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<br />. Business owners were surprised, and some eVen questioned, census data shovvingthe <br />high income level of residents. This indicates that they may not be seeing these residents <br />in their stores. <br /> <br />. It appears that Rum River merchants are patronized more heavily by the longer term <br />residents that have lower incomes. <br /> <br />Recommendations <br /> <br />Rum River Commercial Area and its businesses must be repositioned to appeal to a larger <br />number of trade area residents, particularly those with higher incomes. Repositioning and <br />remerchandising the Rwn River Commercial Area must involve two concurrent actions. <br /> <br />1. Businesses should begin inunediately to increase marketing and change merchandise <br />practices to attract new customers and build sales. Joint marketing by all merchants <br />should be conducted. Low cost investments should be made to improve the exterior and <br />interior store environments. <br /> <br />2. Master planning should begin to determine how to redevelop the Rum River Commercial <br />Area to accomrrlOdate future business and housing growth. <br /> <br />Redevelopment and repositioning of the Rum River Commercial Area to accommodate future <br />retail and service development will require changes in buildings and their location to properly <br />capitalize on development potential. This will require phased redevelopment of the existing <br />retail and expansion of the amount of land planned for commercial development. Actions <br />required to reposition and remerchandise the area include: <br /> <br />. Sanitary sewer service will be needed to accomplish the retail objectives contained in this <br />report. Creating the appropriate commercial and residential density in the area cannot be <br />accommodated by septic systems. <br /> <br />. The Rum River Commercial Area needs to be repositioned and marketed to attract a <br />larger number of customers and increase sales of the existing tenants. This will <br />necessitate redesign of the conunercial area to accommodate tenants identified in the <br />market analysis. <br /> <br />. It will be difficult, if not impossible, to attract desirable retail and service tenants until the <br />commercial buildings in Rum River Commercial Area have an appearance that will <br />compliment store formats and interiors of new businesses. <br /> <br />+ Rum River Commercial Area needs to be updated to attract the types of tenants identified <br />in the market analysis. These tenants will be seeking to locate in a shopping area that <br />presents a contemporary image with an appropriate design for current retailing trends. <br /> <br />. Business objectives of both property <br />Conunercial Area should be identified. <br /> <br />ovmers and businesses in the Rum River <br /> <br />IX <br /> <br />22 <br />