Beating City Hall 1993
Who says you can't beat city hall?
Not the 24 merchants
that make up the Plaza Central Business Association in Secaucus, which was born
out of a fight to preserve their interest in the face of a non-caring town
hall. But the result that followed that fight proved to be much more than
anyone could have imagined, garnering respect from customers as well as a deep
commitment to building a strong community.
``The idea of the association isn't to make money from
joining it, but to create an atmosphere of good will that makes people want to
come back and shop in these stores,'' said founding member Sal Barone and the
driving force behind the association's success.
``Sal likes to give
things away,'' said Bob of Secaucus Pets Plus. ``Sometimes we have to hold him
back a little.''
This year for
Thanksgiving, PCBA is giving away 40 turkeys among all its stores, up from the
one turkey per store they gave away when they started in 1989.
``Customers think
people who give things away are nice people,'' Barone said. ``It's a good way
to promote community spirit and continue doing business in this community.''
For the most part,
Barone has been promoting community spirit among his fellow merchants and in
the last five years have managed to create a whole host of events in that cause
including turkey give away, side walk sales and even, events like this year's
Halloween parade.
But none of this is
cheap, and Barone stresses the idea that merchants shouldn't expect a one to
one correlation between giving things away and profit. What business gets is
good will and that's the stuff success is built on. Customers come back to
these stories and say good things about doing business here. Even then, all of
the cost isn't in dollars and cents.
Time and energy are part of the investment.
During this year's
Halloween festivities, Dunkin Donuts supplied munchkins for the kids and Natoli
Pizza, hot chocolate, but merchants came out and physically lent a hand, too.
``What the whole
thing means is customer loyalty,'' Barone says. ``What we're trying to do is
develop a new relationship with our customers. People have to come to know that
they can trust businesses here and that we're committed to them.''
While the association
formed out of the necessity to fight town hall, it resulted in a better sense
of community.
``Now people know
they're not going to get ripped off by their local merchants,'' Barone said.
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The spark that
ignited everything came during reconstruction of the Plaza when they came out
and found construction crews building something different from what the
original plans called for.
``We found out about
the changes as the concrete was being poured,'' said Bob.
Plans that had called
for 15 parking spaces had suddenly been reduced to five. Several of the
merchants went up to town hall to find out why and why no one had informed
them.
``Mayor Amico told us
it wasn't the job of government to tell merchants about islands being
changed,'' Barone said. ``The mayor said he didn't have to tell us anything.''
Barone, enraged by
this, went from door to door talking with other merchants in the area, carrying
the idea with him that they needed to form some sort of business group.
``We wanted to get
together in order to get some clout,'' Bob said. ``It's hard to get town hall's
attention when you're go up there alone.''
Barone, who had been
a member of other business groups elsewhere, questioned people as to what
currently served that purpose here.
``I asked the Marra
brothers at the drug store why there was no business association,'' Barone
said. ``They told me that the town had the Rotary. But the Rotary didn't do the
kind of things I had in mind.''
Some Secaucus
businesses were connected to the Meadowlands Chamber of Commerce whose primary
interest was in Bergen County in and around the sports complex. For Barone, it
wouldn't do either.
Barone, who became
president of the PCBA for the first two years, became its chief proponent, a
work horse who went from store to store in an effort to get the project off the
ground.
``No one really knew
which ways to go,'' Barone said. ``I had the concept and the power to convince
people that this was the right way to go.''
The idea grew out of
frustration with town hall, business people seeing no place else to turn.
``Before this town
hall believed they were dealing with only individual business people and could
do largely what it wanted,'' Barone says. ``The town for instance would bother
closing a street because on store wanted to put on a sidewalk sale. But with us
grouped together, the town has become very cooperative.''
Bob, who joined the
movement early, did so believing there was strength in numbers. It was a way of
protecting individual store owners and sharing information about what will
affect them.
``The town now has to
take us into consideration when it does something,'' Bob said.
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The first meeting at the Judy's place drew 18 or 20
merchants. Most agreed with the idea. Since then, the association has grown
beyond the idea of self-protection. The merchants had lost a lot of business
due to the construction. Somehow, they had to bring it back.
