research analysis and inventory of businesses
DESCRIPTION
This report details the market analysis of businesses in the downtown Oceanside district that fall within Main Street Oceanside’s district. Market analysis of various industries was necessary to identify the types of clusters and leakages of businesses in the downtown area. Qualitative data was gathered from managers of businesses in the form of surveys. Surveys were developed and administered by group members. Major challenges the district faces were analyzed in this report as well. Main Street Oceanside will use the findings of this report to increase the economic vitality of the district.TRANSCRIPT
Research Analysis & Inventory of
Businesses:
MainStreet Oceanside
Prepared for: Rick Wright
Gumaro Escarcega
Prepared by: Chelsey Beeson Connor Olson
Jeremy Christopherson Mark Nachman
Zachary McKinley
Deliverable: May 8th, 2013
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Table Of Contents Page Number
Executive Summary……………………………………. 2
Introduction………………………………………………. 3
Research Questions…………………………………….. 3
Background……………………………………………….. 4
Methodology……………………………………………… 4
Limitations………………………………………………… 6
Results……………………………………………………… 7
Recommendations………………………………………. 28
Appendix…………………………………………………… 34
Executive Summary
The following report details the market analysis of businesses in the downtown
Oceanside district that fall within Main Street Oceanside’s district. Market analysis of various
industries was necessary to identify the types of clusters and leakages of businesses in the
downtown area. Qualitative data was gathered from managers of businesses in the form of
surveys. Surveys were developed and administered by group members. Major challenges the
district faces were analyzed in this report as well. Main Street Oceanside will use the findings of
this report to increase the economic vitality of the district.
Final Recommendations and findings:
Research and analysis of the data gathered suggest that there are currently problems
concerning availability of parking, a strong transient/homeless population, current awareness of
MainStreet Oceanside, as well as a need for an increase in retail business throughout the district.
The availability of parking can be improved through cooperative efforts with other Oceanside
organizations through fundraising. Decreasing the vagrant population can be solved by limiting
the number of organizations that offer services for the homeless throughout the district.
Awareness of the organization can be improved through an increased social media
presence/community as well as face to face interaction with business owners in the area. The
need for an increase in retail businesses in the district can be fulfilled through efforts in reaching
out to current or new retail businesses to fill the vacant buildings throughout the district. Further
information, data, and analysis supporting the findings and recommendations are described in
depth in the following report.
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Introduction
Downtown Oceanside was constructed in the 1890’s. With the development of Marine
Corps Base Camp Pendleton in 1942, civilians as well as military personnel living in, and
visiting the Oceanside area embraced periods of great affluence. Today’s Oceanside is not
accustomed to the economic prosperity ushered in post WWII. Gang violence and economic
downturn have strongly affected the once thriving downtown community. Main Street Oceanside
is committed to improving the economic vitality of the downtown quarter and restoring the
unblemished reputation Oceanside once held.
The purpose of this report is to identify major challenges businesses in Main Street
Oceanside district face, as well as to identify the major clusters and leakages for various
industries.
Research Questions 1) How do businesses first learn about MainStreet? 2) How do businesses rate their awareness of the services offered by MainStreet? 3) How do businesses rate the current volume of foot traffic in the Downtown area? 4) Overall, how satisfied are businesses with the economic vitality of the district? 5) Do businesses believe that the district as a whole will improve over the next five years? 6) What aspects of the Downtown district contribute most to overall dissatisfaction in being located in Oceanside? 7) How do the various elements of businesses relate to their overall satisfaction of the Downtown area? 8) What type of clusters and leakages exist in the Downtown district?
Background
MainStreet Oceanside works with businesses and people that reside in Oceanside, and
advocate for positive growth to enrich the community and improve the quality of life for
residents and visitors of the downtown area. MainStreet follows a comprehensive four-point
approach that consists of the following Committees; Design, Promotions, Organization, and
Economic Restructuring. These Committees create goals and strategies to help improve the
downtown district. Market analysis is necessary in order to identify clusters and leakages in the
downtown district so MainStreet can get a better idea of what types of companies it needs to
cater to.
Methodology
Survey research is a critical component in both descriptive and applied research studies.
The following report will provide the reader with insight as to how data was collected,
researched, and organized for the project. The objective of this research study is to develop a
market analysis of the clusters and leakages that exist within the downtown Oceanside district.
Furthermore, MainStreet Oceanside (Sponsor) would like the research to identify the various
challenges faced by the district as they pertain to the economic vitality of downtown Oceanside.
Data Collection:
During the early stages of the group project the team, along with MainStreet Oceanside,
determined that the primary source for gathering data would involve exploratory research and
developing a survey to be administered in person among the various businesses within the
downtown Oceanside district. In order to obtain the best quantitative data possible, the team,
along with the sponsor, generated a survey with questions that were designed specifically to
assist in providing answers and possible solutions for the given problem statement. Qualitative
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data was also collected during this research which helped with understanding and deciphering
the information that was received. In an attempt to locate the clusters and leakages in the
district, team members interviewed and obtained information and opinions from the business
owners and managers in the district.
Data Analysis:
The collected data was entered into Excel and SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social
Sciences). This software was used due to its versatility and capabilities, which include variables
such as descriptive analysis, linear regression, factor analysis, and cluster analysis, which is a
key component to the study. SPSS offers a simple two-dimensional table structure in which
rows represent the various businesses, and the columns represent the measurement given by the
survey taker. Upon reviewing the combined survey results and deciphering through the
interview data, the findings will be communicated to Main Street Oceanside and
recommendations will be made with the intent of furthering their best interests.
