage toys, rail road collectibles, books, prints, estate jewelry, furniture and collectables of every kind. Centralia Square features all authentic antiques – no reproductions.

Centralia Square is one of three antique malls owned by the same folks who have been in the antiques business for over 30 years. You can find in formation about the Star Center Mall of Snohomish and Lafayette School House in Lafayette, Oregon at http://www.myantiquemall.com .

WA State Main Street Conference on Downtown Revitalization ~ A Huge Success!

This past week I had the opportunity to attend the WA State Main Street Conference on Downtown Revitalization in Wenatchee, WA. What an amazing conference! It was awesome to interact with about 200 folks who LOVE their downtowns and are doing something about improving them. It is always energizing to be around other like minded passionate people committed to the cause that mirrors your own! The Centralia Downtown Association was represented by current President, Dan Henderson, Secretary Sue Horwrath from Up the Creek Antiques on Tower Avenue and board member and Vice Chair of the Economic Restructuring Committee, Mayor Tim Browning.

The focus of the conference was education, education, education! The workshops varied from learning the basics of the Four Point Main Street Program for beginners, to the benefits of public art and how art positively impacts a community economically. It was great to meet several folks face to face that we have been chatting with over the years on the phone, make many new friends and connect with others who have been along side of us on our revitalization/rehabilitation journey.

The 11 designated Main Street communities in the state of WA were all represented. Wednesday night during the networking social before the awards banquet, several of the communities hosted table top displays depicting the great elements that they have created to promote their downtown. It was awesome to imagine Centralia getting to that place where we can help educate others on the process that we endured in order to become an official Main Street downtown. There were some fantastic ideas represented. Downtown maps, self guided walking tour/maps with historical points of interest detailed, food & entertainment guides, public space improvement displays, samples of canvas display flags that hang from the light posts promoting downtown, art projects - - SO many fantastic ideas on workable projects that downtown organizations have completed for the benefit of the Main Street community – it was really inspiring!

I took substantial notes and will be sharing more in the days and weeks to come. To my loyal readers, sorry for the delay in posting – the WIFI at my hotel was not working and I did not have time to find a hot spot with the conference schedule being so full. :-)

Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing you a Happy Mother's Day blog friends!

Celebrate the Mother in your life today ~ you began your journey in this life in her arms. I am grateful for my Mother - God knew exactly the Mother for me. Yours was hand selected for you also. May your day be filled with love and laughter.

Historic Centralia ~ Attracting MORE Tourists...

One of the aspects of the Wilson Hotel rehabilitation that we have recently been developing through our business plan model, is the element of the project that addresses the future value of Centralia being a “tourist destination.” We have been collecting data to support that end, primarily in the area of heritage tourism and the draw that historic districts bring to the traveling public at large.

Through the process of building our data bank of research for our project, we sometimes stumble across interesting information that is related to the greater picture of historic Centralia. One recent resource we discovered was the Shop America Alliance web site.

The Shop America Alliance represents hundreds of the nations premier shopping & dining destinations, which offer tourism programs specifically designed for travelers from both domestic and international ports of origin. This organization partners to offer a wide variety of entertainment options for travelers of all ages from coast to coast.

The SAA founded a study called, “Tourism 101: Basic Information for Selling to Tourists.” We have included several noteworthy discoveries documented in this study in our business Performa for the Wilson Hotel project. We wanted to take the opportunity to share a few highlights here on the blog since we found this information helpful in understanding the importance of the retail sales community in tourist destinations both historic and modern day.

$703 billion is spent annually in both domestic and international markets on tourism

$1.3 TRILLION in direct, indirect and induced travel expenditures, including international travelers’ spending in the United States alone

This spending accounts for $105 billion in tax revenue for local, state and federal governments

Direct spending averages $1.8 billion per day in the United States; $75 million per hour; $1.2 million per minute; and $21,000 per second

Shopping & dining are the top two travel activities in the United States

Cultural and heritage tourism is # 3 !!! *wow*

Travelers who engage in shopping and cultural or heritage tourism spend more, stay longer and have better travel experiences overall Who is the demographic of the Cultural & Heritage Tourism Traveler?

