Downtown Inc Using “Destination Branding” To Market York Neighborhoods

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting York County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you name it, they will come.

Sonia Huntzinger, executive director of Downtown Inc, said that’s the theory behind York’s recent push to brand pockets of its 26-block downtown business district, creating a patchwork of neighborhoods that will each offer something different to regional visitors.

In the last two years, the nonprofit, which promotes revitalization of the city, has partnered with grassroots groups to demarcate several sections, including Royal Square, the Market District, Beaver Street and the latest, Weco.

The growth in destination branding, as the strategy is called, has coincided with Downtown Inc’s “Who Knew” campaign, a YouTube ad effort that highlights shopping and eatery options with the goal of bringing more foot traffic into local businesses.

Read more: http://www.ydr.com/local/ci_26617958/downtown-inc-using-destination-branding-market-city-neighborhoods

Franklin Mills Reinvents Itself As A More Conventional Mall

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Philadelphia County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A sky-high crane dangles over a corner of Franklin Mills Mall these days, but it is more than a towering construction tool: It is a symbol of how necessity is the mother of reinvention at this once-legendary shopping mall.

A Walmart Supercenter is taking shape at the once-pioneering complex, which opened nearly 25 years ago with theme-park anticipation as among the first outlet malls, and the outright largest, ever built. The splashy development, unveiled in 1989, was a gamble befitting its locale, a onetime Northeast Philadelphia racetrack. And early on, its unmatched offerings paid off with packed corridors.

The mall flaunted a 1.2-mile-long, zigzag-shaped concourse, and more than 200 stores hawking discount designer goods, at a time when such wares were available only at out-of-the-way old-factory outlets. Its 1.7 million square feet of bargain buys, right off I-95, was a tourist draw and local sensation.

But the megamall’s early monopoly on outlet shopping has come to an end, forcing Franklin Mills to alter its once-irresistible identity. The Walmart is one of many tenants that now make the monolith, well, a bit more ordinary. And this is by design.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20131226_Franklin_Malls_reinvents_itself_as_a_more_conventional_mall.html#B6GQUXeWYThVsWmy.99

Bass Pro Shops Angling For Store At Old Bethlehem Steel Plant

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Northampton County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Outdoors retailer Bass Pro Shops could help jump-start major redevelopment projects, including a possible hotel and convention center, at the former Bethlehem Steel plant.

Developers have been in talks with city officials over the last four or five months about introducing the company’s second store to Pennsylvania near the Sands casino in south Bethlehem, a source familiar with the project said.

Mayor John Callahan acknowledged Bass Pro was one of several retailers that have expressed interest in a site in or near the cavernous No. 2 Machine Shop near Sands’ Luxury Outlets.  He said such a retailer would attract customers from well beyond the Lehigh Valley.

He said he did “a little reconnaissance” at the closest Bass Pro store he could find — near Harrisburg.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-bethlehem-sands-bass-pro-shop-20130815,0,5894889.story#ixzz2c9MnWQyN
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