Shopping Center Signage Makeovers Boost Virginia’s Economic Development
Signage Makeovers Boost Virginia’s Economic Development
Restoring Life to Virginia’s Aging Shopping Centers
RETAIL REVIVAL
Brookhill Azalea is one of many Virginia shopping centers where Holiday Signs helped revive cash flow and visual appeal by renovating signage. Research shows that grocery-anchored retail centers have the best survival rates during the toughest economic times, one reason moderate investments in facade and signage upgrades at supermarket-based centers make sense for developers.
Photos of how one of two SHOPPING CENTER ENTRANCE SIGNS was improved. What was once just a “sign on a stick” was transformed into a fresh, new multi-tenant identification sign that compliments the new pylon sign at a second entrance. The new signs allow for tenants to broadcast 24-hour customized digital messaging.
- Day/Night Image Not Attracting New Customers and Tenants
- High Tenant Turnover Rates
- Negative Economic Impact on Community
AFTER:
- Updated 24-Hour Street-Appeal More Attractive to Customers
- Lower Tenant Turnover Rates
- Improved Economic Impact
Updating “dated” shapes and colors can add new appeal to shopping centers, attracting both new customers and tenants. Adding digital messaging capabilities allows all tenants, big and small, a chance to promote themselves. This is especially valuable at malls and strip centers where many of the non-anchor tenants can sometimes get lost from the viewpoint of the main road.
FRESH IMAGE BOOSTS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Economic development officials understand the importance of healthy retail centers and don’t want commercial properties in their areas to reach the point of decline. I recently asked Mike Davidson, Economic Development Director in Campbell County, Virginia, for his angle on how upgrading signage at declining centers helps. Here are some good points:
“Renovating and retrofitting existing shopping centers makes good economic sense,” he explained.
“Refreshing the visual appearance of properties gives consumers the feeling that something new has happened and helps to retain and improve traffic into those centers.”
Mike recommends re-purposing centers when they become vacant with new or different uses to revitalize existing property that has already had considerable investment in installing infrastructure, and he referenced a recent success story of this kind from his area.
“This also helps to prevent blight from creeping in to areas,” he pointed out.
“Having something nice & appealing rather than worn and old always enhances the opportunity for consumers to want to visit and see what is being offered in those centers,” he said.
Neglected retail centers are often viewed as one of the top culprits of crime and the decline of neighborhoods, conditions that lead to lower property values and tax revenues. Offering their help for ailing commercial developments, cities and counties across our service area have special matching grants and tax credit programs in place for signage and storefront renovation.
Here are some Virginia area facade improvement programs I have found on the internet:
- Blackstone Facade Improvement Program
- Fredericksburg Downtown Facade Improvements Matching Grants Program
- Henrico County Commercial/Industrial Rehabilitation Grant Program
- Lexington Downtown Facade Improvement Program
- Martinsville Facade Renovation and Signage Matching Grant Program
- Newport News Facade Improvement Grant
- Norfolk Commercial Facade Improvement Program
- Portsmouth’s Downtown Portsmouth Façade Improvement Grant program
- Roanoke County Commercial Corridor Matching Grant Program
- Town of Purcellville Facade Improvement Program
- Virginia Main Street Awards Downtown Improvement Grants
- Winchester Commercial Facade Loan Program
International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Here are a few more articles related to shopping center signs:
How Small Features Can Add Big Punch to Shopping Center Signs
Digital Messaging for Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, DC Shopping Centers