Baby Boomers born 1946-1964 -

Trips are longer, allowing for in-depth exploration at a leisurely pace

Trips are often themed or educational

As grandparents, boomers are now the force behind multi-generational travel experiences

Boomers spend an average of $2,995 on 4.2 trips each year

Tourists are defined as visitors traveling over 100 miles and staying overnight. These visitors are different from your local visitors. Marketing to both segments is critical. Development of a strategic marketing plan that addresses these elements is currently under way within the Centralia Downtown Association. The CDA is following the Main Street Program approach through this process.

Interestingly a good number of tourists stay with family or friends and go where they are taken or directed by their hosts. That is why it is so important to market on a local scale and also to the greater tourist population outside the 100 mile radius. This concept specifically relates to the relationship between the attitude and perception that the local community has about the downtown historic district in Centralia. Improving the image of downtown in the eyes of the immediate community is critical to the revitalization of downtown. In a localized market hosts typically take their guests to the venues that they feel best represent their community. If there are particular places of interest, landmark sites, historic sites of entertainment, or a “best of” location, that is where local hosts will take their guest to “show it off.” Tourists that stay in hotels are also most interested in visiting “local favorites” or “local hot spots.”

46% of retailers surveyed in this study indicated that more than half of their retail sales come from tourists. 75% said that 25% or more of their sales come from tourists. It is clear that a promotion of tourism enhances retails sales in a historic downtown setting.

Three questions are useful in increasing the awareness of proper marketing techniques that will reach the identified target audience of tourists.

Who is your tourism customer?

How can you identify and track tourists?

What motivates tourists to shop and spend more?

The Chronicle Newspaper in Centralia published an article on Monday with some great statistics about the financial impact that tourism brings to Lewis County - here are the numbers from the newspaper:

"Tourism brings in lots of people and their wallets. According to the Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, tourism brought in $168.5 million to Lewis County in 2006. Most was spent on fuel, food and beverage services, shopping, and overnight accommodations.

Tourism funded a bit more than 2,000 jobs in 2006 in Lewis County. And if you examine tourism just north of Lewis County and the newly-opened Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound -- an indoor waterpark on steroids -- you’ll have to add an estimated $100 million more in tourism spending, as that facility anticipates visits each year by about 400,000 people.

For us living in Lewis County, we need to join in with those coming from out of our area. Too often, the people living in such a spectacular place such as ours neglect to immerse themselves with what that area has to offer. With that, we point to a few of the highlights of places to go and events to take in as detailed in our tourism guide.

The Southwest Washington Fair, from Aug. 12-17, brings us the traditional fair experience, from kids and their animals, to all the tasty and fattening food, to rides and concerts and more. It is a must visit for us locals. Don’t miss the Chicago concert on Friday night.

Centralia’s Summerfest, on July 4. Enjoy a day of games and entertainment at Fort Borst Park, followed by a parade, a smash-’em-up demolition derby, and ending with a big fireworks show at the fairgrounds."

Mark your calender for the Fair & the Summer Fest - - both great family and community events! Tourism is on the upward swing in Lewis County and downtown Centralia has everything to gain by working to attract a greater number of visitors from outside of the area.

Fruffles ~ An Inspired Space in Historic Downtown Centralia

Downtown Centralia, WA is a delightful historic downtown that is rapidly developing a new personality thanks to folks like David & Tony, owners of Fruffles. Fruffles is located at 119 W. Magnolia, on the corner of Magnolia St. and Pearl Avenue, in the first floor corner unit of the historic Lewis & Clark Hotel building.

Honestly, you would expect to find a Fruffles in L.A., New York, Chicago or Paris even. David and Tony formerly owned an antique store in the heart of Seattle - - so you will find a cosmopolitan blend of home décor items that are timeless as well as trend setting in their store. David, is an interior designer by trade and the new Fruffles location has allowed both David and Tony to offer residential and commercial design services as well as consulting.

