Challenge number one – the MBA has a long to do list and not enough paid staff time to do all we need to do. The organization needs to increase its revenue and diversify its sources of revenue. Many organizations hold fundraising events – time consuming not very profitable. We want to investigate selling an MBA “product” to the general public through our member retailers. And since we have local manufacturers of quality products we want to work with one of them to produce the product.

The products would be representations of important public and private buildings in the downtown area. One project group would develop the plan working with Danforth Pewter and the other project group would develop a plan working with Maple Landmark Woodcraft. If your plans show that we could make money we will work toward launching our first product in 2003. The idea is that each year we would offer a new product and the products would be “collectible”

Since the point is to make money we need to have a business plan that includes all design, production, distribution, and marketing costs and realistic projections of revenues. A five year plan should be developed that will specify start up and recurring costs. Details to consider on the cost side include possible reductions in cost per unit at different levels of production. Since we want it to be easy for our members to sell the product we need to provide point of sale display units. We will need to market the product so costs for strategic ad placement should be developed. Design and production costs for point of sale displays should be developed. Details to consider on the revenue side are setting a retail price that will maximize sales and profits. Bulk sales to institutions such as Middlebury College and others should be explored.

CONTACTS

Danforth Pewter Kelly McKinnon 388-8666 x248

Maple Landmark Woodcraft Mike Raineville 388-0627

Middlebury College (alumni events) Heather Cahill 443-5192

Middlebury College (bookstore) Bob Santry 443-5334

Challenge number two –Downtown Middlebury is an historic downtown and our street system was built for a different type and volumn of traffic than we have today. One of the most appealing features of our downtown is its compact nature and the pedestrian friendly atmosphere. This appeal is often marred by large tractor trailer trucks and smaller delivery vehicles pulling up on to the sidewalks and blocking or interfering with pedestrian traffic. I frequently see this happen – a gigantic freight truck is pulled up on the sidewalk, effectively prohibiting access to stores and spewing diesel exhaust for 15 minutes at a time. I look into the trailer and see that it is empty except for the boxes being taken off the truck. I am told that our members (because they are small volumn buyers) can not specify what carrier they want to use to receive goods or dictate the time of day at which they receive goods. If there were a viable alternative for MBA members to receive goods the MBA would seek to limit the delivery of goods to specific times of day when it would not interfere with vehicular or pedestrian traffic.

This project asks you to develop a business plan for a freight receiving and redistribution center outside of downtown. Our members, and other businesses, could use this service so that shippers could deliver goods at any time of the business day. Then ideally a smaller delivery vehicle would deliver the goods to the business at an appropriate time of day for the business and the level of traffic congestion downtown. This operation needs to minimize cost to our members. They may to be willing to pay something to have more convenient deliveries that are less disruptive to foot traffic but I am sure they can not pay much.

This project will require that you develop some understanding of the mysteries of our county’s freight delivery system. You will need to talk to a variety of downtown businesses to verify what if any role they have in determining how they receive goods and what carriers they routinely receive goods from. You will need to know if goods are received COD or if payment is not required at the time of delivery. You will need to talk to the carriers and find out how they operate in Middlebury and what limitations there may be to delivering goods to a freight receiving center. You may want to talk to other communities that have struggled with this issue. I can provide some contacts but there will be some research involved in this project.

One project group will work with Mail Boxes Etc. and one will work with Highway Storage. The two groups can share responsibility for talking to merchants and carriers.

CONTACTS

Mail Boxes Etc. Rusty Harding 388-3020

Highway Storage Steve Dupoise 388-7620

MBA members Alpine Shop – Paula Simons 388-7547

To interview dada - Nancy Bloch 388-4927

Regarding deliveries Vt. Book Shop – Laura Scott 388-2061

Midd. Jewelry and Design – Bruce Baker 388-3434

Main Street Stationery- Greg Tomb 388-6787

Wild Mountain Thyme – Jen 388-2580

Ben Franklin – Larry Duffany 388-2101

Challenge number Three-

The Ames Store south of town has been an important, low cost source of a wide variety of goods for Middlebury area residents for a long time. When it closes many people are concerned that local consumers, particularly those of low and moderate income will have no place to buy “basic” goods locally. The Centre, which was built in the early 70’s will be almost empty when Ames closes in November. What will take its place is on many people’s minds. Retailers are especially interested in this question. Most retailers agree that a replacement for Ames is critical or local shoppers will go elsewhere to seek “basic” goods and end up buying other goods that are available from local retailers at that location as well – local businesses will lose business.

The two projects will look at alternative ways to meet local consumer need for “basic” goods and gaps left by the departure of Ames. One will take a standard market approach and the other will examine a coop model for operating a business selling basic goods. Both will involve a lot of independent research.

Market approach

Big box retailers – many international in scope demand specific characteristics in the markets they serve. They want to know that a certain level of consumer spending potential exists in the geographic market area, they want a certain amount of square footage, they want certain amenities in their locations, some want to be colocated with other businesses. These retailers have a standard one-size fits all model they want to put in place in all locations. For publicly traded companies stock holder reports include information you can use to define this model. You can find out where companies are expanding, what the average square footage is, etc. What you need to do is see if or how well The Centre could accommodate that standard model. You need to look at market based potential consumer demand and sales and at the space characteristics of the Centre and compare those to the model national retailers are seeking to put in place. See if there is a fit. Identify specific retailers that might be interested in our market area. Are there regional or sub-national chains that might be interested?

I will provide some basic information about the square footage and lease terms at the Centre as well as potential consumer demand projections.

Coop model

Middlebury has a strong natural foods coop that has experienced consistent growth. Is it possible to take the coop model and apply it to soft goods and apparel? What supply mechanisms exist to facilitate this? At what price could goods be attained at the volumn appropriate for Middlebury? For this project the catgories of goods that should be included in the coop inventory are: socks, underwear, pajamas, jeans, casual sport shirts – all with an emphasis on low to moderate priced goods. Basic clothing for the family.

CONTACTS

Middlebury Natural Foods Coop Glen Lower 388-7276