Strengths & Weaknesses:
In determining the best method to go about the research project, it was agreed upon that
distributing a survey among the business community would be an effective strategy to measure
the strengths and weaknesses within the business district. The use of a survey does however
have its limits. They are only capable of providing an estimate for the population or area that is
being researched instead of a definitive measurement. The accuracy of survey research also
relies on honesty and objectiveness from the participant. Since the focus of this project is to
improve the economic vitality that these business owners operate in, it is believed that dishonesty
and biased responses on their behalf would not be an issue as it is to their advantage to
participate and be involved in a study that entails their business community.
The advantages associated with the use of a survey include, the capability to gather
information from large populations, as well as obtaining quantifiable data as it relates to the
designed survey questions. This data can also provide insight about attitudes which are nearly
impossible to measure through observation or other methods. Surveys can also be replicated in
the future to assess any changes that may have taken place. It was determined that the
advantages of using a survey outweighed the disadvantages and this would be a primary focus
and tool that would be used to develop the data.
Limitations Factors that were detrimental to the project were not experienced; however several
uncontrollable factors that have some degree of effect on the quality of the research did come
about. Access to the proper sources, subjectivity, time, and target groups surveyed each had
their own respective influence on the research.
One of the guidelines of the survey requires that only a business owner or manager take
part in the survey research. Even though the team covered the district on many occasions, a
valid candidate could not be located and surveyed at many of the businesses, thus giving a lower
response rate than originally projected. Time management was a minor limitation as each
industry has a different down or slow time in which owners/managers are available to participate
in a survey and possibly be interviewed. For example, in the restaurant industry it is best to
arrive between 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. to talk to owners while other industries like retailers and
service organizations are likely to be busy around that time of day. Coordinating the schedule of
the given industry with those of the individual team members proved to be challenging, however
it was overcome by splitting into teams based on availability and many repeated trips to the
district.
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Awareness of the district’s needs as an entirety could produce mixed responses among
the various industries in the district. This type of research is very subjective in nature and it is
possible to arrive at different forecasts with different samples of the same population. This
example can be seen with the difference in response rates between the service industry and the
retailers in the district as it pertains to their level of satisfaction with the economic vitality in the
district. The service industry recorded an average satisfaction level of 4.93 out of 7 while
retailers were significantly less satisfied at 3.57. Many other examples like this can be found in
the analysis portion of the essay, which support the claim that subjectivity, opinions, and beliefs
differ amongst the various industries within the same small district. There were approximately
10-15 organizations that simply were not willing or did not desire to take part in the study.
One final limitation to mention is the fact that the results from the survey reflect only the
views and opinions of the various businesses in the district and not the views of the district as a
whole. Residential housing occupies approximately 25% of the district’s boundaries, and for the
purpose of this research residential housing was only recognized for inventory purposes and was
not included in the survey research study.
Results
All the conclusion in this section were drawn form the information the team gathered
through the inventory process, in-depth interviews, and the survey we administered to business
owners or managers. The analysis derived from the survey data was run through IBM’s SPSS
Statistics software program and Microsoft’s Excel.
Research Question 1: How do businesses first learn about MainStreet? To begin our analysis we first wanted to gauge the business owners overall awareness of
MainStreet Oceanside. We accomplished this through the survey we administered to owners and
managers of the businesses in the downtown district. In the survey, owners were asked how they
first learned about MainStreet Oceanside. The goal of this research question is to obtain
knowledge of how people have heard of the organization, as well as to learn which method had
been the most effective in gaining awareness from business owners.
Figure 1-‐1: How businesses first learned about MainStreet
In question 2 of the survey we provided the respondents with six options to choose from
with regards to how they first learned about MainStreet Oceanside. We used an ordinal scale for
this question, with the value directly preceding the response option: word of mouth (0), walk-in
(1), direct contact (2), online search engine (3), not applicable (4), and other (5). The results
showed an array of responses as to how business owners first learned about MainStreet
Oceanside. The most frequent response (as shown in Figure 1) was through word of mouth (0),
which accounts for 25% of businesses surveyed in the downtown district. Typically, it is very
difficult to get people talking about your business or organization. The fact that people are
16
12 14
0
10
7
0
5
10
15
20
Word of Mouth
Walk-‐in Direct Contact
Online Search Engine
Not Applicable
Other
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talking about MainStreet Oceanside, and hearing about it from neighboring business or fellow
business owners is definitely one positive that MainStreet can take advantage of down the road.
Following word of mouth, the second most frequent way businesses have first learned
about MainStreet Oceanside was through direct contact (2), which accounted for 21.9% of the
businesses surveyed. The results show that 18.75% of businesses in the downtown district have
learned about the organization through a walk-in (1). Furthermore, 15.63% of the businesses that
took the survey answered not applicable (4), along with 12.5% answering other, and the
remaining did not fill out the question.
We can attribute a slight degree of sampling error to this question as many respondents
who answered other (5), filled in the name of ‘Rick Wright’ or wrote ‘The Sunset Market’.
These responses skew the result as the answer ‘Rick Wright’ could literally mean anything. Mr.
Wright could have walked into the business, directly contacted them, or they could have heard
his name and knew it was in association with MainStreet Oceanside. Moreover, the written
answer of ‘The Sunset Market’ is too vague to derive accurate analytics.