From curtains to dinnerware, Fruffles offers a little something for everyone ~ including chocolate truffles! Your mind will be filled with new decorating ideas the minute you walk in the door! Truly an “inspired space,” David & Tony have brought a whole new level of “design style” to the Centralia historic district.

If you are planning a trip through historic Centralia – add Fruffles to your list of “must see” locations!

Girl's Day/Night Out Event Pictures ~ FUN Day!!!

Bringing the "Locals" Back Downtown ~ Destination Downtown! Girl's Day/Night Out A Big Success!!!

There are many factors that contribute to a downtown area being the “center of economics” in a community. Centralia’s downtown is currently on the path to become designated as an official “Main Street” downtown. Thriving downtown areas that are historical in character are an obvious draw for heritage tourist visitors – but what about the local population becoming re-interested in a downtown as it goes through a revitalization process?

Interestingly, one of the prominent conditions of blight in an area is when the local community “gives up” on their downtown and stops frequenting the downtown sector for goods and services. Business then dries up and storefronts become more empty than filled. One of the challenges for a downtown area that is on the path of revitalization, is to change the perception of the local community about the downtown area and bring back the locals as downtown patrons.

The blight process takes time as the economics decline in a downtown city center. As the local community abandons the downtown sector they find other sources for goods and services outside of the downtown core. The challenge then becomes luring the locals back to the downtown and changing their attitude regarding what “downtown” is all about. Just as the economic downtown took time, reintroducing the local community to a “new downtown” takes time as well.

Revitalization is a process. Most statistics indicate that rebuilding of a “new and better” downtown area is about a 10-12 year process depending on the severity of the blight conditions and the impact the blight conditions had on the local economy. The true mark of successful revitalization downtown is the attraction of both visitors and locals alike. The goal is to attract people back to the “heart” of downtown and in doing so winning over their hearts for downtown.


According to the UWEX web site, “many downtowns no longer have the traditional department stores that once anchored “main street.” Long gone are the days when Downtown was the one-stop shopping center for the community. Further, in today’s competitive retail market, many chains continue to bypass downtown in their site selection process.”

The goal is to build on downtown’s sense of “place” as a destination where the needs of the local community can be met. The support of “buying and supporting locally owned business” is a critical component to the process. The success of this transition in the thinking of the local community, is the attitude and perception that the business mix in the downtown core can “meet the needs” of the local patron. The local community must “buy into” the concept that their needs CAN be met downtown. They must believe that the goods and services in the downtown are worthy of the effort required to travel there instead of a strip mall, box store mall or other retail shopping establishment.

The process of reintroducing the local population to the “all new downtown” is an essential function of the downtown association. Successful downtowns must be beloved by their citizens. Centralia city leaders have shown a great affection for the historic downtown through the streetscape improvement project and rehabilitation of the historic train depot station. The Centralia City Council has shown great public and private support for the revitalization process. The next step is getting the local community to “fall in love again” with downtown.

This process involves rebuilding the loyalty that used to exist in downtown patrons before the blight conditions existed. The downtown city center used to be the “hub” of the Centralia community. Historic photos document the hustle and bustle that the city center used to thrive upon. These positive economic conditions can be restored and even improved upon. The historic downtown has the potential to be a more thriving economic environment than it ever was in the past.

To successfully reacquaint the local community with the revitalized downtown takes just as much effort as attracting tourists and visitors to an area. This process requires a strategic plan of local marketing. This involves reaching out to the local community through activities and events similar to the Halloween Trick or Treat event that took place this past October. The goal is to get the citizens of Centralia back downtown. Special events that reach out to the community at large are critical. They need to happen often and the events need to be family friendly.

The most recent event this past Saturday, "Girl's Day/Night Out" proved to be another event that brought out many local community members who have not seen downtown as a "local attraction/destination" to meet the everyday need of their lives. Many of the patrons who came into the newest boutique store on Tower Avenue, Christella's Closet were making comments about downtown. "I had no idea that many of these stores were even here", "wow, downtown is really cleaning up!", "Centralia downtown is starting to become a swanky little downtown", "It is so great to see downtown changing" and the list of positive comments goes on... These are all impressions that have a lasting impact on drawing the community to frequent the downtown sector.

