July 2008 – Barracks Row, Washington, DC

Zehner Consulting is assisting the Wander Group complete a Neighborhood Market Analysis and Retail Recruitment and Retention Plan for Barracks Row Main Street, a commercial district management organization located in the greater Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, DC. Zehner Consulting’s contributions include conducting and analyzing in-person interviews with recently opened retail entrepreneurs in the District of Columbia. The interviews are used to best understand the decision making process of start-up retail businesses in the city. A commercial district’s business mix, especially the presence of locally owned retail, is becoming an increasingly important factor in establishing a community’s competitive advantage in the market place for both attracting regional visitors and building residential real estate equity. Zehner Consulting’s final analysis will document the motivating factors and impediments to why small, retail entrepreneurs a) locate their businesses in particular neighborhoods, b) relocate from one neighborhood to another, and c) close their businesses in the District of Columbia.

Zehner Consulting also contributed an international Best Practices neighborhood comparison for the client. Zehner Consulting visited and interviewed community leaders in the Monkland Village commercial district located in the greater Notre-Dame-de-Grace neighborhood of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.