Meet Me Downtown Megan Tsui: Director of Downtown Main Street in Red Wing, MN

In 2016, Red Wing Downtown Main Street hosted a Retail Challenge to bring one retail store to downtown. The competition was so successful that it filled four storefronts! Learn about how we did it, and how you can replicate it in your town.
To download the pdf of all the materials Red Wing used to host the challenge, CLICK HERE.
To View this Podcast with the presentation slides, go to our YouTube page HERE: https://youtu.be/d47sEl8cWN8
To learn more about Red Wing Downtown Main Street:
http://downtownredwing.org/
Intro and Outro Music by Sam Tsui and Casey Breves
GUEST INFORMATION
Name: Megan Tsui
Organization: Red Wing Downtown Main Street, Red Wing, MN
Title: Executive Director
Email: director@downtownredwing.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DowntownRedWing/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/downtownredwing
Megan Tsui has been the Executive Director of Red Wing Downtown Main Street since 2016. She loves working with the local businesses and being their advocate. She recently completed the “Historic Real Estate Financing’ Course offered through National Main Street and the National Development Center. She hopes to use that training to help bring new development to Red Wing’s second and third stories. She lives in Red Wing in an 1875 Italianate Victorian with her husband Kent and their cats and dogs.
TRANSCRIPT
Megan: Hey, everybody! It's Megan Tsui. I'm super excited to be here today and I'm going to be the guest. You lucky ducks.
I'm going to talk about a contest that Red Wing did in 2016 to fill vacant storefronts. We called it a retail challenge and it was really successful and really fun. And I'm going to go over some of the details. I'm doing this podcast a little differently today. If you're listening right now on a podcast, all you hear is audio, but I also have slides and I'll put that up on YouTube so you can actually go to YouTube and watch the whole presentation. If you'd like to, it's meetmedowntownpodcast.com and then search on YouTube and it should pop right up. I'll also link to it off my website, meetmedowntownpodcast.com website. And you'll be able to find it there as well.
So, like I said, I have slides and I'm doing the audio and so sometimes I might forget that you can't see what I'm talking about so I apologize in advance. Otherwise, I also want to encourage you to go to the website because I'm going to have a downloadable packet for you of how you can do this in your town. And it has all of the information that we used to make this happen in Red Wing. And you can download it there. It's a PDF that has everything from our criteria, the plan, what we gave away, the marketing, everything. So, it's pretty much a plug and play kind of a download. So I'd encourage you to go to the meetmedowntownpodcast.com and then click on the latest podcast, which right now would be the, How to Fill Vacant Stores Using a Retail Challenge Contest. And you can click and download that kit there and get started on your own, and you don't have to reinvent the wheel, which is something I do not like to do.
So let's get started. And again let me remind you, if I refer to something on the slide, I'm sorry, I forgot that not everybody can see.
All right, let me tell you a little bit about my town. We're situated along the Mississippi River and it's this beautiful river town, very historic. We have everything you could think of for outdoor fun. You can go fishing, boating, biking, hiking. We have skiing, both Nordic skiing and downhill skiing. You can climb a bluff if you want. And it's just this very idyllic setting right around the curve of the Mississippi. And like I said, there's bluffs and all sorts of beautiful scenery around our town. We have a legacy manufacturing community in this town, I guess. We have the Red Wing Shoe, which some of you may have heard of. They make boots and shoes and, especially for the working, working folks. The Red Wing Pottery is also located here. And then we have Rie

Why should you attend the Main Street Now Conference in Seattle, March 25-27, 2019? Should you attend even if you aren't a Main Street community? What other educational opportunities does the National Main Street Center offer? 
Well, find out in this episode!
GUEST INFORMATION:

Name: Kelly Humrichouser
Organization: National Main Street Center
Title: Associate Manager of Education
 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MainStreetNowConference/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MainStreetsConf
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natlmainstreet/
SHOW NOTE
Kelly wanted me to be sure to note the following:
The Main Street Now Conference is not possible without the hard work and support of our state-wide partners, including the Washington Main Street Program and Washington Trust for Historic Preservation (Seattle, 2019) and the Missouri Main Street Connection (Kansas City, 2018).
SHOW TRANSCRIPT
Megan Tsui: Hello, everybody. Today my guest is Kelly Humrichouser from the National Main Street Center, and I'm so excited to have Kelly on with me today to talk about National Main Street and the National Main Street Conference that's coming up in March in Seattle. So welcome, Kelly.