Additional critical components of this community outreach process include retail promotion, landscaping and beautification, safety and security for the patrons, and retail and business promotion. The “downtown experience” cannot be found in a big box store. Strip malls and shopping malls can never replace the feeling or appeal of a restored historic downtown.

As the new Centralia Downtown Association move forward with the formation of the committees there will be ample opportunity for the downtown business owners, building owners and community at large to get involved with the process of marketing downtown to the great folks who live here in Centralia.

Successful Branding is MORE Than Slogans & Logos - Basics of Branding a Downtown

As I posted a few days ago in my entry about building a ‘brand’ of Historic Hub City, Centralia, WA; according to Destination Development branding your community involves more than slogans and logos. The following is another segment with some very interesting facts about branding. Destination Development is one of the leading companies dedicated to helping cities establish a “brand” of their city and establishing a proven marketing plan to attract YEAR ROUND visitors. Their approach impacts the bottom line and raises the economic conditions to a whole new level. We have found this information most helpful as we traverse the challenge of bettering our Wilson Hotel marketing and promotion plan.

Slogans and logos are ineffective in building a brand without product to back up the claim to fame. And that product MUST be different or better than everyone else’s product. That’s why automakers and fast-food restaurants spend millions of dollars differentiating themselves from each other – in spite of the fact that many of them offer similar, if not exactly the very same product.

Furthermore, branding is all about setting yourself apart from the competition in terms of attractions, activities, and overall image. Ninety-six percent of all counties in the U.S. promote outdoor recreation as one of their primary activities. Nearly sixty percent of the counties in Texas promote bird watching. If I can enjoy the activity in the county next door, then why travel halfway across the state for the same thing? However, if you have the “best” bird watching in Texas, and you have Audubon (and other organizations) to back you up on the claim, then perhaps you will be worth a special trip and an extended stay. In these modern times, small town economies have drastically changed across the United States. Communities originally founded on their natural resources are losing their primary industries. The reduction in mining has devastated dozens of communities, timber dependent communities are hurting, agricultural areas are feeling the pinch, and so are fishing communities and ranchers. The fastest growing industry in the world is tourism and every year another 2,000 communities decide to compete for a share of the pie.

To make up for their lost industries, nearly every city in the U.S. is trying to attract visitors, new residents, and/or new businesses. Competition is fierce. Government subsidies and support is lessening. Everyone needs an edge. Successful communities need to see themselves as a business. What will it take to attract customers? How can you set yourself apart from everyone else? What do you have that makes you the ideal choice?The Ten Rules of Branding were built from reviewing dozens of case histories around the U.S. The successful ones have followed a very similar path to these rules:

1) Start with a vision – an idea.

2) Make sure it’s different or the best. Golf courses, a historic downtown, wineries, bird watching, fishing, and boating are not different. What do you have that is different, or is so much better than everyone else that you’re worth the extra drive or a flight? You may have to create something.

3) Work tirelessly to bring others into the idea. Get support from local chambers, economic development organizations, service clubs.

4) Make sure events capitalize on the brand, following the “theme.”

5) Product development is critical. Invest heavily in product development, then as the product grows, expand the marketing effort increasing public relations, advertising, and outside sales efforts.

6) Make the marketing of your brand your primary emphasis. It doesn’t mean you have nothing else to offer, it just becomes the primary lure to the community.

7) You’ll be much more effective as one loud voice than a bunch of little voices. Create cooperative marketing programs, develop and encourage public/private partnerships in both marketing and in product development. (Think of the new possibilities that will exist through the Centralia Downtown Association)

Get the local governing body to endorse the theme and work to protect and enhance it.

9) Never stop selling. One thing about branding is that you will never get everyone to agree with your idea. But you move forward anyway. Not everyone is very pleased about the success of Branson, MO – country entertainment capitol of the world. There are always a few locals who’ll complain about the traffic.

