On November 2nd at the State of Downtown event at the City Club, Downtown Cleveland Inc. released their Downtown Cleveland Retail Strategy with the help of Streetsense, a New York City based consulting firm.
The 15 point revitalization plan includes retail attraction and retention, public realm improvements, and marketing, promotion and activation that put a special focus on the hubs and connectors of downtown including the Gateway District, Warehouse District, the East 9th St. bridge, Euclid Ave.,and Huron Rd. The plan includes establishing a night market which caters to visitors and residents through an expansion of downtown offerings. According to the plan, “Night markets offer low barriers to entry for small, often undercapitalized businesses while giving them an opportunity to develop a following that might support moving up to a brick-and-mortar space.”
Recently, The Land caught up with two small downtown retailers to find out what they thought of the plan, how their businesses are going, and what’s next for them and downtown retail.
Intro Boutique looks to the future with the recent opening of a second location
The retail plan aims to focus retail attraction and retention efforts towards small businesses and minority owned businesses, such as Intro Boutique at 509 Prospect Ave. Intro Boutique is owned and operated by sisters Emily Kovach and Elaina Kovach, who specialize in selling quality garments, accessories, and small gifts. Their Prospect location opened a little over seven years ago, so they were able to experience retail life before the pandemic hit. Then the pandemic along with the civil unrest of 2020 forced them to close their doors for seven months. They spent that time rebuilding their inventory and restoring their shop. While they faced hardships, their hope and investment into remaining downtown never waned.
“Not as many people are coming downtown,” Emily Kovach told The Land. “People might be scared. But I’ve been here seven years, I feel safe, I feel happy. I think once that mindset changes then it might be close to what the old days felt like. “
Despite pandemic pressures, the Intro owners decided to open a second location in July of last year, on E. 9th St. near the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. There, they’ve found great success, they said, especially during the warmer months. In the Strategic Retail Plan, Michael Deemer penned a letter in which he stated, “The Streetsense consultants have worked diligently with our team and stakeholders to determine a slate of market-informed recommendations and projects that focus on quality of life to attract residential and job density, retain existing businesses, and attract new storefront tenants to enhance the vibrancy of the Downtown area.”
Kovach said she would like to see downtown Cleveland leaders pour their efforts into promoting existing businesses, “The one thing I think is lacking in general is highlighting what downtown already has to offer,” she said.
The strategic plan details a goal to “Establish a flexible grant program that makes it easier for undercapitalized small business owners to upgrade new or existing retail space.” If Downtown Cleveland can integrate these proposed changes, they could help propel downtown into feeling how it felt pre-pandemic, Kovach said.
Lionheart Coffee cites a mix of visitors and residents as necessary for downtown retail success
Several new businesses have opened within the past year, including Lionheart Coffee which opened in February of 2023 at 530 Euclid Ave. in the Gateway District. Lion Heart is housed in the same spot where Stone Fruit Coffee was previously located. When Stone Fruit shut its doors, Lionheart spent three days revamping the space while retaining the staff from Stone Fruit. This quick turnaround allowed them to avoid laying off employees and continue serving their customers with a high-quality product. They kept serving Stone Fruit coffee while working to create an airy, cozy space where CSU students, residents and visitors could venture for their daily pour-over coffee fix.
Jason Beudert, alongside operating partner Chelsea Williams, has a passion for downtown Cleveland and serving their patrons. Beudert believes that downtown residents are essential to downtown’s appeal, and with fewer people working in-person downtown right now, efforts to boost the number of people living downtown and focus on cultivating the downtown neighborhood help local businesses.
“I love the development that’s happening downtown, I think it’s important to continue to do that,” he said. “I also love the amount of residents we will get downtown. The more residents we get who are eating and shopping downtown I think is the key. The resident base is the key.”
While the resident base is a huge component of the strategic plan, a portion of the plan is devoted to visitor analysis and growth. The importance of resident and visitor contribution to downtown’s economic health is not lost on Beudert.
“I think The Gateway District is the heartbeat of downtown Cleveland,” he said. “Our customer base is very diverse. We love our resident base and we love the numerous hotels we are surrounded by and the offices.”
Downtown visitors are extremely important to the overall economy, contributing over 70% of downtown spending. According to the Strategy Plan, “This can be attributed to Downtown destination drivers such as Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse and Progressive Field with 4.6 and 2.5 million unique visitors (according to PlacerAI) in the last twelve months, respectively.” These numbers provide a catalyst for downtown to continue focusing efforts on increasing that growth. Improving upon the intra-city mobility infrastructure is a priority through “reinforcing the walkability of downtown with targeted wayfinding, creating and prioritizing bike and micro-mobility infrastructure, and enhancements to the East 9th street bridge,” according to the plan.
Kovach is looking forward to the future and a sense of normalcy. “It’s been a good ride,” she said. “I’m happy to still be here. The pre-pandemic era was amazing for us and I think we all now might have to adjust. I just hope that other businesses can find this normalcy and make it work too.”
Overall, he’s optimistic about the future, Beudert said. “Coffee is something that people need everyday,” he said. “So for us, as long as we have a beautiful space and a really good product, we have a great location, so I think we are going to be OK long term.”
Intro Boutique is located in the Fifth Street Arcades at 509 Prospect Ave. East and in Harbor Verandas at 1050 E. 9th St. Visit their website for more information. Lionheart Coffee is at 530 Euclid Ave. Visit its website for more information.
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