``Losing business is
serious. When people go, they get into a groove and keep going elsewhere.
Worse, they take other people with them,'' Barone said.
At the time Barone
had a list of recommendations, and says he believed local businessmen had grown
too comfortable and laxed in community spirit.
While the association
formed too late to put a halt to changes in the Plaza project, Barone says it
blossomed into something unexpectedly good.
``We have a comradery
now,'' he said. ``Before this we didn't even know each other. Unity is
important.''
But the roadway
construction wasn't the only problem for local merchants. Around the edges of
town Malls and outlets were beginning to draw off business. With the roadway
under construction, it was easier for people to go out of the center of town to
do business.
``People get into a
rut,'' Barone says ``They go from point a to point b and almost never turn off
that route. It was up to us to build a detour and make them turn into our
stores.''
One key to making them come back into the center of the town
was attitude.
``We had to treat
people ten times better than they were getting treated in those other places,
giving the customer more respect,'' Barone said. ``In the malls, the stores are
run largely by people who could care less about the customers. Absentee owners
hire help who get paid no matter how customers are treated.''
Bob said the PCBA was a good way of dealing with the malls.
He noted how likes like Little Falls, which lives under the shadow of
Willowbrook Mall, didn't react in time to save themselves.
``We lucked out, we
started this in 1989. If we started it now, it might have been too late. Now
the malls are closing stores,'' Bob says, noting how stable most of the
businesses in the central area are stable while the malls show a continual turn
over. The recent closing of a Castle Road mall hint of how stable things are.
Many of the outlets who were put out when their building was condemned are
scrambling to find space and can't.
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The key for Barone is
imagining himself on the other side of the counter.
``What would please
me if I was going to shop somewhere? What would I like to see as a customer,''
Barone says. While he admits that he can't please everyone all the time, the
attempt often is enough. `Do for people what you want done for you is my
philosophy. I don't want to go into a store and have them rip me off. That's
easy to do in business.''
He said years ago,
merchants and customers used to know each other by their first names.
``That's coming back.
While I might not know the first times of my new customers, I make an effort to
get to know them,'' Barone says, noting how some businesses like Marra's Drug
store never lost this spirit. ``That's how they lasted 70 years here.''
Partly he contributed
this to kids working with their parents to learn the business. Now grown, their
own kids are learning this attitude from them.
Trying to cement the
relationship between business and community, the PCBA held a logo contest in
the local schools. The winner, selected from among 300 designs, received
savings bonds. Barone, however, who was then moving from one location with
Secaucus to another, put up all the posters in the window of his store so town
residents could see them.
Is it working? Feedback from customers say it is.
``Two years ago, we
asked people what the PCBA was. Most didn't know. Some thought it had something
to do with the police department, `` Barone said. ``Ask them today and most
people can tell you. That's public awareness.''
Barone says he's seen business picking up in the Plaza, not
with any dramatic effect. But a steady loyalty that keeps business from sagging
the way business elsewhere does in bad economic times.
Currently the PCBA provides a number events with the
sidewalk sale at the end of August, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and now
Halloween as stables. Some of the stores also participate in Mother’s day and
Valentine’s day give aways.
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Barone, however,
hopes that in four or five years, the association can double its number,
perhaps expand to the north end and merge with the business group there. In the
past, businesses on the north end have shied away from joining the association
because of they felt the name promoted only the plaza. Barone said this doesn't
have to be a problem, that the name adjusted to show an expanded area.
``The idea is to
promote business within the residential boarders of Secaucus,'' Barone says.
``The outlets and the malls can form their own organizations if they want.''
Another future idea
would be gaining now profit status for the association.
``I know that sounds
like a strange idea a business organization seeking non-profit status, and I
can see the expression of someone in Trenton if we apply, but it would help us
do better things for the community,'' Barone said.
It would open up new
avenues for fundraising, not just to take the burden of the give aways off the
back of the businesses but provide funds by which the association could engage
even larger community projects, like building a playground or helping needy
families in town during holidays.
``There are no
guarantees this is going to make anybody money,'' Barone said. ``But it does
make for a better community where we can raise our kids.''
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