GREENFIELD — The idea behind Friday’s discussion about the status of downtowns is something Franklin County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jessye Deane said was inspired by a statement she hears often: “Downtown isn’t how it used to be.”
And it’s true, Deane contends, but change is not always a bad thing. Thus, Friday’s breakfast at Greenfield Community College aimed to explore the national trends for downtowns while also looking at the status of downtowns in Franklin County in a post-pandemic landscape.
To blend both a macro and micro-scale look at downtowns today, Chief Innovation Officer at Main Street America Matt Wagner, who holds a doctorate in economic development and entrepreneurship and was formerly a SC Johnson executive, joined via Zoom to share his expertise on consumer trends and the way it impacts small businesses.
These trends include the issue of price elasticity, which means finding a balance for costs of products that small businesses can sell to consumers as prices tick up across the board. Consumers are also interested in spending that extra bit for the value of an item, depending on its quality and ability to last.
“This is where we get at some of the storytelling aspects of that that demonstrate that there’s still value here [that] is really what’s going to hold up and stand the test of time, even if we have ebbs and flows in the general economy,” Wagner said.
There are about 40,000 businesses in Main Street America’s network that are considered to be craft or small-scale producer shops, an area with opportunity along rural main streets in the U.S. Additionally, experienced-based shopping opportunities are of interest to consumers compared to basic transactional shopping that impacts brick-and-mortar businesses.
One misconception that Wagner spoke about was that younger generations like Generation Z and Generation Alpha are interested in only e-commerce, which he said is not always the case.
“They crave real-world experience and engagement, something that they’re lacking greatly in just a purely online experience,” Wagner said, adding that there’s also interest in creating workshops or other opportunities for connection.
In closing, Wagner spoke to the unique opportunity that main street businesses have in their ability to foster community connections and storytelling opportunities that can also spur economic development when businesses know what a community values.
Keeping it local
After Wagner’s talk, a panel of business and economic development leaders took directed questions from Deane to bring the big picture back to Franklin County. Panelists included Amy Cahillane, Greenfield’s community and economic development director; John Waite, executive director of the Franklin County Community Development Corporation; Christian LaPlante, downtown district coordinator for the Downtown Revitalization Pilot Project; and Tammy Boland, vice president of operations at DVR Management.
LaPlante started by discussing his role as downtown district coordinator, working with the business communities of Shelburne Falls, Northfield and Turners Falls to support the needs of small businesses through a “shared-services model,” where he splits his time between the communities. He started as downtown district coordinator in 2025, a grant-funded position that has been extended into 2027, LaPlante said.
“All of us are so busy; we need someone to just schedule the meeting, someone to create the agenda,” LaPlante said. “Having this position is immensely valuable to just be able to get everyone in the same room. Someone to welcome new businesses to town. Someone to be able to be there when businesses open up their storefront.”
Waite answered a question about which businesses are choosing brick-and-mortar operations, and what downtowns they are choosing to settle in and why. As executive director of the Franklin County CDC for 25 years, Waite said there’s interest when a downtown has a food and drink scene, which gives people a chance to dine, then stay to visit other stores nearby, and that the brick-and-mortar operations that provide services, like salons or barber shops, or entertainment venues maintain a physical presence.
As for businesses within the Franklin County CDC’s portfolio, Waite noted that many business owners seek to support their downtown communities.
“They have a passion for what they do, and then they care about the place that they want to be in,” Waite said.
Cahillane spoke to the hurdles that small businesses face that many people may not realize. She pointed to issues of ensuring code compliance for the buildings themselves, often leaving a storefront vacant until the property owner can afford to make those upgrades. Other times, the business needs a unique space that is unavailable, or the property owner can be difficult for a business to work with.
“I think of each vacant space as a story and an opportunity and an interesting problem to solve, but … there’s no one easy fits-all solution,” Cahillane said.
To conclude, Boland spoke to why DVR Management is interested in having a business in a community like Greenfield, as the company is building a hotel and LongHorn Steakhouse at 125 Mohawk Trail. She shared that when looking at a municipality, there is consideration for its “vibrancy,” nearby tourism attractions, incoming businesses and being a destination for family or community events.
As the speakers concluded, Deane said she had three action items she wanted those in attendance to come away with: “Shop, share and show up.”
“Those are the three things that we can all do to make sure that we are continuing to support our downtown and create the communities that we don’t just want to live in,” she said, “but as Dr. Wagner said, be a part of.”
