Market analysis puts Osceola to the test

Wednesday, July 26, Osceola Chamber Main Street hosted a visiting commercial broker and realtor, someone with 25 years of success in recruiting and retaining businesses in communities. Throughout the day, this prospect met with Mayor Thomas Kedley and various business owners in the downtown, and looked at vacant spaces that could potentially house a sporting goods store.

“This was a great test for us and the community,” said Derek Lumsden, OCMS Executive Director. “We know that Osceola is a strong town and it was great to get to show that off to someone that has never been here before.”

After the tours and visits with the community, the prospect met with Main Street Iowa and Downtown Professionals Network to debrief the session. They ended the day by meeting with the Market Analysis Committee to go over the results.

On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being the best), the prospect rated Osceola a 6. Here are some of the comments from that end-of-visit meeting:

Stengths:

The driving tour, which included a community map, was well-planned and informative, and highlighted the area’s businesses, industries, neighborhoods, and various features quite well.

The downtown walking tour featured visits to downtown business owners where they talked of how great the Osceola community is for business and how welcome they have felt here among the community, business crowd, Osceola Chamber Main Street, etc.

Mayor Thomas Kedley joined the prospect for lunch and talked about the need and desire for an Osceola Recreation Center. This, in conjunction with a field trip out to the site of the Recreation Center, made the prospect feel that Osceola could indeed support a sporting goods store

Areas of Improvement:

While the walking and driving tours were touted as strengths, the prospect did note that a number of areas throughout the community were generally unattractive, not maintained, and showed the community in a negative light.

He loved the proposed streetscape plans and was surprised to hear that the plans were a few years old and not implemented. The prospect indicated to the Committee that this is a dire need for the community.

The prospect was sold on the need for a Recreation Center in the community, but was disappointed to hear one did not already exist, especially after several local attempts, which made it concerning to him long-term if one would be built.

"Sold on the opportunity, but not the community." This was the overall theme to his visit.

In addition to the comments at the meeting, the Market Analysis Committee got some more refined ideas on how to get more return on their recruitment process for the future.

“Even though we would not have landed him as a new business, the process was fantastic for learning. He was great with feedback and questions and I think we can really plan going forward how we showcase the community,” Lumsden said.

Lumsden also mentioned that some of the next steps would be working with the City to talk about some of the items mentioned, including the downtown streetscape, Recreation Center, etc. He said that there would be more information collected this fall during “secret shopper” visits from another community.

“The more feedback we get and the more consistent that feedback is, the easier it is to show that we need to move towards certain goals and benchmarks,” Lumsden said. “We know Osceola is a great town, so let’s all work together and make sure others know it too.”