Kelly Humrichouser: Thank you. Thanks for having me, Megan. Great to talk to you again.

M: Yeah. I actually met Kelly when I was at a, what was it called - Historic Real Estate Certification Course through the National Development Center. Is that right? Did I get that right?

K: Very, very close. We did the Historic Real Estate Finance Series Certificate Program offered through the National Development Council. And the Main Street America Institute was able to partner with the National Development Council to bring that content to Main Street managers and other historic real estate professionals. And, so yeah, we met in Des Moines and we were just in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago, and now we're here.

M: Yeah, and I, that was probably the hardest class I've taken outside of, outside of, you know, college algebra. But I think it was so helpful and so good. And most people didn't think it was hard. So, it was just me.

K: I thought it was hard too. I was very grateful that I was able to participate in the course and kind of be the coordinator for bringing that content through the institute to the group of people that we had with us. So it was like really wonderful because it’s really hands-on and you do have to do a lot of math. But at the end of the day, you're able to just understand so much more of the conversation around development in all these communities.

M: Well that's what I was, that's why I went and why I decided that that was going to be an important thing and my, why my board said yes to the travel costs and things like that. But what was great is I got some scholarship money from, you want to talk about the scholarship opportunity? And then also the there was some travel cost reimbursement because we're a smaller Main Street. So just mention that quick because I want to make sure people know about that great resource.

K: Yeah. We were able, through the support that we had from the 1772 foundation, to subsidize highly, highly, the cost of this course so that Main Street managers are able to participate. We know that two weeks during any year out of the office to do an in-person training that also has a cost admin training process associated, it's a lot, it's a lot for anybody to handle. So we highly highly subsidized the course through that partnership. And we were also able to provide a few travel scholarships to make it a lot easier for people to be in an AirBnB or a hotel for a week while they're kind of going out to these different communities. So, we do hope to be able to do that again in the future. Always kind of an interest from our network in that possibility.

But just, you know, everyone that was involved. We're so grateful to the support of the 1772 Foundation and our partners at the National Developm

Guest Information:
 
Name: Bridgette Kelch, Main Street Director
Organization: Downtown Washington, Inc.
Website: https://www.downtownwashmo.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/downtownwashmo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/downtownwashmo
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/downtownwashmo/
 
Visit the Meet Me Downtown Podcast Website: https://www.meetmedowntownpodcast.com/
Show Transcript: 
M=Megan Tsui
B=Bridgette Kelch
M: Hello, in this episode I talk to Bridgette Kelch from Washington, Missouri. She’s been their Main Street Director for over 18 years and they’ve done some pretty amazing things in that time. I recorded our pre-interview and it was so great that I just converted it into a real episode so we jump right in where I’m learning more about Bridgette and her downtown.
M: But yeah, such a fun job, and you’ve been in it a long time.
B: Yeah, sometimes I wonder, too long? But no. But I started right out of college so I’ll be 41 this month, but I’ve been here since I was 22.