Research Question 2: How do businesses rate their awareness of the services offered by MainStreet? For Research Question 2 we wanted to see how aware business owners are of the services
MainStreet Oceanside offers. To get the most information out of this question we broke down the
analysis into three parts; overall data, members, and non-members. This way it will give us a
general consensus of the downtown district as a whole. We will also be able to identify and
measure the level of awareness of non-members to see if a lack of knowledge is a reason they are
not members or vice versa. Moreover, we can see how effective MainStreet Oceanside has been
in communicating with their members what services they offer. In this question we used a scale
ranging from not aware with a value of (0) to extremely aware with a value of (4).
Table 2-‐1 – Overall Awareness of Services Data
Question 3 Mean Median Mode
Awareness of services 1.229 1 0
As seen in Table 2-1, the average (or mean) awareness of the overall downtown district
of the services offered by MainStreet Oceanside is 1.229, which is in between slightly aware (1)
and moderately aware (2). The mode or most answered response was not aware (0). In fact, a
staggering 37.5% of overall business owners are completely unaware of the services offered by
MainStreet Oceanside.
This result came to no surprise to us after walking the streets and briefly talking with
various business owners or managers during the surveying and inventory process. During this
process, many of the businesses that we walked into were completely unaware of the existence of
MainStreet Oceanside. The businesses that were completely unaware required a brief explanation
from our team about who MainStreet Oceanside is and what they do. The survey results from
Research Question 1 don’t necessarily coincide with our qualitative findings, but the awareness
levels of the services offered indicate there could be some work done to raise the overall
awareness of the organization throughout the downtown district.
Table 2-2 – Member Awareness of Services Data
Question 3 Mean Median Mode
Awareness of services 2.667 3 3
To break down Research Question #2 further, we analyzed the survey results on a
member and non-member basis. In table 2.2, we found the members of MainStreet Oceanside on
average are between moderately aware (2) and aware (3), based on the result of the 2.667 mean
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calculated. The most frequent response for this question by members of MainStreet Oceanside
was aware (3), which accounts for 35.71% of the members overall. This comes at a relief and
indicates there is a good level of communication with the members and the organization. To
prove this point furthermore, none of the respondents we surveyed that are members answered
not aware (0).
Figure 2-‐2 – Non-‐Member Awareness of Services
The average response from non-members was 0.88, which is between not aware (0) and
slightly aware (1). The majority of respondents under this break down are not aware of the
services offered by MainStreet Oceanside, which is 48% of non-members. However, upon
further analysis we found that of the 48% of non-members who answered not aware (0), 33.3%
of them answered not applicable in the question regarding how they first learned about
MainStreet Oceanside. In addition, 16.6% of the respondents who answered not aware in
question 3 of the survey, found out about MainStreet Oceanside through word of mouth and
12.5% answered other. This accounts for 62.4% of non-member respondents who are not aware
24
12 9
3 1
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Not Aware Slightly Aware Moderately Aware
Aware Extremely Aware
of the services MainStreet Oceanside offers. Given their answers to the first question; word of
mouth, not applicable, and other indicates that there has been no direct or physical contact with
MainStreet Oceanside and the business owners. Word of mouth implies respondents heard about
the organization through a fellow business owner or a neighboring business, and not applicable
means they haven’t heard about the organization. We can see a direct connection as to why non-
members are not aware of the services offered, because they have had no direct contact with
MainStreet Oceanside.
While MainStreet Oceanside has not directly contacted these particular businesses, there
are some positive points to be gained from these results. MainStreet has the opportunity to build
awareness with business owners throughout the downtown district. In the results from the overall
data, including members and non-members, those who answered either moderately aware,
aware, or extremely aware indicated they learned about MainStreet Oceanside via walk-in, or
direct contact. With this information, one may gather that the best way to increase overall
awareness and the awareness of the services offered is through contacting the businesses by
walking door to door, by phone, or email.
Research Question 3: How do businesses rate the current volume of foot traffic
in the Downtown area?
In Research Question 3 we felt it would be beneficial for MainStreet to receive some
information regarding how businesses rate with overall volume of foot traffic in the downtown
district. For this research question, two approaches were taken in regards to data collection.
Quantitative data was gathered through the survey gaining concrete information about the
businesses overall perspective on the volume of foot traffic. In addition, a qualitative approach
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was taken with business owners who were willing to sit down for an in-depth interview. The
results for the quantitative part of the research question are the following.
Table 3 – Volume of Foot Traffic
Question 7 Mean Median Mode
Foot Traffic Volume 4.2619 4 4
The results of the analysis regarding the current volume of foot traffic in the downtown
district show the average response of business owners was just shy of the middle with a mean of
4.2619. We used an ordinal scale for the analysis of this survey question starting at Extremely
Dissatisfied with a value of (1) to Extremely Satisfied with a value of (7). We chose to scale the
survey question under this format so we could obtain a broader range of responses. In addition,
an odd-numbered format would contain a neutral or medium value, which holds a value of (4).
This proved to be a good scaling technique as we found the most frequent response was the
neutral value of (4). This indicates business owners are relatively indifferent about how much
foot traffic is circulating through the downtown district. It is difficult to draw conclusions solely
from the survey question, however, additional information collected with qualitative data and in-
depth interviews helped better assess business owners’ opinions about Research Question 3.
Throughout the inventory and surveying process, some business owners were eager to
share their thoughts with us and were willing to take time out of their day to talk to us. Please
note we only conducted interviews with companies in the industries of retail, restaurant,
hospitality, automotive services, and services. One question we always presented in verbal
conversation with business owners involved their feelings about traffic coming into their door or
passing through the front of their stores. Some of the responses we got may shed some additional
light to this particular research question.
