Downtown business owners voice concerns, work toward collective solutions in Battle Creek

BATTLE CREEK — Collaboration is key in the eyes of Tiffany Blackman.

Recognizing a gap in the market for local shelf space for entrepreneurs two years ago, she launched Bread & Basket, a public market specializing in the incubation of women of color owned businesses and products. Blackman, a small business coach, is also offering training and shared resources to area entrepreneurs.

"Without collaboration, you automatically have built-in limitations," Blackman explained on a recent Monday afternoon inside her boutique-style shop at 38 E. Michigan Ave. "It’s the very real notion that you can only get so far by yourself."

Blackman is one of several downtown Battle Creek business owners engaging in routine dialogue about the downtown, from its challenges to ways businesses can unite to attract visitors and move the neighborhood forward.

"When I started two years ago, there wasn’t a group that could talk about how downtown was working for all of us as (business) owners, for our customers, parking, events (and so on)," Blackman said. "It’s been pretty instrumental to be able to stay in the loop in that way. ... I feel like we have a long way to go because we have gotten so used to putting our head down and doing the good work of operating our business. Even having a standard meeting is hard because everyone can’t come to that standard meeting at a certain time, but the cool part about is that we’re making time for those conversations."

The "Downtown Business Association" began to take shape last fall. Hearing a lot of downtown business owners voicing the same concerns, Battle Creek natives and event organizers Justin Andert (Color the Creek) and Jeremy Andrews (Penetrator Events) decided to take action.

"I’m pretty bought in to wanting to catalyze downtown as much as possible, I have a passion for that and I knew Jeremy did too," Andert said. "It made sense to come together and see if we could build something together."

"What we realized is that there wasn’t any sort of neighborhood association, neighborhood planning council for downtown or like any group that had assembled to use their voice to influence and make their lives better," Andrews added. "We just started reaching out, getting businesses together."

The outreach has ultimately led to monthly meetings of downtown business owners. More than 30 downtown businesses have engaged in the conversation over the past year, with Andert and Andrews relaying pertinent issues to city staff.

The discussions have also fostered new relationships and partnerships between downtown businesses, including collective marketing/promotion of businesses on social media.

"That’s why we wanted to bring people together, to show them they have a collective voice, collective power," Andert said. "Let’s make sure everyone has a seat at the table, if they want one, and empower people to understand that they have the ability to make things happen."

A consistent thread identified in early meetings of the Downtown Business Association was a perceived lack of communication in the eyes of business owners regarding road closures, construction projects and major events.

For years, the City of Battle Creek Small Business Development Office has sent out a weekly email blast to downtown businesses and property owners detailing upcoming events, construction projects and other items of public interest, with a roughly 40% open rate, according to the city's Development Director John Hart.

It's no secret downtown business owners are preoccupied with the day-to-day responsibilities of their respective operations, but Hart believes monthly meetings of the Downtown Business Association have helped keep everyone on the same page.

"As these folks meet monthly, Justin and Jeremy continue to speak to the group about the information that we already send out on a weekly basis, but they deliver it to them in person, it makes a difference," he said. "The information’s been there, (but) this is another added personal touch. ... It’s just a matter of reminding everyone."

Hart has been meeting with Andert, Andrews and other event planners in the city almost weekly for the past five or six years, working collaboratively to launch events like Que the Creek, The Big Cheese and Winter Wanderland, among others. The Downtown Business Association, he said, is merely building upon those established partnerships.

"We’ve started to rely more on the relationships rather than trying to do it as a single agency," Hart explained. "That’s been something that we’ve been trying to do for the last eight or nine years, create this space where people can control their own destiny, essentially. If you want to do an event, then let’s do an event. If you want to host something in the Kellogg Arena, OK, let’s work with our partners (and make it happen)."

Discussions surrounding downtown parking have also fostered results, with the city extending the free parking limit on surface lots and parking garages from two to three hours.

"It’s all part of a larger plan that feels like it’s starting to gel," Hart said of the Downtown Business Association. "We’re really excited that people are getting organized and sort of asserting themselves and helping themselves develop the downtown that they envision it to be."

In addition to monthly meetings, Andrews says he and Andert plan to spend more time individually with businesses in the coming year, having one-on-one discussions while also encouraging collaboration between business owners on various fronts.

"As you build relationships with your neighbors, you learn to love your neighbors more," Andrews said, admitting "we’re just a spoke in the wheel" when it comes to the ongoing discussions and momentum downtown. The Small Business Development Office, Kellogg Arena and the city, among others, play an equal part in all of this, he said.

Blackman can recall a time more than 10 years ago when half of the downtown buildings seemed empty. That's no longer the case.

"If you haven’t been down here lately, then you haven’t been down here," she said. "My highest hope is that the owners downtown will find time enough to build a common theme around our downtown neighborhood and push that out to the community."

Contact reporter Greyson Steele at [email protected]

This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: 'Downtown Business Association' fosters dialogue, solutions in Battle Creek