M: Wow, you are dedicated.
B: Well, you know, I didn’t expect to be here but my passion is historic preservation so that’s what my degree is in. And I really thought I was going to work in a museum and now I kind of just view downtown as a big giant outdoor museum.
M: It kind of is, I mean in a lot of towns it actually could be.
B: Yeah and so then I liked it and I stayed and yeah we’ve grown a ton in that time frame. So starting out of, this year is 30 years for the organization, that we’ve been doing Main Street. We were a pilot program for Missouri in 1989. So I kind of always joke that they got through the really hard years you know, where you’re like struggling to find out who you are, what you’re going to do. And it was so hard when I started, I mean we were still playing the game of someone needs to pay their pledge so we can make payroll and those kinds of games. But yeah we’re past those points now, hopefully, so it’s exciting. We’ve been able to take on some pretty big projects. I think that’s one of the things that I’m most proud of, you know, we couldn’t find somebody to do what we wanted we did it ourselves.
M: Right. I’m very intrigued by the idea that you guys own and operate the post office and a B&B.
B: It was never planned, you know.
M: It never is.

B: Yeah it just came along, so I would say the majority of our growth has come since 2006. I started in 01, which is funny because that’s like right before the recession you know and we didn't feel that as much. I mean we certainly did feel it. But I don't think it's such big, you know such large swings in the Midwest. I think just by nature we're a more conservative bunch and so we don't feel those giant swings as much. And I could be wrong but that's how I view it. So 2006 you know we didn't really have a state program before that. And I mean there was one, I think I met the other managers or executive directors like once or twice and I really met a dynamic one and her name was Gayla Roten from Branson, Missouri and she kind of took me under her wing.
And then as the years rolled by, you know in 05, and we decided to start our own state program because we needed it. And so our statewide program, coordinating program, was started by the executive directors that were left standing. The state booted the program basically and so now you know she's our state director. She was just a local director and now she's our state director. I think we're in our 11th, no 12th year, yeah 12th year. And so I still serve on that state board and so I think you know getting involved at that level and then really just the folks that were doing Main Street in Missouri at that time, they were really following the rules and so that was the culture that I was kind of brought up in. And so we really embraced the four points and in 2006 was a big change for us was that we finally were reviewed for accreditation again and they had a

Note: Since we taped this episode, Eliott has since moved on to another position and is no longer with Downtown Shakopee.
Website for Downtown Shakopee: https://www.downtownshakopee.org/
Facebook Page for Downtown Shakopee: https://www.facebook.com/DowntownShakopee/
Show Transcript:


Elliott Johnson- Hello, I am good. How are you Megan?
Megan Tsui - I'm fantastic. Elliott thanks so much for being here today. And I'd love to hear your story of your Rhythm on the Rails music series. But first, let's learn a little bit more about you. Can you fill us in on how have you gotten involved in downtown revitalization.
 
E - Yes, I would love to. This is my inaugural podcast debut so I'm so excited to be here with you. I am honored to be talking about what's going on in Shakopee and I can't wait to see what happens here. So Shakopee, Minnesota is located at the Metropolitan Community right outside of Minneapolis and St. Paul's. So we're about a 35-minute drive from Minneapolis with 40,000 people strong here in Shakopee. And it's a quaint little community which is kind of nice. So we've got the advantage of being right near a large city but a lot of people in our community also feel that we're still far away enough that we are our own unique destination which is a really nice combination.
So I started getting involved with downtown revitalization in a previous job of mine back in Brookings, South Dakota, where we were a college town. The downtown needed some revitalization so they asked me to come work with the small businesses right there on Main Street to see what we could do to make people want to shop, live, play right in the downtown district. So flashback four years ago, now I worked with Brookings South Dakota for two years and we were in a good spot so I knew I wanted to go see what else was out there for Main Streets and Shakopee, Minnesota had an opening and so I said let's try it out. So I worked with the Chamber of Visitors Bureau right here in Shakopee, Minnesota with their Main Street program and I've been doing that for two years now and it has been such a fun ride.
And so when I first got here, I sat down with some of their business owners who were getting together once a month just to talk about the state of the downtown, what's going on, where they want to see things going. It was kind of like a strategic planning session if you will, and I kind of just ended up falling into it right on my second week on the job. So they had all these vision boards of what they wanted to do and kind of a cohesive message that came across all their different conversations were they wanted live music.
They wanted a downtown kind of community festival and they wanted it to be free to people who showed up. And so I took a deep breath. I knew I was new at my job and I was like “OK, here we go. Let's put together a summer concert series because you want the music, you want the community festival feel, and you want it to be free and we've got a Main Street program that can kind of be the face behind it if you are willing to rally together for it.” So they were all so excited. I kind of explained the rundown of what it would look like. But before we get into the logistics of how it goes, one of the things I said in that first meeting was, “You have to pay for it and we'll make sure it happens.” because I think a lot of times Main Street programs are so good at hearing what downtown businesses want to do.
Everyone loves ideas, it's fun to give ideas but a lot of people are just kind of hesitant to say “Okay but wait, what does the budget look like?” because it's so hard to put on these successful events, if there aren’t businesses who are willing to back it with actual dollars. And so that was one of the first things we said. I said, “I'm willing to put our staff behind this, I can get the chamber staff to get involved, but I need you guys to put some heavy dollar signs behind this so we can make sure it works

