Industry Trends

NB-Dance

Downtowns Help Businesses Expand Outdoors

October 27, 2020 – The constraints of limited indoor capacity for restaurants and retailers has meant that municipalities and downtown organizations had to get creative expanding into the public realm. Many of our members have worked with their municipal governments to ease or remove barriers to outdoor commerce.

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Rethinking Public Space in 2021

Rethinking Public Space in 2021

October 19, 2021 – The COVID-19 pandemic has hurled both new and existing issues to the forefront of public space considerations, forcing placemakers and public space managers to rethink the way we plan, design, and program public space.

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Got Brownfields

Got Brownfields?

October 15, 2020 – NJ’s municipalities now have a free resource to help them overcome the challenges brownfields pose to our communities. The NJ Brownfields Assistance Center @ NJIT is the first-of-its-kind center that solely focuses on and serves New Jersey.  

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Winning Winter Challenge

Winning Winter

October 2, 2020 – Metuchen Downtown Alliance Executive Director, Isaac Kremer, and Storefront Mastery‘s Storefront Ninja, Jaime Izurieta, led a discussion about best practices in placemaking to make your downtown inviting and comfortable during cold weather.

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Marketing During a Global pandemic

Marketing During a Global Pandemic

Sept. 21, 2020 – Small business owners have a lot to think about, but the possibility of a global pandemic was likely not chief among their worries. Now that we are facing one, local businesses are facing a host of challenges. Communicating effectively with customers and clients has never been more important. 

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Downtown New Jersey Forum Management

The Retail New Deal

September 18, 2020 – National retail consultant and Downtown specialist Mike Berne, President of New York City and San Francisco Bay Area-based MJB Consulting, led a discussion about harnessing creative thinking, collaboration, and adaptability to encourage the timely emergence of new innovations and business models in response to changing realities and unforeseeable shocks.

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