Look to continue attracting and retaining businesses
By Joseph Goral
Staff Writer
jgoral@mihomepaper.com
Oxford’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA) won an award for business retention and attraction during this year’s Oakland County Main Street event on June 6.
The award recognizes Oxford’s efforts in supporting existing business and attracting new businesses to its main street. It also came with $600 that will go into the DDA’s general budget, according to DDA Executive Director Kelly Westbrook.
Westbrook said when she became director three and a half years ago, Oxford had many empty spaces and empty buildings – partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing construction.
In the time since, Westbrook said the DDA focused on approaching businesses and people who have bought buildings to ask what they wanted out of Oxford.
“To be able to keep people here, that’s really all about us communicating to them and having a good relationship with the village and making sure that people’s process to getting their businesses started is not hard, and that there’s not a lot of red tape” Westbrook said. “In government people always talk about red tape, so our goal as a DDA is to not have that.”
This includes keeping people informed on where to get permits, what is allowed and more.
The DDA’s side also makes an effort to fully understand each business downtown. Westbrook said this is how Oxford has retained the businesses in downtown today.
Open-door hours at the DDA are offered to businesses for help no matter the stage of life it is in.
Another effort to attract more businesses in the future would be an entrepreneurial incubator space downtown, Westbrook said.
While the economic vitality committee started looking into a space that would give entrepreneurs trying to start a business a low-risk opportunity to do so, according to DDA Board Vice President Grace Carey.
“They are quite literally retrofitted Home Depot tool sheds (where) … an AC unit has been added and each of the entrepreneurs who come in are able to actually design the inside to fit their business needs,” Carey said.
If created, Carey said the spaces would be affordable – meaning the spaces would also be low risk for Oxford in addition to the entrepreneurs.
It would be another opportunity to help businesses get started while generating revenue for the DDA, according to Westbrook.
“We love the fact that we don’t have to house a bunch of chain stores in our downtown, that we’re keeping … that American dream alive of people just having their small businesses here,” Westbrook said.
Main Street Oakland County (MSOC) programs are economic development programs for downtowns with a philosophy of historic preservation. MSOC aims to maximize economic potential and preserve heritage and sense of place in Oakland County, according to their website.
Oxford is one of 27 Main-Street communities in the county.