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Daily Archives: February 25, 2011
Williamsport Scores A New Kohl’s Store Downtown
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Kohl’s will be building a brand new store in downtown Williamsport. The city will once again have a major department downtown. The store will be built at Third and Williams Sts. Construction will begin over the summer and the store is projected to open in October.
The City of Williamsport owns the lot and was paid $1.6 million now and will receive another $1 million after the site pad is prepped on March 15th. That will certainly fill the city coffers.
Williamsport, like many cities, lost much of their downtown after the Lycoming Mall opened and as strip shopping centers and big box retailers sprung up around the city and suburban areas. I remember shopping at L.L. Stearns & Sons downtown back in the 60’s and 70’s. Stearns was Williamsport’s big downtown department store back in the day.
Congratulations to Williamsport city officials for their perseverance. It paid off handsomely.
Sound Advice Given To Business Owners At Lansdale’s Community Action Network Meeting
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The Community Action Network is a new organization in Lansdale and Thursday was their first meeting. Lansdale is revitalizing their downtown and organizing merchants. The Community Action Network is part of the process.
Former Ambler Main Street Manager, Bernadette Dougherty addressed 50 Lansdale business owners and offered some great advice. This advice could be applied to any town in America!
Here are Bernadette’s pearls of wisdom:
Let people know your town is organized and open for business.
Stores need to be open for business. Many stores close too early and do not stay open during special events that take place downtown.
Business owners need to attend council meetings!
In Lansdale’s case, they need to get their performing arts center reopened! She stressed this was “critical” for Lansdale. (Some towns should feel fortunate they have a performing arts center that is alive and well and should 110% support the arts!)
Business owners should stand in front of their store and see what the public sees. If it is not exciting to you then it will not be to your current or prospective customers either!
The Community Action Network is asking for business owners to commit to one hour a month to make this work! We wish Lansdale much success!
Those Crazy Copper Thieves Are Back!
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Maybe the gang in Fayette County has moved east in their quest for more copper? A Lebanon County cell tower was vandalized and six copper plates valued at $75 each were stolen. The tower is fenced in and thieves cut the lock to gain entrance. The tower is shared by Verizon, T-Mobile, Nextel and AT&T. And we wonder why prices keep going up! The total damage estimate was $3,000!
Anyone with information is asked to call the Cornwall police at (717) 274-2071.
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