🏘️ Shopping streets might be able to surpass shopping malls
Until now, I had a somewhat lonely image of shopping streets.
Shops with their shutters permanently closed.
Streets with little foot traffic.
It felt inevitable that customers would drift away once a large shopping mall was built.
"I suppose it's just the way of the times."
That is what I used to think.
However, the other day, Osu Shopping Street in Aichi Prefecture was featured on television.
Despite it being a weekday, it was bustling with many people, and both old and new shops seemed to be thriving.
While watching that, a question suddenly occurred to me.
Aren't shopping streets and shopping malls essentially the same?
Both are places that gather people, encourage them to walk around, and have them enjoy shopping and dining.
The difference is not the building.
It is whether or not there is a "control tower" that manages the entire town.
I felt that this is where the essential difference lies.
🧭 Let's place a "manager" in shopping streets too
Shopping malls have an operating company.
"What kind of shops should we attract?"
"What kind of events should we hold?"
"How can we create a flow of people?"
They manage the entire town as a single product.
On the other hand, while individual shops in shopping streets are working hard, there is rarely a command center to manage the town as a whole.
That is why I
thought, why not place a single "manager" in shopping streets as well?
I thought.
They would not be someone who manages shops.
They would be someone who produces the town as a whole.
🛍️ Manager's Job ① Incorporating the management power of shopping malls
The manager's role is to incorporate the good points of shopping malls into shopping streets.
For example,
considering the balance of business types among shops
planning customer attraction events throughout the year
promoting the entire town on social media
analyzing visitor and foot traffic data
thinking about how to utilize vacant storefronts
improving parking lots and rest areas
Regarding vacant storefronts,
instead of "just putting any shop in,"
"It might be better to turn this into a shared parking lot to increase the value of the entire town."
They might be able to make such judgments.
Not for one shop, but
Manage the entire shopping street.
That is the perspective.
🌱 Manager's Job Part 2: Cultivating what only a shopping street can do
However, the goal is not to become a shopping mall.
Shopping streets have charms that shopping malls do not.
In the Osu Shopping District featured on TV,
there was a long-established eel restaurant next to a church, and a maid cafe next to that.
It is an unthinkable combination under normal circumstances.
Yet, it functions as a town.
Isn't this freedom the greatest weapon of a shopping street?
Because shopping malls value brand image, they focus on established chain stores and popular brands.
There is a sense of security, but
"It looks like something you'd find at any shopping mall."
It tends to become that kind of scenery.
Shopping streets are different.
Unique shops and stores selling one-of-a-kind items gather there,
and there are new discoveries every time you walk through.
I believe this freedom should not just be preserved, but further cultivated.
🚀 Supporting the challenges of young people as an entire town
To that end, we will also change the role of the shopping street office.
Instead of a place for administrative work,
turn it into a startup support center instead.
There,
consultations on opening a store
introductions to vacant properties
advice on renovations
information on subsidies
advice on store design and social media usage
and more can be received at any time.
Furthermore,
we will also provide challenge shops, saying,
“Why not try operating for just three months first?”
If a shopping mall is a place that gathers popular stores,
a shopping street,
“can become a place that nurtures popular stores.”
It should be able to do so.
💼 Make the manager an “earning organization” too
I have one question here.
“Who pays the manager’s salary?”
I believe the manager should also become an organization that earns money.
For example,
Shopping street membership fees
Revenue from events and markets
Commissions from joint purchasing and joint promotions
Consulting fees for opening consultations and store design
Local government regional revitalization budgets
By combining these, a system to hire a single manager is quite conceivable.
If a talented manager increases the value of the town, they should generate effects that exceed that investment.
🌍 Actually, similar initiatives have already begun
In fact, initiatives close to this way of thinking already exist.
Systems such as "Town Management (TMO)" and "Central City Area Revitalization Producers" exist.
However, many are centered on "management," such as event operations and facility maintenance.managementis the focus.
What I think is necessary is one step beyond that.
Not management, but
a manager who produces the town.
What kind of shops would make the town interesting?
What kind of young people should be supported to foster a new culture?
It is a role that designs such a future.
💡 Shopping streets might be able to surpass shopping malls
I believe there are two jobs for a manager.
The first is,
incorporating management capabilities like those of a shopping mall.
The other is,
fostering the freedom and spirit of challenge unique to shopping streets.
In other words,
achieving a balance between the "management capabilities" of a shopping mall and the "freedom" of a shopping street.
A shopping mall is a completed town.
On the other hand, a shopping street is a town that can keep changing.
A shopping mall is a place that gathers popular stores.
A shopping street is a place where popular stores are born.
A shopping mall is a place that provides security.
A shopping street is a place that provides discovery.
That is why I think:
Shopping streets do not need to aim to be shopping malls.
What should be learned from shopping malls is "management."
What shopping streets should develop is "freedom" and "challenge."
When those two are combined, shopping streets will no longer be entities that just chase after shopping malls.
Shopping streets might be able to surpass shopping malls.
Doesn't imagining such a future make you feel a little excited?