SUMMARY OF MINUTES

The meeting was prefaced by a social period in which refreshments were served. A thank you to Sherri Mehwa and Kim Behmer for providing the wine and finger foods, care of Sherrus Gallery and American Spoon Foods, respectively.

CALL TO ORDER: Pres. Sherri Mewha called the meeting to order at 6:30pm. There were 14 members present. Sherri went around the room and had the members introduce themselves and tell about their business.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Beverlee Lindeen provided copies of the treasury report and the report was approved.

MINUTES: The minutes for the May meeting were briefly reviewed and print copies distributed.

Sherri reminded the membership that the minutes and reports are available on the DDA website.

FLOWER SALE- MAY 2005- Ronnie Cambra and Tom James reported on the success of the Flower Show, held over Memorial Day weekend. Ronnie reported that the show was a success and that they now recognize a need to have the sale run later on Friday night, or someone to handle sales, as customers were picking up and wanting to purchase flowers, and Ronnie and the hired security guard had to handle the evening sales, "impromptu", and grossed over 400.00 in sales.

ANNUAL POSTER FOR FLOWER SALE- Tom James reported on the annual poster sales. He stated that the sales were not as good this year for the poster designed by artist, Tom Hales, but that sales would continue through the year. All monies from the poster sales (minus the production costs) go to the NCBA. As of June 14th, 710.00 had been grossed. The cost to produce the poster was 1297.00. Several shop owners then offered to sell the posters in their shops on behalf of the NCBA.

Tom noted that next year the design of the poster will be opened up to Northville students, allowing them to submit artwork for the final poster design. This will encourage community involvement, and should increase sales.

SIDEWALK SALE-AUGUST 5-6-7, 2005- Sherri Mewha and Janet Bloom updated the membership on the sale plans. Terry O’Brien has created a logo for the NCBA annual sale, which will be used in publicity.

-A poster still needs to be created for the event

-Space in front of the storefronts is free to use by NCBA members (Janet will verify this with the city), and non-NCBA members will be asked to pay 50.00. They will also be offered an application in order to apply the 50.00 to their dues for the NCBA, and become a member. (Mark Trudeau and Chris Van Dam will handle the notification to businesses).

-The booth spaces for the sale will be 200.00 per space, and 20.00 per applicant in order to jury the items to be sold. It was a group concern to drop the "garage sale" atmosphere of the booths from last year, and encourage artists and craftsmen to come in and display their works for sale.

-Friday will be reserved strictly as a selling day for the merchants with storefronts. Saturday and Sunday will include the juried booths, and the streets will be closed.

-There was some discussion as to whether or not the booths should be on the far end of main only, or spread out through Center St. and Main St. The conclusion was to spread the booths out among the streets, to encourage more walking traffic. Janet B. will continue to work on a layout for the event.

COUPON BOOK- The coupon book for Northville is being coordinated by Kim Behmer. As of June 14th, about 25 merchants have contributed a coupon. The booklets are free for NCBA members. Non-members can participate for a 25.00 contribution. If a business would like to contribute to the printing fee, they will also be listed on the back of the booklet. Members wishing to contribute need to contact Kim Behmer or Sherri Mewha.

WHERE’S WOOLIAM?- The "Wooliam" campaign was discussed and appears to be a success. The Northville Record is offering weekly articles on Wooliam’s adventures and the businesses he is visiting, with certificates being given to the first person that accurately guesses his location. Kim Behmer reported that she had received several calls from people asking about Wooliam being in her store, and everyone agreed that it was a good way to build community interest in the local merchants.

The last article of the campaign will list the certificate winners, the shops involved, and the Pendleton Shop, that created the campaign idea and offered "Wooliam".

NEW BUSINESS

CITY REPORTS-PARKING-Ron Bodnar, of Copy Boy Printing, requested time to speak on local issues. Ron has been attending the various city committee and council meetings, and had a variety of topics to report on.

The most pressing issue that Ron wanted to bring to the committee was the need for more parking in the downtown area, and the building of a parking structure. Ron personally believes that several businesses are leaving town due to a lack of customer parking. There was also concern that construction workers were using customer parking behind Center Street, and that business owners are often ticketed for parking.

The Parking Survey provided at one of the earlier member meetings was never sent to all members to fill out, and Sherri requested that Ron provide the survey, and his other notes concerning various city issues, on the DDA website via Cindy Abar.

The membership present discussed the possible locations for a structure, including behind the Marquis Theatre, and the discussion was ended with a group consensus that the NCBA should endorse the need for a structure, which has already been done once in writing.

NORTHVILLE ANNIVERSARY-Steve Fecht reported that Northville will be 50 years old in August, and a committee has been appointed by the city to create events for the anniversary on the weekend of Aug. 27-28, 2005. The events will include seeing "Happy Birthday" to the town, having an ice cream social, special street banners, music in the band shell, etc. The 4th of July Parade will kick off the anniversary advertising and celebration.

MARKETING TIPS: The last few minutes of the meeting were spent going around the room and having each person offer marketing tips that have worked for their business. They included:

-Offer samples- people are more apt to purchase foods if they can try them first (Kim Behmer-American Spoon Foods)

-Have a sidewalk sale in January or during the slow season- i.e.- Bev Landeen has a Pretty Major Savings Sale (PMS) directed at her female customers in January each year (Beverly Landeen-Northville Candle)

-Contact local reporters and try to get into feature sections of the paper, or into local magazines such as the "Home Style" section, or Hour Magazine. Contact local radio or cable personalities and get invited to their shows. Phone calls, letters, and press releases can interest a reporter or media person into giving you a free feature of your business (Ronnie Cambra-The Kitchen Witch)

-Sending Photos with Press Releases- this can increase interest and journalists are more apt to print local news that has a photo/visual angle (Sherri Mewha-Sherrus Gallery)

-Make sure your employees are well versed on your stock, your store style, your services, etc., and are familiar with what other businesses in town have (Cheryl and Anthony Nester-Tutto, and Ronnie Cambra)

-A detailed website, rack cards, and vehicle graphics advertise your business 24/7 (Colin and Karen Mehaffey-The Moss Rose)

-When having a sale, don’t just send a notice; send an invitation with an RSVP request. It makes customers feel special, and they are more apt to make a commitment and attend. (Shirley, The Pendleton Shop)

The meeting was adjourned at 8:00pm. We will meet again July 12, 2005 at the City Hall, Room A.

Respectively submitted by Karen Rae Mehaffey, NCBA Secretary