Of the handful of owners we talked to, most of them said it wasn’t necessarily the volume
of foot traffic that is the problem, but the type of foot traffic that passes through the downtown
district. This type of foot traffic isn’t the type that generates business. One business owner who
asked to remain anonymous stated, “I have gangster looking hoodlums and drug dealers loitering
in front and passing by my store on a daily basis.” He continued to mention these types of
individuals are more of a problem on the days of The Farmer’s Market and Sunset Market. Most
of the other owners shared a similar concern with traffic issues ranging from homeless people
walking the streets or sleeping under their store’s overhang, to skateboarders loitering outside of
their stores and ultimately disrupting potential business.
What this additional data tells us in regards to the survey question asked is that there
could have been some indifference with the respondent (not really knowing how to answer this
question etc.). While most physical visits to the businesses in the district took place during what
was considered “slow hours,” personal observations showed there was a significant amount of
people circulating through the streets. It was conveyed by business owners that numerous
individuals didn’t seem to have intentions of going into their stores. Thus, in addition to these
findings in the qualitative research, we can attribute some of the indifference in the survey
question to the actual traffic not aligning with the ideal consumer.
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Research Question 4: Overall, how satisfied are businesses with the economic
vitality of the district?
Figure 4-1
Businesses satisfaction levels with the current economic vitality of the downtown district
show that the average response of the businesses was near the middle of the seven-point scale
used, at 4.24. The scale used started with Extremely Dissatisfied, issued a value of (1), and ended
to Extremely Satisfied with a value of (7). This average suggests that as a whole, the businesses
in the downtown district are not entirely dissatisfied, nor entirely satisfied with the current
economic state of the district. The red bar in Figure 4-1 above shows the average level of
satisfaction of each category using the scale described. The blue bar represents the lower level of
confidence used and the green bar represents our upper level of confidence used. Both levels of
confidence are based off of a 95% level of confidence, which helps portray that the true
3.83 3.56 3.71
4.24 4.43 4.19
4.66
5.29
4.66
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Total Members Non-‐Members
Lower Confidence Limit Mean Upper Confidence Limit
population mean is between our lower and upper confidence levels based off of our surveyed
population.
After further analysis, our data shows us that the average level of satisfaction of members
was roughly .241 higher than the average response of non-members. When compared statistically
in a correlations test in our data analysis software, there is a sigma of .723, which shows us that
at an alpha level of 0.05, we are 95% positive that there is no statistically significant relationship
between members and non-members responses to the survey question concerning the current
economic vitality of the district. This means that there is no statistically significant difference
between the average response of a member and a non-member when compared to their
satisfaction levels of the current economic vitality of the district.
Figure 4-2
2.71 2.42
4.21
2.99
3.57 3.88
4.93
4.00
4.44
5.33 5.66
5.01
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Retail Restaurants Services Automo[ve
Lower Confidence Limit Mean Upper Confidence Limit
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When looking at the different industry’s perspectives of the economic vitality of the
downtown district in Figure 4-2, we see that service industries show the most positive levels of
satisfaction at an average of 4.93 and that retailers show the most negative levels of satisfaction
at an average of 3.57. This data could be derived from the fact that the service businesses in the
area are possibly more geared towards the clientele of the downtown district than the retail
locations. This could also be due to the high volume of barbershops and dry cleaners that have
been established to serve the high volume of customers from the military community of Camp
Pendleton.
Research Question 5: Do businesses believe that the district as a whole will
improve over the next five years?
Figure 5-‐1
According to the data collected, the average businesses in the downtown district are at a
neutral level of agreement with a slight tendency to agree with the statement, “As a whole, the
3.23% 2.08%
9.68% 7.14%
10.42%
29.03%
14.29%
33.33%
38.71% 35.71%
39.58%
0.193548
0.145833
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Total Members Non-‐Members
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
downtown district will improve over the next five years.” On the following ordinal scale: (0)
Strongly Agree, (1) Disagree, (2) Neutral, (3) Agree, (4) Strongly Agree, the average from all
surveyed businesses was a 2.65. This shows that the average business would either be neutral or
slightly agree that the district will improve over the next five years. Furthermore, with a 95%
confidence level we can say that the true population-mean of the businesses in the downtown
district is between 2.35 and 2.94, which shows that on average businesses in the downtown
district would agree or be neutral to the statement listed.
There were several interesting findings in the analysis concerning the frequencies of the
answers within each industry. Approximately half of the businesses surveyed from the retail
industry responded neutrally when asked about their opinions on the improvement of the
downtown district. This shows that there is a lot of uncertainty among the retail businesses on
whether or not the district will change over the next five years, which is parallel with the industry
average. Another interesting fact that stood out was that 9 out of the 17 service industries
surveyed said that they agreed that the downtown district would improve over the next five
years. This is a positive sign for the service industry within the district that more than 50% of the
industry believes that the district will improve over the next five years.
Through further analysis our team has also come to conclusions on several correlations
concerning the improvement of the downtown district. First, at an alpha level of 0.05, we are
95% confident that there is a statistically correlation between the current satisfaction with the
amount of foot traffic in the district and the level in which the businesses agree that the district
will improve over the next five years. There is a correlation coefficient of 0.33, which shows us
that there is a moderate correlation between the two. This means that as the businesses become
more satisfied with the current level of foot traffic, they will most likely have a higher level of
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agreement with the statement concerning the improvement of the district over the next five years
as well.
