The scientific measure of the strength of a magnet is “gauss.”  And by several measures, a group in Columbia is cranking up the “gauss” there.

At least it feels like they are doing so on Main Street and the driving force is the Historic Main Street Columbia Association.

When the Republic-Times visited last week with Columbia Community and Economic Development Director Paul Ellis, he grasped for ways to describe the aims of the association.

“It’s like a mall,” he said.

What Ellis clearly was not describing was some massive building project with giant earth movers roaring over dozens of acres of scarred land.

Rather, he was painting an image of businesses, quietly complementing each other – of a mix of retail sales, food and drink establishments, entertainment centers and business services, surrounded by sufficient parking and within easy walking distance of each other.

If a store owner doesn’t have what a customer is seeking, more and more, they have ideas of where they may find it and can send them that way. They are drawing together to make Columbia’s Main Street a destination, a sum greater than its 175 individual businesses.

The Historic Main Street Columbia Association and its executive director, Chris Trowbridge, along with 40 member businesses, are the sources of this energy. The organization was chartered little more than 18 months ago, but it is already making a big difference.

“It took awhile at the start, to build trust,” Trowbridge said.  “But I think businesses are bonding now to seek ‘win-win’ solutions and to create synergy.”

Trowbridge said the official Illinois Main Street Program is part of a nationwide organization, chartered in 36 communities across Illinois. Belleville and Alton are also in this program, but most other communities are upstate. The organization is not part of city government.  Rather, it is a 501-3c non-profit civic organization.  The city provides her workspace in City Hall, but Trowbridge answers to a board of directors.

The association is built around four committees, working together on a common theme:
• Organization: sponsors seminars and workshops to share ideas and methods that might propel businesses forward, such as using social media. Too Blue Boutique, for example, is a local Instagram user that has notched more than 19,000 followers of images of its clothing products.

• Design: works with property owners to renovate storefronts and historic buildings to retain their timeless character and encourage property owners and the city to work together to maintain high-quality appearance.

• Economic restructuring: joins with property owners to develop leasing and recruitment plans to enhance the street’s business mix and generate business. Seeks grants and other financial programs to assist owners. Columbia supports this with its facade program, which grants up to $3,000 to an owner – on a 50-50 share basis – to rehabilitate and improve building facades, or fronts. Columbia has distributed more than $24,000 in this program in recent years and seen owners expand the work and complete more than $86,000 worth of work to restore building appearance restoration.

• Promotions: promotes the Historic Main Street theme through advertising, special events and promotions and highway signage.

To get a better sense of Columbia’s Historic Main Street, we visited three typical businesses.

Kimmy Taake of K.A.T. Jewelry Boutique & Gifts was formerly a court stenographer. But she and her husband decided it was time to start a family, and that curtailed her ability to travel to courts around the state.  So, she shifted focus to a long-time hobby, creating fine jewelry.

“My husband finally told me I had to find a place to do this and to conduct a business,”  Taake said, adding “it is difficult to expand from a home, including obtaining business loans, so here I am in the Old Distillery Center.”

She emphasized the close-knit relationship with other businesses, noting that together, they can offer a day of shopping and browsing, plus dining and entertainment – just plain good buys and fun.

“You don’t have to go to South County,” she said, laughing.

Lori Prior, of the newly combined Fashion Attic for Women and Fashion Attic for Kids, now all in one building across from City Hall, spoke intermittently as customers browsed among like-new used clothes and new items.

Prior had been a real estate agent, but when that market dropped several years ago, she took 30-plus years of Avon selling and some retail experience, swallowed and opened her own business. The adult clothing resale business has thrived for five years and the store focusing on kids was launched three years ago. Bringing them together made a lot of sense and the results are ample proof.

Going back across Main Street, we walked in on Bob Freyman as he prepared for the coming evening crowd at his Chateau La Vin.  Freymen, who also serves as Historic Main Street Program President, markets high quality wines, both for consumption in his business and take-home purchases, and a limited variety of spirits and beers.

“I have 165 wines, ranging from $10 to $165 a bottle,” he told.  “We have music on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.”

One principle the association emphasizes is that growth is not a zero-sum matter. One shop does not take away from another in a neighborhood.  Rather, they each bring people to Main Street, often sharing them as a day or evening proceeds.

“I decided not to go into food preparation, and I encourage people to bring food from other local eateries into the Chateau to eat while enjoying wine, other beverages and music. And in nice weather, we move the music out back and join forces with Boccardi’s next door to add fun to fun, to equal more fun,” Freyman said.

While retail sales and eating establishments are prime targets for growth and connection, the association is not ignoring professions and residents. Numerous stores and businesses host renters living upstairs.

As Ellis told of his daughter, “After living with us all her life on cul-de-sacs and large properties, when she left home, she told me she wanted to live within walking distance of a library.  And now my wife and I live downtown, here in a loft.”

And professional businesses create jobs and generate taxes.

Finally, Columbia has another invaluable resource as it seeks to retain and build business on its foundation of history. Recently, developer Gregg Crawford and his wife, Jane, announced plans to repurpose the former Immaculate Conception Church building into something they call the Main Street Abbey.  In many ways, Crawford has been driving the Historic Main Street project for years with his work, including bringing the Old Distillery Center, Reifschneider’s, the Vogt Building where his office is located and other historic spaces back to full function and historic beauty and reintegrating them into the community as contributing businesses.