Tuesday, April 13th

Located on Main Street at 3rd Avenue, Ellensburg, WA
People making their way across Main Street










Greetings again!

This week has already been eventful.

Throughout the weekend, and into this week we've been answering questions from our peers.

I would contribute their awareness to our interview on 88.1 FM The Burg. But it was exciting to see college students taking an interest in the issues of Main Street.

We were quizzed on everything from design, to businesses and their support mechanisms, to how a community effort is beneficial instead of businesses working for their own gain.

It's great to see that there is such a wide array of interest from a younger group of people. Maybe their interest will turn into a passion for working to strengthen small towns.

The Facebook Page (Ellensburg Main Street Project 2010) has been receiving a lot of traffic.

And we are moving into another phase of photography. We know that the photos so far have been of the stores and of Main Street, but they've been missing a key ingredient: PEOPLE!

So as we transition from the "mapping" photography, we'll be showing Main Street for what it is, and that's a hub for business and social interactions.

We will also be taking profile shots of the people that will be in the film at this time. A sort of "meet the stars" portion, and we will post those photos separately.

We interviewed Michael Bello, owner of Cedar Mountain Woodwrights. His story is unique from those on Main Street because while just about every other business is involved in the retail-end exclusively, Michael's shop is where creation of product occurs.

If you haven't looked at any of Michael's creations, head on over to their furniture page and look over the array.

Michael is truly an artist, and for those that are not familiar, he built the furniture and the display cases at Puget Sound Energy's Wind Farm Visitors Center. Some of the step-by-step photos of that project are at the site referenced.

Aside the wonderful work that Michael does, he's also very well spoken on the aspects of operating an independent business. For Michael corporate chains do present a looming direct threat. They are able to reach into communities outside of their geographical area by signing on third parties to install their products.

One thing that stood out in my mind as interesting bit of information from Michael's interview was the concept of leasing a building versus owning a building.

Earlier in the day a professor of mine made the point of how a retailer of fans during the 80's on the east coast went from being a thriving outlet, to suffering during a recession.

However, what they had done differently than their competition, was that they owned every store front they were in. So they made the decision during the recession to go from being a retailer of fans, to a commercial real estate trust, because that's where the money was being made at the time.

So they supplied their product to the store fronts, and leased the buildings to independent businesses.

Since then they've become one of the biggest commerical real estate trusts in the nation.

In Michael's interview, he discussed why as an independent business it's important to own the property you operate in. And that's because it's easier to make changes, and control the look of your store front. But most importantly, commercial real estate will always appreciate, save for extreme conditions.

As an independent business, this gives you the ability to re-locate your business, while collecting on a lease on your original building. That equates to being able to diversify your business.

Instead of having to rely on your choosen trade, you can then take large steps toward the ultimate goal, retirement.

In Michael's case, there may come a time where he can no longer work with his hands. And although he has employees, he's not quite to the point where he can remain completely hands off of the products his shop produces. Owning the building he's in would give him something to fall back on if he couldn't expand his business.

That is a one piece of the gold that is the information we are getting for this project.

It may seem like such an obvious connection, but when a business owner personalizes that point, it resonates so much clearer.

And with that, we will see you later in the week.

Success!

It’s a fantastic Thursday afternoon!

The weather? Oh, it’s raining and overcast with a mid-40’s touch.

What makes it fantastic, is that the first set of photographs we sent to NPR’s project, Mapping Main Street were published into their "Main Street" slideshow.

When you click on the participate tab on their website, it brings up a slideshow on the right of the page and that’s where our photos are currently. Here’s a link to that page: Mapping Main Street 'Participate'

The site editor has not linked our photos to the category “Ellensburg, WA” so if you currently type in the city’s name into their search function, there is one photo from the EDA.

We are not sure what the time frame is on that task on their site, but seeing as their slideshow has the photos, it’s probably only a matter of time before we see our photos linked to “Ellensburg, WA.”

Stefanie started a Flickr account as well, and started uploading pictures that we have edited. It will take some time to edit every photo, but we are moving as fast as we can, and we will upload them as soon as they are ready. Here’s a link to her photo stream: Stefanie's Photo Stream

Today we also were able to complete our photography of Flirt/West Coast Men’s and Cedar Mountain Woodwrights. Matt ended up conducting an impromptu interview with Cedar Mountain’s owner Mike Bello, and was able to gather a lot of knowledge on the challenges a woodworker in today’s business climate faces.

We were able to photograph half of the Palace Cafe, and will be shooting the other half on another day, when there are less patrons. While we want to highlight the businesses are doing well, we don’t want to interrupt commerce with our project either.

We shot the front half of Ace Apparel’s store yesterday, but we will return next Tuesday to complete photography. They are remodeling some of their store, and also the store front, so we will re-shoot their business, and then publish those photos. It will be an interesting twist to the story we are putting together, showing a business before a remodel, and then after.

We are now moving into preliminary interviews, and have several lined up starting tomorrow and into next week.

These interviews will give us a framework for what kinds of questions we will be asking each business owner/representative.

We will also want to solicit some commentary from the general public, and we will update this blog when finalize the plan for that part of the project.

Happy Thursday, see you tomorrow!