KATE TRZASKOS is executive director of the Downtown Brattleboro Alliance.
BRATTLEBORO- What does the future of downtown Brattleboro look like?
It’s a question I think about a lot. It is also a question I hear from business owners, property owners, community members, and visitors: What will Main Street look like five or 10 years from now? How do we keep downtown vibrant in a changing economy?
A recent Main Street America survey of small businesses across the country offers both encouragement and a dose of reality. Business owners remain optimistic and remarkably resilient, but they are also feeling the pressure of rising costs, cautious consumer spending, labor challenges, and competition from larger businesses and online retailers.
In other words, small business owners are still showing up and figuring it out — but it’s getting harder.
That feels very familiar here in Brattleboro.
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One of the great privileges of my job is that I get to know the people behind our downtown businesses.
I hear from the restaurant owner trying to manage rising food and labor costs. I talk with retailers navigating changing shopping habits. I meet entrepreneurs who have an idea that they believe could add something special to our community, but they aren’t sure how to take the first step.
What I hear most often is not pessimism. It’s determination. Our business owners want to succeed. They want to invest here. They want to be part of Brattleboro’s future. That is something we should pay attention to.
Our existing businesses are an investment worth protecting. When we talk about economic development, it’s easy to focus on what’s missing or what we want to attract: new businesses, new investment, new development.
Those things matter. And economic development also means supporting the businesses that have already taken the risk of investing in Brattleboro.
Our independent retailers, restaurants, galleries, makers, and service businesses are more than economic engines. They are part of the social fabric of our community.
Main Street America found that roughly one-third of the small businesses surveyed consider themselves community gathering spaces — places where people connect, not simply places where they make purchases.
We know that is true in Brattleboro.
Think about the places where you run into a neighbor, meet a friend for coffee, discover a new artist, celebrate a birthday, or bring a visitor for dinner. These businesses create the experiences that make downtown feel alive.
And they need us.
Supporting local businesses doesn’t have to be complicated. Shop locally when you can. Eat downtown. Use local services. Recommend your favorite business to a friend. Leave a positive review. Show up. Every one of those choices makes a tangible difference.
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And we also need to make room for what’s next.
A healthy downtown cannot simply preserve what already exists. It needs to create opportunities for new ideas and new entrepreneurs.
This is one of the reasons Downtown Brattleboro Alliance launched Vacant to Vibrant, which puts otherwise empty storefronts to use.
We saw an opportunity in our vacant storefronts — and in the entrepreneurs who have ideas but may not yet be ready to take on the risk of a long-term commercial lease.
For some, the first step might be a pop-up. For another, it might be a temporary retail installation, a creative activation, or a service-based business testing a new concept. These small experiments can become something much bigger.
This year, Vacant to Vibrant is putting that idea into practice with a diverse group of local entrepreneurs and creative businesses. Our activations include Artastic Color, Brattleboro-West Arts, Land, Lake & Us gift shop, Harmony Playhouse, Jazz’s Corner Soul Food, Harmony Arcade, Wyld Medicine by Pinky Toe Chai, Made in the Image Studio, and Yellow Clover General.
That’s nine different ideas, business concepts, and creative ventures finding a place in our downtown.
What excites me most isn’t simply the number of activations. It is the range of possibilities they represent. A children’s play space. A soul food restaurant. A gift shop. An arcade. Creative studios. Art. Wellness. Retail.
This is what entrepreneurship looks like in a community like Brattleboro: people seeing an opportunity, taking a chance and bringing something of their own to Main Street.
Entrepreneurship rarely happens in a straight line. A person might start by selling at a market, build a following online, try a pop-up, and eventually open a storefront. Our job as a community is to create more opportunities along that pathway.
Vacant to Vibrant is one way we can do that. It is also a reminder that vacant storefronts are not simply a problem to solve. They can be opportunities to invest in the next generation of Brattleboro businesses.
We need to do both.
I don’t believe we have to choose between supporting the businesses we have and attracting or growing new ones. In fact, I believe the two priorities are inseparable.
The entrepreneurs of tomorrow need the thriving downtown created by today’s businesses. And today’s businesses benefit from the energy, ideas, and customers that new entrepreneurs bring to Main Street.
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A strong downtown is always evolving.
That means making it easier for an established business to stay and grow.
It means creating pathways for an entrepreneur to get started.
It means making vacant spaces more accessible.
It means investing in public spaces and events that bring people downtown.
And it means recognizing that economic vitality isn’t created by one big project — it is built over time, business by business, relationship by relationship.
This is the work of Downtown Brattleboro Alliance, and it is why I am so optimistic about Brattleboro. We have something worth investing in.
We have business owners who continue to take risks. We have entrepreneurs with new ideas. We have artists and makers who bring creativity to our downtown. We have property owners willing to invest in their buildings. And we have a community that cares deeply about the future of this place.
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The national small-business data tells us that this is a challenging moment. But it also tells us that entrepreneurs are still finding reasons to be optimistic.
I think we should meet that optimism with action.
Support the businesses that are here now. Make room for the entrepreneurs who are coming next. And invest in the downtown we want to see five, 10, and 20 years from now.
The future of Main Street isn’t waiting somewhere down the road. It is being built right now — by the people who open their doors every morning, take a chance on a new idea, and choose to invest in Brattleboro.
Our job is to make sure they know this community is investing in them, too.
This Voices Viewpoint was submitted to The Commons.
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