How the Downtown Business Development Committee is transforming ideas into action

This story originally appeared in the Red Wing Republican Eagle (https://www.republicaneagle.com/news/how-the-downtown-business-development-committee-is-transforming-ideas-into-action/article_fd770ff6-b966-11ef-be8b-dfbba1cb5170.html)

When the Business Development Committee, comprised of downtown business owners, building owners, and those with a stake in growing downtown, meet… they mean business. 

The Business Development Committee (BDC) started as a Red Wing Downtown Main Street committee, but the volunteers on the committee have made it their own. They operate under the umbrella of Downtown Main Street, but the BDC is self-led. 

Taking action is at the heart of the Committee. Committees, famously, can be a lot of people sharing ideas, but never actually getting anything done. Andrea Hanson is the chair of the BDC and owner of Phileo Style, and she says they are a group that truly wants “to take an idea and take action on it.”

The key to this effective action is the variety of perspectives on the Committee.

Because the BDC is affiliated with Downtown Main Street, they are able to take advantage of the grants, project management abilities, and relationships that the non-profit has to offer. For instance, when the BDC oversaw the creation of the new branding effort for downtown Red Wing, Downtown Main Street’s ability to organize public events allowed the BDC to get stakeholders' feedback on what they thought the logo should represent. Additionally, Downtown Main Street was able to secure funding for the project using its connections with local philanthropic organizations. While Downtown Main Street is important to the committee, it plays a supporting role. 

Even with that support, no one knows downtown businesses better than the downtown business owners. They know the time when business is busiest, and they know what shoppers look for in their experiences. According to Andrew Peterson of Red Wing Bicycle Company, some of the most important work they do is sharing what they’ve learned with new businesses. “Some of the newer businesses have come in looking for consultations or feedback,” says Peterson, and “the Committee as a whole has been able to lend genuine advice to them that is straightforward and authentic so they aren’t blindsided by things.”

But even with all of that support, sometimes what a business needs most is money. That’s where the Committee benefits from including non-business-owning stakeholder members.

Tom Pasch is the President of Merchant’s Bank and a member of the BDC. He has been able to work with the Port Authority to grow a Revolving Loan Fund for downtown businesses. Revolving Loan Funds are, essentially, lower-interest loans for gap financing. 

As Pasch sees it, “You must have affordable access to capital to start your business.” If not, he continues, new entrepreneurs “will never achieve their goals.”

And, in his mind, the success of those entrepreneurs is key to Red Wing as a whole. “The only way we’re going to be successful,” he says, “is if that part of the economy, small businesses, is thriving.” And because so many of those businesses are concentrated in downtown, he finds that Downtown Main Street is a great place to help make this happen.

The revolving loan fund is currently being developed, and it’s anticipated to launch in late winter or early spring. 

The Revolving Loan Fund is one example of how the BDC can be what Pasch calls a “force multiplier.” By working together, these groups can accomplish more than just business owners or just Downtown Main Street staff would achieve on their own.

As the calendar turns to 2025, the BDC looks to use its penchant for action to get more people to visit Red Wing. According to Andrea Hanson, the goal is to use more “story-driven marketing” to draw visitors and attract additional “engaging, exciting retail and restaurants” to get those visitors to return to downtown and see the new life being built in the heart of Red Wing.