As a merchant in Littleton’s historic downtown district, Ruth Graham often feels like she and her neighbors are living in a Dr. Seuss storybook.
“We go around like in ‘Horton Hears a Who,’ ” she said. “We’re all poking our heads up, saying, ‘We’re here! We’re here!”‘
Now, Graham is leading a coalition of similarly situated business districts in an effort to draw more attention to the retail enclaves where she and other independent business owners often cluster.
Graham is president of the Original Shopping Districts Network Inc., a recently formed consortium of neighborhood retail districts that so far includes the Historic Downtown Littleton Merchant’s Association, the Old South Gaylord Merchants Association, Historic Olde Town Arvada and the Old South Pearl Street Association.
The group will launch at a series of kickoff events beginning Feb. 7 to market the shopping districts as an alternative to malls and chain stores. Members also will meet to share ideas about common issues they face.
“The idea is to combine our resources and jointly advertise and promote ourselves,” said Mark Gill, president of the Old South Pearl Street Association. “We have a lot of the same customer base, and we’re more partners than we are competitors.”
The group was founded with $5,000 in seed money from Littleton’s Department of Business/Industry Affairs, and each member district has kicked in funding. The group is opening its membership to retail districts that contain a majority of independent businesses, are historically significant and have an existing merchants association.
Doug Loescher, director of the National Trust Main Street Center in Washington, D.C., said an increasing number of independent businesses and shopping districts are banding together.
The Internet has provided increased opportunities for formerly disconnected businesses to collectively market themselves, he said.
The National Trust Main Street Center launched a website promoting Main Street businesses throughout the country over Christmas and expects to expand the program this year, he said.
The Original Shopping Districts Network plans to launch a website promoting its members and also will distribute pamphlets in member stores, Graham said.
The group has hired Denver marketing firm Webolutions to launch and promote its efforts.
Graham, owner of Ancient Art Healing Center, said the need for the group has become even more apparent in recent years as new developments that seek to mimic historic shopping districts pop up. Those centers, she said, don’t necessarily offer the same charm that the historic ones do.
“Most of us know our customers by their first names,” she said. “It’s an experience people in this country are hungry for, so it’s time we grouped ourselves together, put our heads up and said, ‘We’re here.”‘
Staff writer Kristi Arellano can be reached at 303-954-1902 or karellano@denverpost.com.