Show Transcript
Hello and welcome to the trailer for the Meet Me Downtown Podcast. I’m really excited to be bringing this podcast to life and I’m really excited you’re here to listen to it. When I started my position as Executive Director in Red Wing, Minnesota for their Downtown Main Street Organization, it was very clear to me that other people in all parts of the country were doing other really cool things in their downtowns. I wondered if there was a way to hear about some of those things that could be replicated in my downtown. And I didn’t find a great place for that so I thought, well I’ll start one, and I thought a podcast is a great place for that.
My hope is to bring together people from all across the United States who are doing important and hard work in their downtowns to keep them vibrant and healthy and to do the work of revitalization. Our downtowns have taken a hit in the last, you know, 20 years where retail has changed and especially in rural areas, agriculture has shifted so drastically that it’s really put so much strain on our downtowns that they need all the help they can get. While I love the Main Street program, I know it’s not available in all areas of the country and so I thought, well maybe this podcast can reach a lot of those places and have people learn more about what others are doing in their towns.
So we’re gonna learn about all sorts of different things. We’ll learn about events and festivals and barbecues and music fests and all those kinds of things that make downtown really come alive. But we’ll also learn about development projects, interesting collaborations and partnerships that have come together to help support downtowns. We’ll hear from Main Street Directors and Chamber Commerce Directors and volunteers. Other folks who love downtown and love their community and understand that it’s going to take a lot of effort to keep our downtowns alive. Of course with online shopping and the different kinds of challenges to retail, we’ll hear about experiential shopping opportunities, that getting people to have things have happened in their towns that are experience based is going to be vital to getting people to shop and to make a decision to not go online to shop, but instead to get in their car, or get their shoes on and go for a walk down to their downtown.
I just thought I’d maybe say a little bit about me. I have been a director for a couple of years and I’m a part-time director. I also have my own business called Unleashed Consultants where I provide marketing communications, especially around social media and digital marketing to nonprofits. And I just love it, and it works and fits so nicely with my work. I have a degree in Business, that’s actually my background. I’ve been a business consultant for over 16 years and so I come at a lot of the strategies in my work in downtown kind of from a business perspective. But then I also have a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership and I focus on nonprofits and so I think that my background is really interesting for the work we do in downtowns because it is such a mix of business, commerce, and community, nonprofits, etc. So I hope to be able to share my experience of what we do in Red Wing and the things that we learn as we go. We are not always successful, we have some great successes but sometimes things don’t go the way we planned or they turn out a little differently than we thought.
So I hope to share my experiences in my town as well, but also to help to spread the word about how others are doing wonderful work in downtowns all across the United States. So I hope you’ll join me in this podcast experiment. Make sure to go to my website, meetmedowntownpodcast.com and there’s a place to actually contact me if you want to find out more about me or contact me for any reason, but there’s also a place to submit an idea.
I know that there are so many wonderful things going on out in the w