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Downtown main streets tell the story of America. They reflect our history, our communities and our shared values. One city’s main street in particular also tells the story of how a compelling vision can unify a business community, allowing it to survive the worst of times and thrive in the best of times.
Livermore, California, is a historic town located in wine country about 40 miles east of San Francisco. Ten years ago its downtown main street was a blighted four-lane highway dotted by vacant buildings, run-down bars and consignment shops. It certainly wasn’t considered a destination by most of the town’s residents. Today downtown Livermore tells a far different story. Its award-winning design boasts more than 100 retail stores, restaurants, wine bars, craft-beer tap rooms, movie theaters and a popular performing arts center. Downtown Livermore has also earned the Great American Main Street Award by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
“It’s a family-owned family, a neighborhood that everybody owns,” says Rachael Snedecor, Executive Director of the Livermore Downtown Association. I recently sat down with Snedecor and Livermore’s City Manager Marc Roberts to gain a better understanding of how an enormous business transformation can happen in just ten years—a decade that has seen a severe downturn for small businesses. What did Livermore do differently and what can all business leaders learn from its experience?
The big lesson: Nothing great happens without a shared vision of a bright future.
The power of vision. Success on the individual or the community level requires a shared purpose—an exciting vision that everyone can rally around. “The goal was for the downtown to once again function as the vibrant heart of the community,” says Roberts.
Since the word ‘community’ played a key role in the city’s vision, local leaders decided to make the new downtown a community effort, literally. A series of public ‘visioning’ workshops were held in 2002 and 2003. The workshops were not intended to tell the community what downtown would look like; the workshops were meant to ask the community what they wanted.
Retirees, families, business owners, and developers turned out in force to lend their voices to the plan. They suggested a performing arts center, free interactive fountains and parks for families, walking spaces, exclusive events, wine country establishments like wine bars and tasting rooms, a vibrant mix of dining, retail and entertainment options. While some people didn’t get everything they wanted, they got enough to feel ownership over their neighborhood. Construction was completed in 2006 and the shared sense of ownership was critical to surviving the financial crisis that came just two years later.
In 2008 the bottom fell out of the housing market, triggering global economic chaos. But an interesting thing happened in Livermore’s downtown. “Everyone’s healthier together,” is a mantra that came out of the visioning workshops and nobody forgot it. Merchants, landlords and the community treated each other as family. Leases were re-negotiated, businesses partnered with each other, shoppers and diners chose to keep their dollars local and flocked to downtown. At a time when stores around the country were shutting their doors, retail sales taxes from downtown merchants in Livermore continued to rise 5 to 8 percent a year, even during the down economy.
Today downtown Livermore is booming. Vacancy rates— which exceeded 30 percent a decade ago— now hover at 1 percent for retail and restaurants.
The city is home to 50 wineries and an exploding craft beer scene. In the spirit of cooperation, most downtown restaurants feature local wines and beers and, in some cases, waive corkage fees for wine purchased locally.
“We work very hard to get the downtown business community to work together as a team in creating a neighborhood destination,” says Snedecor. “Working together builds strong bonds between us all and we really do all start feeling like family.”
“A key to success was that the downtown plan clearly painted a picture of the future and clearly explained how we were going to get there,” says Roberts. “Start at the end. Without a clear goal and vision you will never succeed. If your organization does not clearly define its future, someone else will determine the future for you.”
In 2016 Livermore will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of its downtown revival. Livermore’s transformation reminds me of a quote by Bill Gates: “Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” Ten years is long enough for a stunning transformation to take place, but only if it starts with a clear vision—and preferably a big one. “Dream really big, get buy-in, and be excited about the possibilities,” says Roberts. “The impossible is possible; it just takes a little longer.”
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