The next correlation that stood out to our team is present between the level in which the
business agrees to the improvement of the district over the next five years, and the overall
satisfaction of the business with the current economic vitality of the downtown district. At an
alpha level of .05, we are 95% confident that there is a statistically significant relationship
between the extents in which the surveyed population thinks the downtown district will improve
over the next five years, and their current satisfaction of the economic vitality of the district. At a
correlation of 0.35 this shows a slightly positive relationship between the variables. This, in turn,
means that the more the surveyed population thinks the district will improve over the next five
years, the higher their level of current satisfaction with the economic strength of the district, and
vice versa.
Research Question 6: What aspects of the Downtown district contribute most to
overall dissatisfaction in being located in Oceanside?
The qualitative survey question that asked businesses about the main challenge in which
they face from being located in the Oceanside downtown district, brought about six main aspects
of the district that were mentioned repetitively. These six areas are located below in Table 6-1
and give further insight into what areas need to be addressed in order to improve the downtown
district.
Table 6-‐1: Qualitative Response
According to the Table 6-1, one can see that the biggest challenge the businesses in
downtown Oceanside face is the high number of homeless people, vagrants, and transients that
spend their time in the downtown district (with a response rate of 15 businesses). Some owners
believe that this is due to the meal centers provided to the homeless each morning, while others
believe that it is merely a trend that all downtown districts face. According to one interview with
a general manager, who preferred to remain anonymous, he believes that; “the city offers too
many shelters that are aimed to feed and provide for the homeless, which not only attracts a large
homeless population, but it also gives them no reason to leave.” According to many of the
business owners, the vagrants and transients are linked to the drug abuse within the downtown
district of Oceanside.
The second largest problem that the business owners wrote about is the issue of parking
throughout the downtown district, with a response rate of nine businesses. Many say that there is
not enough public parking, which deters people from shopping in the downtown district due to
the inconvenience factor associated with having to find parking far away from their desired
destination. According to another anonymous business owner, she believes that “there should be
no reason to hand out parking tickets to customers who are trying to spend money in the
downtown economy, and that ticketing people for staying to long in the area is only going to
Response Number of Responses
Homeless, Vagrants, and/or Transients 15 Parking 9 City/State Government 8 Safety (Crime, Vandalism, Gangs, or Drugs) 8 Lack of People/Traffic 7 Cleanliness 3
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drive them away from coming back in the future.” Because of this, business owners believe that
consumers’ fear of receiving a parking ticket may also skew their willingness to visit the district.
The next highest frequency in responses was the lack of a competent, or caring local
government, which was indicated as a challenge by eight of the surveyed businesses. These
business owners stated that they do not think that the City of Oceanside, Oceanside Chamber of
Commerce, or even the MainStreet Oceanside Organization, are currently doing the right things
to properly benefit the downtown district. In some cases the business owners even felt deterred
from further meetings with the organizations because they felt that the organization had a lack of
openness to change. In an interview with a general manager, he stated that he had gone to the
MainStreet Oceanside’s monthly meeting, and felt “attacked and insulted” when he brought up
concerns of safety to the organization. He showed a strong desire to improve the area in all
aspects, but also had a similar encounter with the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce. He felt
deterred from working with local organizations due to their lack of openness to criticisms that he
meant not to insult, but instead to aid in the efforts of building a better downtown district.
The next largest area of concern for business owners and managers in the downtown
district was safety. This included all forms of crime, vandalism, graffiti, gangs, and drug use
throughout the district. Another interviewed business owner stated that she was concerned for the
safety of her employees in the early hours of the morning, and in the late hours of the evening.
She said that her employees had to park a far distance away from her business’ location, which
was related to many of her employees running into many “untrustworthy individuals” on their
way to and from work. An additional business manager shared a similar concern in that there is a
high population of individuals that fit the profile of a “gang member” or “drug user” which
caused many of his employees to leave the organization due to safety concerns. In one situation,
the same manager stated that he and his employees witnessed a car being stolen at gunpoint in
front of his business in broad daylight. This situation caused him to lose two of his employees
due to their fear of the same situation occurring to them.
One business owner even went as far as to say the only times his store had ever run into
problems with shoplifting and stealing had been during the days of the street fairs. He said that
he has now been forced to staff more employees on these days to prevent theft, even though they
are his slowest days of the week in terms of sales. Vandalism and graffiti are also major
problems for business owners in the downtown district. They believe it creates a more hardened
image for the area, and drives many customers away from spending longer amounts of time in
the area.
The last two standout responses from the qualitative response area of the survey were the
lack of foot traffic or people in the area with a response from seven businesses, as well as the
overall lack of cleanliness in the area with a response of three businesses. Foot traffic, as
discussed earlier in the report, is below what would be acceptable by many of the businesses and
has a direct association with the amount of business a given organization can achieve. According
many business owners, the streets the day after these markets and street fairs are smothered with
grease stains, cigarette buds, and left over trash, which, in their eyes, is detrimental to the region
and causes the district to lose its aesthetic appeal. The same manager said he would be more
open to these street fairs if the streets and sidewalks were more closely patrolled to keep the
areas clean. Business owners as a whole stated that they felt the district would attract more
people if the streets had had a more clean appeal to the outside public.
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Research Question 7: How do the various elements of businesses relate to their
overall satisfaction of the Downtown area?
After data analysis regarding how various elements of businesses relate to their overall
satisfaction of the downtown area, we can come to several conclusions. These elements include
whether businesses are members of MainStreet Oceanside or not, and how long the companies
have been in business.
