Innovation & Job News

Since 2000, the West Chester Business Improvement District (BID) has provided resources to attract visitors, shoppers, and businesses to the Chester County seat's downtown. The BID has offered marketing support for businesses ranging from sole proprietors to regional retailers and restaurants. That includes a listing of more than 500 area businesses on the BID website, which was generating about 1,000 hits per day last year.

With those numbers down to about 600 hits per day this year--and national studies indicating only 36 percent of small businesses have a web presence--BID Executive Director Malcolm Johnstone  knew it was time for an online awakening along his commercial corridor.

Johnstone has enlisted 7Mainstreet.com, an online business directory--think Yellow Pages 2.0--that combines social networking, business networking and e-commerce, to transform downtown West Chester businesses' online presence.

Part of 7Mainstreet's job will be getting the corridor's buy-in. After all, as Johnstone points out, nobody starts a retail business to sit behind a computer.

"The reality is if you're going to compete in this environment, you have to use the Internet," Johnstone says. "7MainStreet can make it more accessible, and that's where the success lies."

The West Chester BID will introduce the Philadelphia-based, full-service design firm that launched in February at an upcoming business committee meeting with 7Mainstreet founder and CEO Andy Leff. On the site, businesses will be able to establish a three-page profile and sell their products. Companies can opt for 7Mainstreet's design of their profile, which costs $600 (a portion of which goes back to the BID as part of a 7Mainstreet's revenue share program).

Businesses can also stay in touch with each other and customers through 7Mainstreet's networking capabilities.

"That little sense of community can be a healthy thing," says Johnstone.

Source: Malcolm Johnstone, West Chester Business Improvement District
Writer: Joe Petrucci

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