By AMY RICKER
Great Bend Post
If you’ve ever had ideas about ways to expand, improve, or businesses you’d like to open in downtown Great Bend, Downtown Strategies is asking residents to take their online survey.
In an effort to recruit new businesses and retain current companies, Great Bend Economic Development (GBED) has partnered with Retail Strategies.
Based out of Birmingham, AL, Retail Strategies assists community development organizations in recruiting new businesses and revitalizing downtown through three programs, Retail Recruitment, Retail Academy, and a Downtown Visioning Workshop.
Great Bend Economic Development President Sara Hayden says Downtown Strategies will be visiting Great Bend on March 9th, so an online survey was developed so the community could voice their ideas and opinions on what they would like to see downtown.
“The survey is available on our Facebook page and our website. That will be up through March 1st,” explained Hayden.
Hayden says while they have not heard everyone’s opinion yet, the common theme her office has heard most often is that downtown should be a family-friendly area to “hang out.”
“The main thing I am hearing is that people want to see downtown as a gathering place. Somewhere where you can take your family, and that also attracts young professionals,” says Hayden. “We’ve already got a great start to downtown, but I think keeping those ideas in mind will give us a great future.”
Downtown Strategies will help Economic Development create a one-, three-, and five-year actionable plan and ideas for funding that the city can apply for to make it all happen.
To fill out the survey, you can access it at gbedinc.com. The survey will close on March 1, 2021.