Newsroom
Ardmore Initiative's Downtown Dollars Gains National Attention
Main Street Spotlight
February 9, 2012
Ardmore Initiative, downtown Ardmore’s business authority, was honored recently for the runaway success last year of its Downtown Dollars program to support and promote local businesses.
The organization received a Community Marketing Award for Retail Events at the annual Townie Awards Gala held by the Pennsylvania Downtown Center, an association of downtown managers, in Scranton.
Townie Awards are designed to recognize communities and individuals that best represent the organization’s mission of community revitalization through events and special programming.
Downtown Dollars was the brainchild of Ardmore Initiative board Chairman John Durso, created to be a “local economic stimulus” program after the business district was hard hit by back-to-back blizzards in early 2010 in the midst of the on-going economic downturn.
A first round of Downtown Dollars in May was funded by Ardmore Initiative itself. The initial issue of $10,000-worth of the local scrip sold out in four minutes.
The program worked this way: Shoppers were able to purchase Downtown Dollars at a 50-percent discount to use at Ardmore shops, restaurants and service businesses.
Based on its success in the spring, four Ardmore banks -- St. Edmond’s Federal Savings Bank, where Durso is a vice president; Beneficial Bank, Bryn Mawr Trust and Firstrust Bank – stepped forward to contribute a total $10,000, which translated into $20,000 Downtown Dollars available during the winter holiday shopping period.
In a report on the program submitted to Pennsylvania Downtown Center, Ardmore Initiative said the program boosted the buying power of local residents and shoppers, while drawing attention of shoppers from outside the Ardmore area to the town and its businesses.
It didn’t hurt that the project drew media attention regionally, nationally and internationally, when word spread on the Internet.
In announcing the award, Pennsylvania Downtown Center Executive Director Bill Fontana said, “Ardmore is always pushing the envelope and thinking outside the box in terms of developing ways to stimulate the economy and go beyond the basic bricks-and-mortar methods.
“They are doing a commendable job, and I am pleased to see them achieve the recognition that comes with this award.”
“It’s nice to be acknowledged by our peers,” said AI Executive Director Christine Vilardo. One of the most satisfying aspects of participating in the Townie Awards program, she added, was that, in submitting the application AI “wrote a little how-to primer, so that other communities could duplicate a program that they can use.”
Already, she said, Jenkintown is pursuing a similar program that it calls “Construction Cash” to support a major streetscape improvement project.
Ardmore Initiative, downtown Ardmore’s business authority, was honored recently for the runaway success last year of its Downtown Dollars program to support and promote local businesses.
The organization received a Community Marketing Award for Retail Events at the annual Townie Awards Gala held by the Pennsylvania Downtown Center, an association of downtown managers, in Scranton.
Townie Awards are designed to recognize communities and individuals that best represent the organization’s mission of community revitalization through events and special programming.
Downtown Dollars was the brainchild of Ardmore Initiative board Chairman John Durso, created to be a “local economic stimulus” program after the business district was hard hit by back-to-back blizzards in early 2010 in the midst of the on-going economic downturn.
A first round of Downtown Dollars in May was funded by Ardmore Initiative itself. The initial issue of $10,000-worth of the local scrip sold out in four minutes.
The program worked this way: Shoppers were able to purchase Downtown Dollars at a 50-percent discount to use at Ardmore shops, restaurants and service businesses.
Based on its success in the spring, four Ardmore banks -- St. Edmond’s Federal Savings Bank, where Durso is a vice president; Beneficial Bank, Bryn Mawr Trust and Firstrust Bank – stepped forward to contribute a total $10,000, which translated into $20,000 Downtown Dollars available during the winter holiday shopping period.
In a report on the program submitted to Pennsylvania Downtown Center, Ardmore Initiative said the program boosted the buying power of local residents and shoppers, while drawing attention of shoppers from outside the Ardmore area to the town and its businesses.
It didn’t hurt that the project drew media attention regionally, nationally and internationally, when word spread on the Internet.
In announcing the award, Pennsylvania Downtown Center Executive Director Bill Fontana said, “Ardmore is always pushing the envelope and thinking outside the box in terms of developing ways to stimulate the economy and go beyond the basic bricks-and-mortar methods.
“I want to acknowledge John Durso, who was the main driver of this event,” Vilardo added. “We appreciate all of his efforts in putting it through and getting our board on-board with it.”
Durso also “got the other banks involved, which allowed our second issue,” she noted.
“It was a very big honor to even be nominated,” said Durso. “There were a lot of really worthy candidates and great ideas.”