Any way you stack it, Iola’s downtown business district is at a crossroads.
With long-time merchants such as Town & Country, Ulrich Furniture and McGinty-Whitworth shutting their doors, it leaves the downtown square with some “high-profile vacancies,” David Toland told the Register recently. And more may be coming as other merchants near retirement age.
It wasn’t that long ago — five years, in fact — the square had 100 percent occupancy.
Toland, chief executive officer of Thrive Allen County, wants to see something similar in the future.
But how?
With a constantly changing economy, where individual merchants must compete with discount chain stores and online shopping, it’s time to take stock in what Iola’s future might entail.
To that end, Thrive is sponsoring a Downtown Iola Summit at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Allen County Courthouse Assembly Room.
Anyone and everyone is invited, be it local property owners, retailers, shoppers or especially aspiring business owners.
“It’s for anyone concerned about the health of Iola’s center,” Toland said.
TUESDAY’S summit will cover a plethora of information.
“We’ll talk about facts and trends, and how downtown Iola compares with other towns in southeast Kansas,” Toland said. “We’ll discuss specific strategies, be they short-, medium- or long-term.”
They’ll also discuss the downtown’s strengths, such as U.S. 54, attractive architecture, having buildings in good shape and having multiple folks there for other business, anyway.
Among the challenges to be discussed are the downtown’s deteriorating infrastructure, such as sidewalks and alleys. Likewise, many of the vacant stores are too large for startups.
Finally, Toland will look at opportunities. As he told the Register previously, clusters of closures typically are followed by clusters of new businesses.
