St. Louis' Delmar Loop: thri ving on di versity and sur viving the pandemic - East Loop CID

3/22/2021          St. Louis’ Delmar Loop: thriving on diversity and surviving the pandemic | ICSC: International Council of Shopping Centers

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             St. Louis’ Delmar Loop: thriving on diversity and surviving the pandemic

 March 22, 2021

 Eight new businesses opened during the pandemic in St. Louis’ Delmar Loop, five of them Black
 owned. Today, nearly 30 Black-owned businesses call The Loop home. Keeping them open has been
 the biggest and last piece of the area’s comeback.

 Home to one of three major streetcar hubs in the St. Louis region in the 1950s, the area developed
 into a thriving shopping area before experiencing a downturn in the 1960s. A major comeback has
 been under way the past 20 years, the seeds of which were planted in 1972, when local businessman
 Joe Edwards opened a restaurant and live music club called Blueberry Hill and began working with
 area businesses to build back the area. And it worked. In 2007, the American Planning Association
 named the eight-block, Main Street-style entertainment, dining and shopping district one of the 10
 Great Streets in America. It now features more than 140 specialty shops and galleries, over 60
 restaurants, 10 entertainment venues and a boutique hotel, and the district draws 500,000 visitors
 annually.

 One of Blueberry Hill’s venues, the 340-person-capacity Duck Room, has been a hub of the
 comeback. The walls there are covered with photos of the musicians who have performed there,
 including Edwards’ friend Chuck Berry. St. Louis native Nelly held the release party for his first album
 there. “Music is what brings all people together,” said Delmar Loop executive director Rachelle
 L’Ecuyer. “St. Louis gets knocked for being racially divided, but in the Loop, it is all like a zipper. It all
 comes together, and the music really brings everyone here and brings them together.”

The St. Louis Walk of Fame, located in The Loop, honors 150 of the city’s notables, about a third of
them Black. And the nearby Washington University attracts a large, international student body. “All
of this set the foundation for the diversity and growth of the business district,” said L’Ecuyer.

Retailers expanding in The Loop are another draw. Tameka Stigers owns Black Beauty Supply and
the salon Locs of Glory. “I chose the Delmar Loop to open my beauty supply store because it was just
two doors away from my salon business,” she said. “Being on the block for six years already, I knew
the value of property in the area. I also know the vision of where The Loop is headed, and getting in
now will be great for my growing businesses.”

Delmar Loop’s efforts to keep its businesses going

L’Ecuyer’s organization has gone all out to help its businesses survive economically. “The pandemic
changed our focus dramatically,” she said. It canceled events and other budgeted items, so the
Delmar Loop organization redeployed those funds for such measures as paying a month of rent for
each of 35 businesses across April and May 2020. Over the summer, it provided personal protective
equipment and hand sanitizer and stands, and over the winter, it gave each business $500 to pay
electric bills.

To highlight local businesses’ offerings throughout the pandemic, it developed a Curbside to Go
video for restaurants and a Rockin’ Retail video for retailers. It also developed a logo to call attention
to Black-owned businesses and hired a social media consultant to provide the businesses with three
months of social media development and support. “The virtual campaigns have been very
successful,” noted L’Ecuyer.

The Delmar Loop organization’s most successful proposition: helping business owners find financial
support. “So far, everyone is weathering the storm,” said L’Ecuyer. “It was clear, though, that back
when the PPP loans became available, many of the business owners were struggling to make a
connection to a bank or financial resource. We connected business owners to a not-for-profit
financial resource in St. Louis who was able to help the business owners apply for PPP loans then,
and we reconnected the businesses to this resource recently for the new round of PPP loans. Also, we
send out grant information and are constantly on the lookout to make sure that the businesses don’t
miss any opportunity.”

What’s next
Prior to the pandemic, L’Ecuyer had created a Brokers Roundtable to keep local brokers connected
to developments in the Delmar Loop. “This was a way to share marketing materials and support the
brokers with commercial listings,” said L’Ecuyer. “We offered a tour and it was very successful, and
we hope to do this again in the fall and bring in even more businesses to the area.” An improved
streetscape with new tree plantings also is coming this year.

She added, “We would like to continue our program of providing resources to the businesses to help
them grow.” This includes the creation of a tool kit that will provide ongoing resources to the
businesses. “We have connected businesses to the SBA and the St. Louis Economic Development
Partnership, and we have offered webinars that range from business planning to Google business
resources,” she noted. “There is momentum in the St. Louis region to provide more support for grants,
loans and business development.”

                                              By Ben Johnson

                                    Contributor, Shopping Centers Today
                                    Visit ICSC online: https://www.icsc.com/

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