According to the analysis gathered, there is in fact one aspect of being a member that
positively correlates with being satisfied overall with the downtown area. The element in which
a correlation exists with being a member of MainStreet Oceanside is the awareness level one has
with the organization. According to our analysis, at an alpha level of 0.05, we are 95% confident
that there is a statistically significant correlation between being a member or not, and being
aware of the services offered by the MainStreet Oceanside. The correlation coefficient is a -0.46,
which shows us that there is a moderate correlation between the knowledge of the services
offered of the organization and being a member or not. This shows us that many members are not
fully aware of the services offered by the MainStreet Oceanside. Many non-members are aware
of the services provided by the organization, but choose not to join. Our analysis shows that
satisfaction of the current economic vitality of the region, satisfaction with current volume of
foot traffic, as well as how the businesses believe the district will improve over the next five
years all have no significant correlation with being a member.
Our analysis also shows that there is no statistically significant correlation between how
long a company has been in business when compared to the other questions of the research
survey. This suggests that the length a company has been in business doesn’t have a statistically
significant correlation with being a member of the MainStreet Oceanside Organization,
satisfaction of current economic vitality, satisfaction of current volume of foot traffic, as well as
the extent in which the businesses believe the downtown district will improve over the next five
years.
Research Question 8: Assess the clusters and leakages that exist in the
downtown district.
Clusters and Leakages by Sector
Most businesses in the downtown district of Oceanside are located along Coast Highway,
as well as in a rather concentrated central area near the coast. To better assess the clusters and
leakages of this area, it can be better understood by looking at four major sectors of the district.
The first sector includes all of the businesses that are in the blocks north of Civic Center Drive
on North Coast Highway. Overall, this sector of the district did not have a high concentration of
businesses, but there were a few notable clusters and leakages that exist. There are only a
handful of businesses in the hotel industry in this particular downtown district, but three of these
hotels are located in a cluster on the north end of the district. With three of the only six hotels
existing in the same block on the north end of Coast Highway, this would be considered a
cluster. In addition, there is also a leakage of businesses in the retail industry in this sector of the
district. There are only three retail businesses in this area, which is very minimal considering the
geographic span of this region.
The second sector to be discussed includes the most central region of the district. The
blocks include, from east to west, those that lie between Ditmar Street and Cleveland Street, and
going from north to south Civic Center Drive and Seagaze Drive. This sector, contrary to the
last, carries a very high concentration level of businesses within the district. In this region, there
are a few clusters of industries that exist. In just three of the blocks in this region, there is a
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cluster of nine retail shops. This number of retail stores is triple that of the northern sector. In
addition, there is also a surplus of restaurants/taverns in this region. There are a total of 24
restaurants in this central region, seven of which are also considered to be taverns. To elaborate,
this number of restaurant-type businesses in the central sector constitute for 53% of the total
number of businesses within that particular industry type in the downtown district.
In the next sector of the district, everything south of the central sector is incorporated.
This area contains businesses along South Coast Highway between Seagaze Drive and
Wisconsin Street. This area is unique from the rest of the district in that there are clusters of
businesses from the automobile industry, as well as the retail industry. Of the 17 businesses in
the district that are classified under the automobile category, 15 of these businesses reside in the
southern sector of the district. This means that almost 90% of the automobile industry businesses
reside in just the six blocks to the south-end of the district. In addition, a very high volume of
retail stores in comparison to the rest of the district also exists in this region. There is a cluster of
18 retail shops in this area along South Coast Highway, making up for 42% of retail shops in the
entire district. The last distinguishable aspect of this southern sector can be considered to be
either a leakage or cluster, depending on the way one assesses at the situation. There are a
significant number of vacancies in this sector of the district, 11 total. The abundance of
vacancies can be seen as a cluster or leakage due to the fact that these vacancies should be
replaced by businesses. While the 10 remaining vacancies are spread out among the district,
these 11 (or 53%) are concentrated in this southern sector.
The last individual sector to be discussed lies in the eastern region of the district. This
area includes everything east of Ditmar Street all the way up to right before the I-5. This sector
is unique because it is the only section of the district that is home to a shopping center. While
this shopping center may be unique to others, it accounts for a few of the reasons this sector has
the clusters and leakages that it does. This sector is the only region that has a cluster of service-
oriented businesses, and a large portion of these fall under the salon, spa, and personal services
category. Another aspect of this sector of the district that makes it unique in comparison to the
others is an abundance of office units. Because it is adjacent to the Oceanside Chamber of
Commerce, there are a few organizations that would be distinct to any inventory of businesses.
Another notable fact is the number of financial offices/services offered in this sector. In addition
to the service category mentioned above, these types of services also account for a portion of the
cluster that exists.
Total Clusters & Leakages Figure 8-‐1: Industry inventory by count and percentage
Automo[ve 8%
Vacant 9%
Other/Office 10%
Retail 20%
Hotel 3%
Restaurant 21%
Service 29%
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Figure 8-1 on the previous page displays the number count of businesses in the
downtown district, as well as the percentage of that industry to inventory as a whole. This data
will be useful in determining the clusters and leakages that exist in the downtown district overall.
To better understand the dynamics of this downtown area, it will be dissected in terms of
industries that focus on four primary objectives/attractions for consumers in the area: stay, play,
shop, and dine.
The shopping and dining categories are in direct alignment with the retail and restaurant
inventory displayed in the figure above. As shown, both account for about 20% of the district
overall, (retail with 20%, and restaurants making up for 21%). While the retail and restaurant
businesses that exist in the district may be concentrated in certain sectors, their overall
percentages of the district are consistent if the area is seeking to have an equal distribution of
“stay, play, shop, and dine” businesses.
