The revitalization of downtown Farmville’s businesses has been in the works for years with many of the projected changes meant to benefit both Longwood University and Hampden-Sydney College students. The two major players in this process are the town of Farmville and Downtown Farmville.
Downtown Farmville is a three-year- old organization that was officially deemed a Virginia Main Street City in 2012. The organization’s mission, according to its website, is to “bring together the residents, merchants and students of Farmville to preserve downtown’s role as the center of our historic community, and to plan for the future of Farmville as an exciting and profitable place to live, learn, open a business, and visit.”
Helen Person, who stepped into the role of Downtown Farmville’s first executive director in October 2012, described the organization as the “nonprofit partner with the town of Farmville.” The town of Farmville is public while Downtown Farmville is private.
Virginia Main Street, added Person, designated Downtown Farmville to primarily work on what is considered the historic district, which features businesses with varying operational hours.
Last February, Downtown Farmville held public visioning sessions to ask the community what the downtown area of Farmville could benefit.
Person said public visioning sessions are necessary to “hear what the community wants, what they see as our strengths, what they see as our weaknesses, our opportunities, things that may be threatening the downtown area ...
“As executive director, it’s not a matter of my vision or what I want, it’s a matter of how can I help the folks here achieve what they want,” Person said. “I’m really more like a ringmaster.”
Another helpful factor, Person said, was the survey answered by a community cross section of 99 respond entson Downtown Farmville’s Facebook page following the session. According to Person, more than 60 percent of those surveyed said they went downtown to eat, shop and meet friends. Less than 25 percent of respondents reported that they visit downtown to do personal or government business.
The survey helped Downtown Farmville see that many people did not simply want to go to town during typical 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. business hours, Person said.
Many downtown Farmville businesses, with the exception of the restaurants, close at 5 p.m. and for part, if not all, of the weekend. Person said it is important to “reposition where we are in marketplace as far as operational hours and days.”
Person added, “We have to give [people]area so not come down town.” The town of Farmville set the groundwork for the revitalization, and Farmville Town Manager Gerry Spates would like to see businesses benefit from each other. “I think the big draw for downtown is Greenfront [Furniture], so these businesses need to take advantage of the traffic from Greenfront,” Spates said. He added that the furniture store has been doing extremely well over the past year.
According to the town’s retail sales and dollar volume figures, business revenue has increased steadily over the past few years, increasing from $1,250,963.75 in 2008 to $1,283,232.56 in 2012.
However, an issue Spates said businesses face from the public is that the town of Farmville has “plenty of parking in municipal lots, but [people] want to park closer to where they shop.”
“I think there’s plenty of parking if people will use it,” Spates said. “That’s the key thing.”
Person reflected this sentiment, saying that there is only the “perception of a parking problem” instead of an actual issue.
Overall, Person said it is clear that downtown needs to be more “student friendly.” Downtown Farmville works with business owners to repurpose buildings for new businesses and plans to encourage building owners to “think of something creative that will bring our students downtown.”
Person recognizes that a grocery store downtown would benefit students, a more pedestrian market, and allow them to get groceries by foot instead of having to go to the trouble of driving further out to get groceries each time they need them.
While Person looks forward to new businesses coming in to accommodate students and other Farmville residents, she would also like for the existing businesses that close relatively early to take “baby steps” and try to stay open later at least one night a week.
Reflecting this sentiment, Person said it is important to think about the future sale or passing down of one’s business and consider, “How can I make it even more viable than it is right now so that it’ll be a greater value one way or another?”
Efforts to help businesses flourish downtown include a business boot camp sponsored by Downtown Farmville, the town of Farmville, the Longwood University Small Business Development Center and the Farmville Chamber of Commerce. The boot camp will be a four week session that will, according to Person, “give prospective entrepreneurs a foundation for how to operate a business.” It is scheduled for October.
Ultimately, both Person and Spates hope the revitalization efforts continue to strengthen Farmville businesses and encourage businesses to accommodate to the wants and needs of students and the community.
