6.4 Consider Adoption of Downtown Plan Update

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Key#3: Look to compete regionally where the downtown can offer a specialized and unique experience. Look to compete locally where the downtown can offer a convenient and satisfying experience. Businesses in Pequot Lakes are most competitive when offering a unique experience and high- quality service. These are the things that bring people to town over and over again and capture both a tourist and a local market. The small, locally-owned shops currently provide a unique mix of products and services. This uniqueness should be capitalized on to capture a larger share of the regional market. The Baxter "big-box" retailers are highly accessible to the residents of Pequot Lakes. The close proximity of these retailers creates a headwind for non-specialized offerings the Pequot Lakes neighborhood can support. The downtown, when fully developed, will be a significant regional attraction if the experience is different, and more pleasant than the experience of shopping in other downtowns. The Downtown must maintain a mix of unique offerings that appeal to a regional market as well as convenience and quality service offerings that will retain local customers. Key#4: Reduce the seasonality of the downtown by increasing the number of residents living within the city's traditional neighborhoods with convenient access to downtown for bikeability and walkability. In a tourism-based economy, the strong summer months can sometimes be augmented with Holiday shopping and an occasional winter festival. Promoting some offerings that would cater to local needs, creates a supply/demand relationship that will generate more opportunity for growth in the downtown. Key#5: Understand that the highest return of investment for the City over the long-term is to improve the use of existing infrastructure, not the expansion of horizontal growth on the periphery of town. Pequot Lakes Downtown Plan— Updated July, 2022 7