10) The product development effort never stops. Even Disneyland recently opened up California Adventure. You don’t want to be a “been there, done that” community. Communities that rest on their laurels will eventually be pushed aside for the next best thing.

Successful branding efforts require following a business plan, which is different for each community. A Community Assessment, which gives you a clear look at your community’s attractions and drawbacks can be a helpful tool in knowing where and how to begin the branding effort.Here are a few branding examples:

1) Solvang, California branded itself as a Danish town and is now one of the most visited small communities in the west. Its brand is also its theme – it’s an architectural and event driven brand. 2) Durham, North Carolina is now known as the “Weight Loss Capital of the U.S.” A well-known diet author opened up a heralded weight-loss clinic. Then came another, then another, and soon, just as in Branson, the brand began to build. New visitors coming to Durham to lose weight are forbidden to enter the area of town where the fast-food restaurants are located. Naturally, this area of town is known as “Sin City.”

3) Texans know that Austin has been branded the “Live Music Capital of the World,” although it’s slowly losing that title to the likes of Branson, MO. That’s why product development can never stop. In the case of Austin, the community is beginning to lose some of its venues that helped build the brand.

4) The City of Huntsville, Texas is working hard to shed its brand as a prison town, and is repositioning itself as the “Home of Sam Houston.” After all, Huntsville is home to Sam Houston State University, the gravesite of Sam Houston and much of his family, and has the terrific Sam Houston Memorial Museum. The community’s landmark may be the most photographed site in Texas: the 67 foot tall Sam Houston statue. Even local events follow the life of Sam Houston.The critical element in building a brand is to start with product development before a full-tilt marketing effort. Can you imagine what would have happened if Disney had rolled out a national marketing program promoting only the Matterhorn before the rest of the park was built?When it comes to economic development, many communities promote inexpensive land, quick turnaround time on permits, a great quality of life, good schools, a quality workforce, easy access and transportation routes, existing buildings, top-notch infrastructure, etc. What makes you different or the best? Every person or business who moves to your community will shop your community first as a visitor. Tourism is the front door to your community, and tourism is the best foundation for building your brand.If you want visitors, new businesses and residents to choose your community when there are dozens of others to choose from, you need to let them know the difference between your cows and the cows next door.

Some of my thoughts as they relate to this article…

Obviously this excerpt closely reflects the same stream of development as the Main Street Program approach. All of these same concepts relate to small business development marketing as well. Taking the time and investing the energy to develop a significant branding program takes commitment. As budding hoteliers, our primary objective is to attract the traveling patron to our hotel in the historic downtown area, verses staying in a ‘chain’ or ‘flag ship’ brand or budget economy brand closer to the I-5 freeway. Understanding ‘who’ our hotel guest will be is essential to the critical step of reaching them with what we have to offer – a newly rehabilitated historic hotel with charm, atmosphere and soon to be swanky downtown location.

We have found that when most folks think about a ‘brand,’ they immediately connect the word to a mass market concept like Target, Walmart or McDonalds, when in fact, a ‘brand’ can be a single location or business entity. It has been helpful for us to better understand this concept in our own efforts, by thinking of the word ‘brand’ in parallel to the word ‘reputation’ or perhaps even ‘character.’ In the beginning, it was challenging to think of the town of Solvang, CA as a brand, but we could link the idea of the reputation of Solvang as being a Danish town built around great architecture and amazing Danish related events. This differs from the concept of having a ‘theme’ to a town. A theme may or may not relate to the overall concept of a town or business’ authentic offerings.

All of this relates directly to the revamping of the ‘image’ of the historic downtown in Centralia – a prominent focus of the new CDA. It surely applies to the former reputation of the famous Wilson Hotel. Interestingly, we have noticed that as historic downtowns that we have studied become rehabilitated and restored to vital thriving economic city centers – the town image is also rehabilitated. The next step is to brand the new image and market it like crazy to bring the people to town.

