must)“. run! 14.2016 . vumrnocnotnm - 13 Figuring it all out > e o I a o A great idea to keep trafl'icflowmg uptown hasn t received the support It should Br 50le ChmrqueStafl ( :hanging customer behav- iour can be difï¬cult, espe- cially when enema] factors, like construction, are leading to that changes ' That's why Mandy Brouse of ‘ Words Worth Books tried to get ahead of the construction disruption in uptown Waterloo this year with the idm of opening up the laneway to the _ backofthepopularlomlindependent 7‘x‘ bookstoreatsï¬lcingSts.toitsloynl \' customers l '. The hope was there would be ‘ 91 K a whole host of events and support ' ‘ ; iortlieproiemcalledSummerinour ‘C‘ Backyard, and it was extended for a ‘ ‘s ' much of last summer to help change » ,_ ' ‘\ consumer behaviour. ‘ \ “last year we started the progam ‘ because we anticipated that we were , going to lose King Street access. which ‘ i“ we did this year,†said Brouse‘ "The ‘ ‘ ‘ ' pilot project included a dry run of , - what our Hughes Lane space might ‘ . ; look like just to prepare us and give us _ a an advance idea of what we need†Brouse said they needed to ï¬gure ' out evemmng from me ("my my m Mandy Brouse, co-owner ofWords Worth Books. talks about the lessons learned about a protectthey W using access along Hughes Latter ( make it safe and pedestrian friendly to A “mm what products to put out and how to were using that space.’ employede the public. for it but it never git delivered. it was update. Pictures and maps would be display them Fast forward a year, and the experâ€" The other thing that Brouse is just so diflicult working with the difâ€" themy to go because people are real- "We had a table and seating area.“ iment is now a reality and Brouse said quite critical of is the lack of support ferem deparmientsatthe dtytrylngto lyvbual â€"â€" thatwould reallyhelpf said Brnuw "We had a In! of weeds Words Worth Books has beneï¬ted the retailers got for the plan from city geteveryoneonboard. In the end the whole exercise is back there. so we cut all those down from people having other options to ofï¬cials. 'It felt like sand dipping throufli one in changing shopping habits. and Mid W" a garden in "New access the store other than through While a lot of lip senile was paid myflngets’ Brouse is encouraging her patrons “There was a lot of thinking and thewnstruction on King, at the time about how great the idea lastly, thereisalwaysthe oommu- and others to ï¬nd others ways to planning that we"! mm H " the problem, as with a lot of other was and that the support would be nicotion piece about the LET project accesstheuptown. - It was a sm mks by flew means good ideas, is the execution didn't there when they needed it, the reality itself When is the work being staged That's something that we've spe- . will can "WSW"? from â€1? “NH"! meet up With the enthusiasm of the has been much different. The idea got and whenwlll it be done? ciï¬call’y verbaliu to our customers to or trafï¬c the stores participating in original project bogged down in city hall red tape It's not always clear What's being ï¬nd new pathsfsald Brouse. 'Stick to lhl‘ Pill“ “we generating 10 1h? “I“ Other retailers along Hughes lane “When we were exploring the shutdown when, and a recent notice them forthe mostpart â€"â€" things might m t’ipts (ha! Went With it Hm"? ï¬aid haven‘t been as quick to adopt the idea of using Hughes Lane as an the sidewalks along part of King change every month orso ~~ but stay they eniuyt‘d a noticeable hump (lurr idea this year as last In fact. Honey entire block party, I came up against will be closed starting this week left on yourriewpath. mg la“ year's will?“ Bake Shop. one of the food retailers a lot of obstacles.’ said house "it was Brouse with more questions "One of the best things we've done "Wt“ (lid 6 dry "1" Mid “ï¬ned at that helped hring people in, is pulling strange to me that we had so many "When is it happening and what is is makea map that ishigilyaccessihle lhrfl' we?“ l In luly) and 0"de Up up stakes and isn't participating at all partners who were really supportive your planning on this?†said Brouse. and user friendly on a dedicated page lining for the rest with? summer," said (his year but wecouldn't get to the point to find 'Some business don't have time to on our website. People use it all the “mm? "W0 t'lw‘h'vmh hi‘ll “HI “I“ That means there isn't as much funding or who I could actually go to call wheneveranemail pops up time.†of our sale hooks in the hark as well. foot traffic as last year when the get theworkdone. â€I would love to have more clot? To see the map, visit wwwword and in we the sales meant that perrple novelty of the idea was first being â€I needed the support and asked lty and transparency about their IRT sworthhooltscom. Y ' - Stay Current -r . > . . t t r ' i a 1' J if?» . , A a m t. at ~ " '. .. . 3 X x , ï¬t “a," ... Wat: on?†to minor sports scores. to what‘s going on down the street. at he} 0- r ' ,.. tonicle.ca ‘ \t 6\ l it" if: 4 * ‘., lâ€: “all": ' 1555.5 “ wt b u ~ ,‘ , flail“ ' s by; v a: ' ' , Mfr. 4- J; â€91 gem, ~ - a ' - â€fell???“ a; ,u.smzo,wi\rtuoo.s r t . - t a W “L ' , 5 '