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The purpose of the study was to understand key market drivers, to help the existing retail base and to identify opportunities for recruitment of complimentary retail businesses, according to a press release.
Valerie Christian, assistant professor of management at Sacred Heart, taught the graduate capstone course that lets students hone their management skills and make presentations to business practitioners and non-profit executives.
Christian was joined by Gus Serra from the Center for Non-Profit Organizations, Pete Penczer and Donald Peterson from the Fairfield Economic Development Commission, Beverly Balaz from the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce and Mark Barnhart, Fairfield director of Community and Economic Development, for the presentation at the Frank and Marisa Martire Business & Communications Center.
Students Pooja Brahmania, Vanessa Freitas, Swati Deshpande, Patrick McHale and Martha Miranda collaborated with Barnhart to identify gaps in consumer behavior when shopping in downtown Fairfield. Through interviews with shoppers and store owners, their goal was to find out why people come downtown to shop and what can be done to increase foot traffic in the area, according to a press release.
“This a great opportunity for the public to tell us what they think in terms of their shopping experiences downtown and what types of stores they would most like to see,” said Fairfield First Selectman Mike Tetreau in a press release.
The students final recommendations included ways to improve advertising awareness, adding more affordable stores for children and men and ideas on how to address the lack of parking, something with which many shoppers take issue, according to a press release. The study found that in a location with a preponderance of women’s apparel stores, many shoppers did not come to the area because they either could not find parking or could not find the stores they wanted, according to a press release. As a result, the students recommended increasing the variety of offerings to encompass a larger consumer demographic.
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