Downtown Revitalization

Changing the Visitor’s Experience

Attract more visitors.

Secure more businesses.

Generate more tax revenue.

Main Street Merchants Program: Transform the Store and the Owner

The highly regarded Main Street Merchants Program is a combination of virtual and on-site consultative services. beginning with an in-depth webinar on science-backed retail design and merchandising strategies, followed by expert-led interactive discussion and on-site personalized recommendations for pre-selected main street retailers.

View the full program details.

Storefront Design: Change the Front and See A Better Bottom Line

The front of your store is your most powerful marketing tool. Throughout the day and night its presence attracts customers, communicates your brand, and sets expectations before anyone steps inside. Thoughtful exterior updates like refined awnings, modernized window frames, strategic lighting, and cohesive material palettes don’t just refresh appearances; they transform passersby into visitors by creating visual intrigue and igniting a cohesive brand experience.

Unite Your Downtown: Add Branded Seasonal Decor & Make an Impact

Cohesive branding efforts can strengthen the messaging of your downtown as a whole, benefiting all local businesses. Branded seasonal decor consisting of a series of custom-designed window decals and coordinated window displays and a community-wide sign plan will help your downtown make a bigger visual impact.

View our window display portfolio.

Vacant Spaces: Bring Them to Life & Transform the Street

Tired of having to deal with dark empty storefronts, dirty alleys, and unused green space? Can’t get your merchants to improve their window displays? Bring our ‘display brigade’ to town and watch the transformation begin. They’ll clean up, dress up, and lighten up all your eyesores. Watch them create some visual magic in your downtown!

View vacant windows we have transformed.

View storefronts we have designed.

Design & Merchandising Makeovers: Consider Changing One Store at a Time

Need an injection of quick results in your downtown? Ask us about our “48-Hour” and “24-Hour” Makeovers for small businesses. Be part of the planning and makeover process, then alert the media for ribbon-cutting. They are great community-building activities!

Check out our 48-hour makeovers.

Check out our 24-hour makeovers.

Downtown Assessments: Obtain the Data to Make Decisions

Find out what’s working for you and/or against you. Our experts will determine strengths, weaknesses and areas of opportunities to help you make informed and effective decisions when it comes to updating your image, identity, brand, signage, building façades, streetscape amenities, and business mix.

Read about our types of assessments and consultations.

Attractions: Find Your Sticky Factor

What brings customers downtown? Destination retail, unique food offerings, cool art installations that represent your community’s offerings, programmed green spaces, and heritage centers that provide amazing visitor experiences. These are what get people moving, shopping, sharing, and coming back again and again. Our team can identify, create, and help implement all of these vital components.

Dark Passageways: Make Them Illuminate

Most alleyways are dark, dirty, (sometimes dangerous) and foreboding corridors. Many are hardly ever used as thoroughfares anymore and they aren’t maintained. Why not turn these empty spaces into welcoming passageways? Clean them up, illuminate them and add some decorative elements to bring them back to life. Retailworks, Inc can help you shed light on these dark spaces with the addition of planters, florals, colorful wall murals, brick pavers, lighting and more.

“Lyn Falk is one of our favorite and most requested consultants. She has done a great job with presentations and one–on–one consultations with businesses. I see the results of her work every time I am in a Main Street community that has used her services.”

“Thank you with all my heart for the genuine work you provided our business owners this week. We are so fortunate to have had you come to town and look at us from a new perspective! Your expertise and sincere interest in each business were so apparent. Thank you very much, Lyn!”

“I love Lyn!…I could not have been more pleased with your selection of Lyn Falk to work with my downtown!…I am not artistically inclined and never held a view of what really can influence a customer or purchase through good design.”

“…we received some great feedback from your workshop and consultations. Local business owners were able to walk away with actionable advice on how to improve sales and profits in their retail stores. Hope to see you again soon!”

Downtown Districts Previously Served

*multiple visits

Downtown Business Districts – In Wisconsin

Downtown Business Districts – Outside of Wisconsin

Algoma
Appleton
Ashland
Beloit*
Black River
Brillion
Cedarburg
Chippewa Falls
Columbus
Darlington
De Pere
Eagle River*
Elkhorn
Ellsworth
Elroy
Fond du Lac*
Green Bay*
Hurley
Jefferson
Kenosha*
LaCrosse

Lake Mills*
Land O’ Lakes
Madison*
Marshfield*
Mauston
Menomonee Falls
Menomonie*
Merrill
Middleton
Milwaukee*
Monona
Monroe*
Osceola*
Platteville
Plymouth
Port Washington*
Portage*
Prairie du Chien*
Racine*
Rhinelander

Rice Lake*
Richland Center*
Ripon*
Sheboygan Falls*
Shorewood
Sparta
Stevens Point
Sturgeon Bay*
Tomah
Two Rivers*
Viroqua*
Waterford
Watertown*
Waukesha*
Waupun*
Wausau*

Wauwatosa, WI
West Allis*
Whitefish Bay
Whitewater

Blissfield, MI
Bloomfield, IA
Boyne City, MI
Burlington, IA
Carbondale, IL*
Centerville, IA
Chariton, IA
Cleveland, OH
Deadwood, SD
Dover, NH
Florida State
Fort Dodge, IA
Freeport, IL
Gettysburg, PA
Grosse Pointe, MI
Keokuk, IA
Jacksonville, IL (statewide presentation)
Lansing, MI*
Libertyville, IL (statewide presentation)

Menominee, MI
Monticello, IA
Murphysboro, IL*
Niles, MI*
Sioux City, IA (statewide presentation)
Wauseca, MN
Westfield, NJ
Wheeling, WV
West Branch, IA
Woodbine, IA

National Main Street Conference Presentation Locations

Boston, MA, 2000, 2023
Virtual Conference, 2021
Kansas City, MO, 2018
Pittsburgh, PA, 2017
Milwaukee, WI, 2016
Atlanta, GA, 2015
Detroit, MI, 2014

Expand your mind today for a more profitable tomorrow

Topics include:

Store Designs that Move Minds & Merchandise – Designing a profitable retail interior for YOUR target market
Creating a Powerful Customer Experience
Turning Vacant Storefronts into Windows of Opportunity
Proven Display Tactics and Visual Merchandising Techniques
Finding your “Sticky Factor” and Creating a Memorable Brand for your Downtown (it’s more than a new logo!)
Creating a Memorable Downtown Experience
The New Design Paradigm Based on the Immutable Laws of Nature – Understanding Left-Brain, Right-Brain Decision Making (CEU credits available for Interior Designers)