Main Street Iowa presents Charles City consumer and business survey results

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The No. 1 reason people have visited Charles City in the past year? For dining.

The No. 1 thing people think there should be more of in Charles City? Dining options.

Those were just a couple of the results of a recent survey of downtown Charles City business owners and a similar survey of people who live and/or shop in Charles City.

The results were presented by Robin Bostrom of the Iowa Main Street program, to a gathering of about 40 business owners, local officials and others Tuesday evening.

The meeting was promoted as “for everyone with an interest in the Charles City economy and quality of life in the community.”

Bostrom said 52 businesses and 416 consumers responded to the online survey, which she called good numbers.

The goal for a community survey is 384 responses to reach a statistically valid sample, with a 95% statistical accuracy, she said.

The responses provide a snapshot of downtown businesses.

Bostrom said she realizes that there are plenty of businesses in the community that aren’t located downtown, but Iowa Main Street – and the local Charles City Main Street – are downtown-focused organizations, and that’s where the survey questions focused.

Most businesses described themselves as service, with retail coming in second. Almost 70% of the respondents said they owned their business location, almost 60% said they had been located in the downtown for 21 years or longer, and more than 92% said that local and regional residents are their primary customers.

Bostrom said the fact that 60% of the businesses had been there 21 years or more spoke to their stability, but also suggested that many of these business owners may be reaching the point where they will be considering retiring, and the community needs a strategy to pass on these businesses and keep them open.

Businesses said the No. 1 reason customers do business with them is their reputation, followed by customer service, with the price of goods and selection/variety tied for third.

The majority of businesses said their most effective marketing resources are social media and other websites, and she said any business that isn’t using social media needs to be.

“However, your newspaper is very strong here as well,” she said. “It’s encouraging to see that because we don’t see that in every community. The newspaper was the second highest (source) here.”

She said that 88.5% of businesses said they have a website, but only 34.6% said they let customers make purchases through their own website or another website.

“We really feel there is an opportunity for people to use their website as another avenue to generate revenue,” she said. “Sometimes that’s a learning curve for people to understand that, but that’s another opportunity that we think exists here.”

When asked what types of new businesses or attractions would have the best chance to succeed downtown, or that would help existing businesses, the top responses were many different types of restaurants, followed by a shoe store, men’s clothing store, more nightlife options, affordable housing and a department store.

Asked what is the first thing they would do to improve downtown Charles City, the majority of the answers had to do with filling empty storefronts and attracting new businesses to downtown.

The top thing businesses said they would never change about downtown was Central Park.

In the consumer survey responses, more than 75% said they live in Charles City and another 20% said they live within 20 miles of the city. More than 64% said they work in Charles City, and more than 5% said they work remotely.

In the reasons people come to Charles City or the activities they do in Charles City, most people said it was for dining, then banking or other financial services, shopping, office visits or to work.

Asked to name the place they visit most frequently, the vast majority of responses were the grocery stores.

More than 80% of the consumers said they visit an eating, drinking or entertainment establishment from one to two times a week to one to two times a month.

When asked what type of eating or drinking establishment they would visit if it were available, more than half said a steakhouse, followed by casual dining, then an Italian restaurant, then a bakery.

Bostrom said those replies might present opportunities for existing businesses, for example a restaurant that doesn’t currently serve steak adding a “steak night” or other steak option to its menu.

Of the types of retail establishments people would like, a general or variety store topped the list, followed by a shoe store then women’s clothing.

Bostrom said even though there are women’s clothing stores already in town, women like shopping options.

She also said that many of the types of products people say they want may already be offered by various businesses, and those businesses need to make that known.

Bostrom said that despite many positive survey results about the community, 39% of those who responded said Charles City is “declining or losing ground.” Improving or making progress was listed by 20%, and 41.5% said the community is “steady or holding its own.”

Consumers agreed with business owners that the top priority to improve downtown is filling vacant storefronts and recruiting new businesses, by almost 4-to-1 over the next highest choice, which was improving buildings and cleaning up.

Consumers also agreed with business owners that the one thing they would never change about downtown was Central Park, followed by the river, river walk areas, biking and walking trails, the historic buildings and the Charles Theatre.

Bostrom said the next step after learning the results of the surveys is to develop a list of goals and/or priorities, develop strategies to work toward them, then present those strategies and begin to work on them.

Main Street Iowa and Main Street Charles City have resources that can help with those, she said.

That last phase of this Iowa Main Street process should be ready by Aug. 31, Bostrom said. It includes having developed a strategy, sharing that strategy among the Main Street Charles City board, committees and local partners, then integrating it into the planning and accreditation for 2023.