One may also notice that the service industry accounts for the largest percentage of
business types in the downtown Oceanside district. In accordance with the “stay, play, shop, and
dine” mantra, these businesses would fall within the “play category.” The fact that this industry
type has the highest level of inventory could be for a variety of reasons, but can be justified by
the fact that the range of services offered varies quite immensely. But, also note that the
automobile services industry was given its own industry category. Because the automobile
businesses in the area technically provide a service, they are also a part of this “play” or service
category in a broad sense. This, in turn, would then mean that the service industry consists of
37% of the total business inventory in this district, with a total number count of 81. While the
services offered may range, the industry overall represents a cluster of inventory in the
downtown district.
The next distinguished aspect of this district is displayed in the hotel area of the graph.
While the “stay” category may be an importance piece of the pie for downtown districts overall,
the six hotels in the downtown district of Oceanside only account for 3% of its total inventory of
businesses. If the option for visitors to stay in the Downtown district is a primary concern for
MainStreet, this number may seem somewhat low- and ultimately represent a leakage in the area.
As displayed in the figure above, there is also a cluster of vacancies, or vacant lots that
subsist in the downtown area. Regrettably, these vacant lots make up for 10% of the total
businesses accounted for in the inventory. While the majority of these vacancies reside in the
southern sector of the district, there are vacant lots throughout.
Recommendations
The following section is a list of recommendations formulated by the team after a careful
analysis of both the quantitative and qualitative data gathered from February 2013 thru April
2013. The findings include issues that concern a lack of parking, strong homeless population,
awareness of the MainStreet organization, as well as clusters and leakages. Each finding is
defined and described with links to the analysis, and is then directly followed with the
recommendation for the given problem or opportunity that was found throughout the research
process.
Finding 1:
A common theme among those surveyed involved the lack of parking throughout the
downtown Oceanside district thus restricting potential customers along with their money from
visiting the area. One hotel owner when interviewed stated, “I only have 4 parking spaces for
my 25 room hotel. During the booking process, I advise my customers to take the Coaster or to
park several blocks away”.
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Recommendation 1:
Consider a strategy that would allow for a multilevel parking structure. This would
require a smaller lot or piece of property than a large street level parking lot would. If the public
has access too conveniently and safely park in a centralized area, this alone should improve the
bottom line for every industry in the district. This could only be achieved through strong
cooperation of fundraising efforts between the MainStreet Oceanside organization, Oceanside
Chamber of Commerce, Oceanside City Council, alongside local businesses.
Finding 2:
Large population of homeless and transients produces several results. Business owners
have lost employees due to the belief that they are not as safe as they could be without this
problem. Owners feel that when these transients loiter and litter in front of their businesses that
it deters the general public from wanting to do business with them.
Recommendation 2:
Attempt to reduce or relocate the food shelters to a location east of Interstate 5. This
should reduce the amount of transients that are walking the business district, as they would now
be concentrated around the Oceanside Transit Center in order to catch a bus to the relocated
shelters.
Finding 3:
Based upon the results in Research Question 2, businesses in the downtown district
generally have low awareness levels of the services offered by MainStreet Oceanside. This is
especially true with the non-members, as in the results section of Research Question 2, which
showed 48% of the non-members surveyed respondent not aware. In addition, we found the
reason why these non-members are not aware of their services is because they have not been
directly or physically contacted by MainStreet Oceanside. Moreover, the results of the survey
showed that the awareness levels are the highest when the business was either directly contacted
or via a walk-in.
Recommendation 3:
We feel it would be beneficial for MainStreet Oceanside to make efforts to increase both
their overall visibility, as well as increase the awareness of the services the organization offers.
This would benefit MainStreet Oceanside because it could help mend the negative perception
businesses have with MainStreet Oceanside, but also at the same time it provides an opportunity
to potentially get more businesses to become members, increasing MainStreet Oceanside’s
revenue. If a strategy is implemented to better the visibility of the organization and increase the
awareness of the services offered it will aid in MainStreet’s ability to improve the economic
vitality of the downtown district.
As our team collected data, we found that many businesses in the district have a negative
perception of the events that the organization facilitates. However, we found that these
businesses weren’t aware of who MainStreet Oceanside is or what they do until we told them
that they are the organization that puts of The Farmers Market and The Sunset Market. This,
along with the results of Research Question 2, shows there has not been much contact between
MainStreet Oceanside and the businesses.
We recommend that MainStreet Oceanside conduct a walkthrough of all the businesses
that are not members in their district, going door to door and meeting with the business owners
or managers. When they meet with these businesses, we urge they explain exactly what
MainStreet Oceanside does, how their goal is to improve the economic vitality of the district, and
how they plan to achieve this goal. This will not only ensure that the businesses are aware of
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MainStreet, but it will provide justification for the motives behind The Farmers Market and The
Sunset Market. We feel a major contributing factor to the negative perceptions of these two
events is because of the lack of knowledge business owners have as to why these events are
being held. Moreover, if business owners are aware of the reasons why the markets are taking
place it could help open their minds to benefits of hosting such events. Once the awareness is
gained and a relationship is being built, it can provide MainStreet with an opportunity to get
more businesses to become members of their organization. This would increase their revenue and
allow them to have more capital to reinvest into the community.
Finding 4:
In regards to data found in Research Question 8, there seems to be an overall leakage of
retail businesses. While the retail industry does account for 20% of the inventory of businesses,
the service industry accounts for almost double that with 37%.
