Frank Komola retired in 2012 following a 23 year career at UPS. He belongs to the retirees chapter of Local 25, International Brotherhood of Teamsters in Boston. He and his wife, Lisa, live in Haverhill. His commentaries are heard Fridays on 97.9 WHAV.
The citizens of Haverhill, city agencies and volunteer activists have been coming together to support the many cultural, educational, culinary and historical characteristics that make Haverhill the great city that we all love so much. As we all know, Haverhill has a lot to offer residents, visitors and potential home owners.
As we continue to improve and increase the diversity of attractions, I think this is a great time to turn our attention to promoting ourselves in the Merrimack Valley, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the other nearby states within New England. But it will take a level of cooperation and consolidation of resources to deliver this message to other communities.
For the most part large retail malls promote themselves as a collection of retailers under one banner, whether that be The Mall at Rockingham Park, The Burlington Mall, or the recently opened MarketStreet Lynnfield. Aside from highlighting the main anchors, the vast majority of the rest of the shops present themselves as a group of attractive stores under the name attached to the mall developers’ banner.
The attractiveness of a large number of retailers that the mall contains draws large numbers of consumers from around the region.
Perhaps it is time for the entire Haverhill community to come together, combine the financial resources that each group brings to the table and develop and implement a marketing campaign promoting this great city. The city, the chambers of commerce, financial institutions, real estate associations, retailers and homeowners could all benefit from attracting consumers to this great city.
Interstate 495 carries thousands of commuters and tourists through our city. Five exits exist to draw vehicles off the highway. Any good real estate salesperson will tell you that curb appeal is a first impression that helps bring a sale. Are we happy with the impression that these five windows into our community present? Does Haverhill look attractive to visit, and are we aggressively promoting ourselves in a way that would bring them off the highway and into our business district?
For years, malls and shopping center developers would write a lease for just one restaurant that would prevent other restaurants from being in the same mall. But developers and restaurant operators soon realized that a destination with multiple food choices brought each restaurant a greater number of sales than one restaurant alone could produce. Could all of our culinary operators gain more by promoting themselves as a group rather than going it alone?
Should the real estate companies form a real estate association that pools its resources to promote the city of Haverhill to a wider audience? We have access to highways and two train stations for commuters. Does the rest of region and the employees in Greater Boston know how accessible and affordable our city is?
Should our chambers of commerce travel to Boston and either participate in or establish a promotional vehicle to highlight the Haverhill business community and the valuable services that they can provide to the rest of the state and the region?
There’s power in numbers! And if you combine money and motivated people, I think we can bring to our great city the attention, recognition, shoppers and residents that it deserves!