For more information about Destination Development visit http://www.destinationdevelopment.com

New Urbanism = Historic Urbanism

One of the development concepts that we have been doing a lot of research on is ‘new urbanism.’ We have been taking an interest to study successful historic downtown areas that have been restored to thriving city centers, as well as areas that are adopting the modern development model of new urbanism.

In essence – new urbanism is really historic urbanism. If you look at how city centers were established pre-1900 you will notice that almost all downtown areas were bustling economic centers with a high level of density. Looking further back in historical times to the towns across Europe you will find this urban model mimics itself over and over - - why… because it was a successful way to build new urban centers for commerce and ultimately sustainability.

The Main Street Program also closely mirrors the concept of new urbanism or historic urbanism as we prefer to call it. The Main Street Program deals specifically with the rejuvenation of the economic component of a city center revitalization. Additionally, the Main Street principles that support the ‘livability’ of a city center are in concert with the ‘urbanism’ approach.

Following you will find the 10 Principles of New Urbanism taken from the http://www.newurbanism.org web site. In reading them you will see how closely they reflect the city scape of Centralia, WA and many other historic downtowns. The key to the success of this model is the economic revitalization that will occur as more people move into the downtown core and see the viability of living there and creating an enjoyable life in the city center.

As you read through these principles, consider what Centralia, WA USED to be - - can you see how the revitalization process can restore the city center to the vital and economically robust community that it used to be? We CAN, and that is why our investment dollars are hard at work rehabilitating the famous Historic Wilson Hotel in the heart of the historic district of Hub City!

The revitalization of Hub City will ultimately be the restoration of historic urbanism in Centralia.

Here are the 10 New Urbanism Principles:

1. Walkability
-Most things within a 10-minute walk of home and work
-Pedestrian friendly street design (buildings close to street; porches, windows & doors; tree-lined streets; on street parking; hidden parking lots; garages in rear lane; narrow, slow speed streets)
-Pedestrian streets free of cars in special cases

2. Connectivity
-Interconnected street grid network disperses traffic & eases walking
-A hierarchy of narrow streets, boulevards, and alleys
-High quality pedestrian network and public realm makes walking pleasurable

3. Mixed-Use & Diversity
-A mix of shops, offices, apartments, and homes on site. Mixed-use within neighborhoods, within blocks, and within buildings
-Diversity of people - of ages, income levels, cultures, and races

4. Mixed Housing
A range of types, sizes and prices in closer proximity

5. Quality Architecture & Urban Design
Emphasis on beauty, aesthetics, human comfort, and creating a sense of place; Special placement of civic uses and sites within community. Human scale architecture & beautiful surroundings nourish the human spirit.

6. Traditional Neighborhood Structure
-Discernable center and edge
-Public space at center
-Importance of quality public realm; public open space designed as civic art
-Contains a range of uses and densities within 10-minute walk
-Transect planning: Highest densities at town center; progressively less dense towards the edge. The transect is an analytical system that conceptualizes mutually reinforcing elements, creating a series of specific natural habitats and/or urban lifestyle settings. The Transect integrates environmental methodology for habitat assessment with zoning methodology for community design. The professional boundary between the natural and man-made disappears, enabling environmentalists to assess the design of the human habitat and the urbanists to support the viability of nature. This urban-to-rural transect hierarchy has appropriate building and street types for each area along the continuum.

7. Increased Density
-More buildings, residences, shops, and services closer together for ease of walking, to enable a more efficient use of services and resources, and to create a more convenient, enjoyable place to live.
-New Urbanism design principles are applied at the full range of densities from small towns, to large cities

8. Smart Transportation
-A network of high-quality trains connecting cities, towns, and neighborhoods together
-Pedestrian-friendly design that encourages a greater use of bicycles, rollerblades, scooters, and walking as daily transportation

9. Sustainability
-Minimal environmental impact of development and its operations
-Eco-friendly technologies, respect for ecology and value of natural systems
-Energy efficiency
-Less use of finite fuels
-More local production
-More walking, less driving

10. Quality of Life
Taken together these add up to a high quality of life well worth living, and create places that enrich, uplift, and inspire the human spirit.