Recommendation 4:
We believe that the most successful analysis would consist of more businesses geared
toward the retail industry. While some may say that the “play” aspect of a market analysis is
important, many of the service-oriented businesses in the district do not offer much fun for
consumers. The service industry is comprised mostly of automobile shops, quick one-stop shops
for laundry or a haircut, or financial services. We believe that in order to keep visitors occupied
and in the area longer, there is a necessity for additional retail shops. Because shopping centers
and “big box” stores are not a far drive away from Oceanside’s Main Street, it is imperative that
the district competes as a retail area (Ulster County). The most successful way to avoid having
consumers leave the area to shop elsewhere is to provide consumers with a market of niche and
specialty retail stores that offer a unique ambiance or special experience that would not be found
elsewhere. As well as keeping visitors in the area for a longer duration per visit, increasing the
number of retail businesses in the area will help make the district a more desirable shopping
destination. In the long run this will help increase positive foot traffic throughout the district.
This will immensely benefit the local restaurant industry, as well as increase awareness of the
services offered by service businesses in the area.
Finding 5:
According to Research Question 2, overall knowledge of the services offered by
MainStreet Oceanside falls between the categories of Slightly aware and Moderately aware. In
addition, the most frequently selected response by the participating businesses indicated that they
were Not aware of the services provided by MainStreet Oceanside.
Recommendation 5:
In order to better facilitate awareness of MainStreet Oceanside and the services in which
they offer, we propose that they begin a large social media campaign to engage their
stakeholders. While MainStreet Oceanside already has an operating website, social media
platforms provide additional features that can allow for more efficient communication among the
community. According to a Main Street blog found online, conversations are going to happen in
a marketplace no matter what, but positive marketing encourages the right kind of conversations
(Hudson, 2011). While some of the qualitative research indicated that not every business had
positive opinions about MainStreet, a lot of this may be attributed to the lack of information of
knowledge that the businesses have about MainStreet. In order to capitalize upon the
opportunities for communication and awareness that social media may offer, MainStreet
Oceanside can introduce a month-long social media campaign that engages all stakeholders of
the community.
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Conclusion
This consulting project added great value to all group members’ education. Having a
breakdown of the various industries will facilitate communication between business owners and
MainStreet. MainStreet Oceanside has a strong foothold in the community, and the information
provided in this study will bolster that foothold.
Appendix
Data Collection Survey: MainStreet Oceanside Customer Survey
This is an anonymous survey being used to obtain insight into the standing of MainStreet Oceanside from a business perspective and gather data regarding the economic vitality of the Downtown Oceanside district. 1) Are you currently a member of MainStreet Oceanside? Please circle one.
Yes No
2) Please place a check in the box that indicates how you first learned about MainStreet Oceanside.
Word of Mouth Walk-‐in Direct Contact
Online Search Engine Not Applicable Other:_________________________________
3) How aware are you of the services offered by MainStreet Oceanside business association? Please circle one.
Not Aware Slightly Aware Moderately Aware Aware Extremely Aware
4) Please select the response that corresponds with how long your company has been in business.
Less than one year 1-‐2 years 3-‐5 years 6+ years
5) What type of industry would you classify your business as? Please circle one.
Retail Hotel Restaurant/Tavern Services Offices Auto-‐motive Services
Other:___________
6) On a scale ranging from 1-‐7, how satisfied are you with the current economic vitality of the Downtown Oceanside district? Please circle one.
Extremely Dissatisfied 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Extremely Satisfied
7) On a scale ranging from 1-‐7, how satisfied are you with the current volume of foot traffic in the downtown area? Please circle one.
Extremely Dissatisfied 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Extremely Satisfied
8) Please indicate the extent of which you agree or disagree with the following statement: As a whole, the downtown Oceanside district will improve over the next five years.
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
9) What is one Challenge that your business faces from being located in downtown Oceanside?
Thank you for your participation in this survey.
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Figures:
Figure 1-‐1: How businesses first learned about MainStreet
Figure 2-‐2 – Non-‐Member Awareness of Services
16
12 14
0
10
7
0
5
10
15
20
Word of Mouth
Walk-‐in Direct Contact
Online Search Engine
Not Applicable
Other
Figure 4-1
Figure 4-2
24
12 9
3 1
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Not Aware Slightly Aware Moderately Aware
Aware Extremely Aware
3.83 3.56 3.71
4.24 4.43 4.19
4.66
5.29
4.66
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Total Members Non-‐Members
Lower Confidence Limit Mean Upper Confidence Limit
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Figure 5-‐1
Figure 8-‐1: Industry inventory by count and percentage
2.71 2.42
4.21
2.99
3.57 3.88
4.93
4.00 4.44
5.33 5.66
5.01
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Retail Restaurants Services Automo[ve
Lower Confidence Limit Mean Upper Confidence Limit
3.23% 2.08%
9.68% 7.14%
10.42%
29.03%
14.29%
33.33% 38.71%
35.71% 39.58%
0.193548 0.145833
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Total Members Non-‐Members
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
Tables:
Table 2-‐1 – Overall Awareness of Services Data
Question 3 Mean Median Mode
Awareness of services 1.229 1 0
Table 2-2 – Member Awareness of Services Data
Question 3 Mean Median Mode
Awareness of services 2.667 3 3
Table 3 – Volume of Foot Traffic
Question 7 Mean Median Mode
Automo[ve 8%
Vacant 9%
Other/Office 10%
Retail 20%
Hotel 3%
Restaurant 21%
Service 29%
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Foot Traffic Volume 4.2619 4 4
Table 6-‐1
Response Number of Responses
Homeless, Vagrants, and/or Transients 15 Parking 9 City/State Government 8 Safety (Crime, Vandalism, Gangs, or Drugs) 8 Lack of People/Traffic 7 Cleanliness 3