How one town stopped business owners and staff from parking in front of downtown businesses

One common small town parking complaint is business staff taking up customer parking. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this brought up in discussing downtown businesses.

Sometimes business owners or business employees park right in front of their business or along the Main Street. They might park out front for any number of reasons. Maybe they don’t have much room to park around back, or they’re just running into their business for a minute, or they need to carry some things in the front.

The problem is that this takes space away from customers. If all the business owners park in front, customers have to park further away, and some might use that as an excuse not to shop downtown.

I just heard the best idea for addressing this from Ivy Wells, Director of Economic and Community Development for Berlin, Maryland. It’s a solution that values the businesses and their people while keeping space open for customers and visitors.

The town reached out to a church near downtown to share their parking lot during the week for business owners and staff.

Each person working at downtown businesses received a numbered permit to display in their vehicle. The town sends someone to the designated church lot regularly to check the cars and record the permits they see, in essence collecting a list of who is using the lot. Then they enter those people for drawings for great local gifts. That’s a big secret: the gifts are things people really, really want to win.

Ivy said they may add valet service to make it even easier for owners and staff!

It’s a simple way to appreciate your business people and make room for more customers to come on in.

Ivy and I met at the Council for State Governments East Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland. She wore this orange dress she bought at a local store and her flip flops to show what a wonderfully local and casual place Berlin is. For the record, the pants, necklace and shoes I wore came from my local shops in Alva, Oklahoma.

Header photo: Berlin, MD, downtown during the golden evening hour. Photo by Berlin MD Downtown district.