Reprinted with permission from

The Rutland Business Journal, August 1996

"My Turn"

The Progress of Niche Marketing Development in Downtown Rutland

by Dick Courcelle

Executive Director- Rutland Partnership

It has been two years since the seminal DANTH report was released, which charted a course for the marketing development of Downtown Rutland. When the report was issued in the summer of 1994, consultant David Milder of DANTH Inc. strongly encouraged Downtown Rutland to pursue a niche marketing and development strategy. At the time, Diamond Run Mall was a year from opening and an air of uncertainty hung over Downtown as we anticipated the arrival of the mall and the additional 500,000-plus square feet of new retail that it and other developments would bring to the region.

The DANTH report concluded that for Downtown to thrive in the rapidly changing retail market, it must develop and promote specialized markets, or niches. According to DANTH, successful downtowns usually develop several niches in which they are strong. DANTH identified five niches which Downtown could pursue: the wedding niche, the upgraded restaurant niche, the food-for-home niche, the home center niche, and the "Soho" niche.

Embracing the DANTH recommendations, in early 1995 Rutland Partnership set out to develop its first market niche- the Wedding Niche, selected because the businesses required for this niche were well-developed Downtown. The first task was to obtain the collective support of the wedding-related businesses in Downtown. Niche market development demands support and involvement of the businesses that constitute the niche. Once the support was obtained, the marketing concept for what would become The Wedding Center in Downtown Rutland was developed.

A special subcommittee of Rutland Partnership's Marketing Committee began work on a marketing plan to promote the Wedding Niche in Downtown Rutland as "the" destination for wedding-related retailing in the Rutland region. Within a few months, a marketing program was in place which included: a trade name for the niche- The Wedding Center in Downtown Rutland; a distinctive logo for The Wedding Center; door display decals and advertising slick sheets for participating businesses; a 32-page wedding planner and brochure; an upscale bridal show at the Holiday Inn; cooperative advertising; and a database marketing program to identify future brides.

Today, many Downtown businesses in The Wedding Center niche report significant sales gains as a result of this collective marketing effort. They attribute much of the gain to an increased awareness by the regional market of Downtown as a wedding retail center. For example, the first Bridal Show last November, which will be held in 1996 on November 17 at The Holiday Inn, introduced 179 highly-qualified prospects (brides) to The Wedding Center businesses exhibiting at the show. Each of the show exhibitors received a mailing list of the attendees which included the name and address, the couple's wedding date, telephone number, and the fiancee’s name and address. The database is used by many businesses to establish direct communication with the prospect.

With The Wedding Center niche firmly established, Rutland Partnership has selected the Restaurant/Dining niche to pursue next. It is important to note that before a niche is marketed, it must contain enough strong businesses that will positively contribute to the collective effort. Many marketing efforts fail not because the concept was flawed, but because the product was not fully developed to consumer standards and expectations.

According to DANTH, in some major downtowns, the anchors are restaurants and eateries. People will travel far distances for good or unique restaurants. They also tend to attract people in the $50,000-plus income bracket, who account nationally for about 40 percent of the expenditures in restaurants. Recent additions to the Downtown restaurant mix include restaurants and eateries of a unique nature, with style and distinction, such as Capers Bistro, The Coffee Exchange and Wine Room, Tapas, Mangiamo and Sweet Tomatoes Trattoria which will open later this summer. These additions significantly enhance the Downtown restaurant mix and, for the first time, provide an opportunity for Rutland Partnership to confidently market this niche. Rutland Partnership will employ a similar marketing development strategy with the restaurant niche as it did with The Wedding Center, by first obtaining the support of the Downtown businesses in the niche. Marketing programs will then be developed to increase the size of the dining market and Downtown's share of the regional market. According to DANTH, the Downtown restaurants need an image, and certainly cooperative advertising to tout themselves.

The next niche likely to be developed will be what has been termed the "Soho" niche. People living within 20 miles of Downtown are above the national averages in book reading, fine arts and antiques, gourmet cooking and fine foods, collectibles and crafts. The residential market for movies, theater and musical events is also significant, not to mention the thousands of tourists who visit the region each year who enjoy these offerings. This, combined with downtown's unique architecture, conjures up a vision of an arts/cultural niche that would be geared to more discriminating trade area members. The mutually reinforcing components of such a niche would be a restored Paramount Theater, Plaza Movieplex 9, the proposed artist live/work spaces currently under study, The Coffee Exchange and Wine Room, a brewpub, Book King, and restaurants with distinction and style. When the Soho niche is developed, Downtown will be firmly established as a gathering place to relax and enjoy fine food, libations, entertainment and fine art. This niche needs more physical development, however, before it is marketable.

The headline of the lead article in the July 1, 1996 issue of Downtown Idea Exchange, a national industry newsletter, read: "Rutland Cheers Arrival of Wal-Mart Smack in the Heart of Downtown.'" "Why is the arrival of this retailing behemoth eliciting joy instead of the usual dread?," wrote the reporter. "Because Wal-Mart is locating in the heart of downtown Rutland, filling a vacant building and providing a much-needed anchor tenant for downtown's niche retailers." Rutland Plaza, with its collection of national and regional retail leaders, anchored to the south by Price Chopper Supercenter and to the north by Wal-Mart, significantly expands the size of Downtown's trade area. More people now come Downtown more often, seven days a week, from morning until night. This presents a tremendous opportunity for our niche marketing efforts to capture a larger share of the regional market. The marketing challenge is to create awareness, desire and action in the marketplace for each of the niches we develop and promote.

Downtown Rutland receives national attention for its niche market development. In addition to articles in industry publications, Downtown Rutland will be featured prominently in a book on niche marketing and development to be published later this year by the Downtown Research and Development Center in New York. Rutland Partnership looks forward to continued development of niche markets in Downtown Rutland. They have proven to be an enormously successful development tool.