Happy Holidays!

The District offices will be closing for the holidays so everyone can travel to be with their families.  The office will be lightly staffed early next week and between Christmas and New Year's and we'll be back in full force Monday, January 4.

District Gift Certificates will be available at the following locations:

• Bluestem
• Makes Scents
• Mustard Seed
• My Secret Garden
• Poppy

We wish everyone a peaceful and prosperous holiday.

Carrie & Persephone

500 empty parking spaces a day!

Last month the PedNet Coalition announced a contest asking participants to guess what the average number of empty parking spaces there were in the four parking garages of downtown Columbia on any given day between 10 and 11am. The counts, including hourly spaces and permit only spaces were:

• Monday: 525 (218 hourly) 
• Tuesday: 464 (221 hourly) 
• Wednesday: 534 (157 hourly) 
• Thursday: 454 (157 hourly) 
• Friday: 497 (163 hourly) 

• Overall average of 495 (187 hourly).

Winners of the contest are:

• Isaac Francisco with a guess of 480
• Greg Leonard with a guess of 269
• Jack Eastman with a guess of 245

The winners received a $50 gift certificate to Cyclextreme, Uprise Bakery, or Main Squeeze Natural Foods Café. These three local businesses also support a walkable, bikeable, pedestrian friendly downtown.

Court Your Top 10% of Customers

Did you know that 10% of your customers account for 40% of your sales?

According to Business Wire:

An analysis of over 2 million grocery shoppers by Concept Shopping, Inc. shows that the top ten percent of store’s customers visit the store more than twice a week, spend over $39 per visit and represent nearly 40 percent of the store’s total sales.

The study also found that these most valuable shoppers tend to remain very loyal to the store, with 95 percent continuing to shop there throughout the year.

Conversely, only 34 percent of the store’s worst shoppers, those who visit the store less than once a month and spend only $9 per visit, remain customers.

“Shopper churn is a fact of life for every marketer,” said William Young, vice president of sales and marketing for Concept Shopping. “Shopper loyalty continuously ebbs and flows through retail banners and store types, but sorting shoppers by their value helps identify which ones should be courted and which ones can be ignored.”

Bottom line?  Figure out who the top 10% are and court them with private sales, invitation only events, personal shoppers and thank you gifts.  

CCA Board Meeting - Cancelled

As is traditional, the December CCA Board meeting scheduled for Wednesday, December 16 is cancelled.  Take care of all those holiday shoppers and we'll see you in January!

SBD Agenda

AGENDA
Columbia Special Business District
Board of Directors Meeting
December 8. 2009, 4 pm.
11 S. Tenth Street

Call to Order

Welcome Guests
Central Columbia Association Board
CID Steering Committee
CID Advisory Board


Approval of the Minutes

Financial Report
Approval of Financials

Police Report

Committee Reports

Old Business
Downtown Safety Patrol/ Bars – Wilkerson/Moore
CID Petition – Timeline and Campaign Overview - Vangel

New Business

Director’s Report
Living Windows Festival
Security Cameras – Council action
Solid Waste District Update
Nighttime Hospitality Plan

City Report

Public Comment

Adjournment
Next meeting is Tuesday, January 12, 4 pm

Street Light Outage

City crews are working to get the lights working on the north side of Broadway between Ninth to Tenth.  Should be up and running soon.

Nominations are being accepted for Lang Award

Nominations are being accepted for the 2010 Howard B. Lang Jr. Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service. The award program, organized by the city of Columbia and the New Century Fund, will recognize an outstanding volunteer for his or her contribution to city government.

The award is made possible by Leo Hill, city manager from 1952-1958, who worked with Howard Lang when he served as mayor of Columbia. Hill wished to honor Lang, Columbia’s mayor from 1953-1957, for his service to the city through this award. Lang passed away in November 2007.

Nominees may have taken any volunteer role that benefits the city: a board, commission or task force member, elected official, or volunteer with any of Columbia’s city departments. The recipient will be chosen based on impact, initiative and length of service. Nominations will be accepted through Jan. 8.
Ed Kaiser, a longtime volunteer with the Columbia Public Works Department and the Columbia Police Department received the award in 2009.

The recipient will be recognized at the city’s annual volunteer recognition reception in the spring. The honoree will be presented a plaque along with $1,000.

Application forms and other details will be posted on the city’s Web site at www.GoColumbiaMo.com. You may also learn more by contacting the Office of Neighborhood Services at 874-7499.

Security Cameras to Council

Monday night the City Council will again address the issues of security cameras downtown.

Agenda is here:  http://gocolumbiamo.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=2&meta_id=10237.

Keep Columbia Safe's website is here: http://www.keepcolumbiasafe.com/