Innovative retail designs lend a sense of visual consistency and quality to downtownÕs street vending program.
(Mountain Lakes, NJ, August 24, 2017) — The presence of street vendors downtown can add or detract from the area’s image, depending upon the quality of the product, service, and presentation. That’s the premise behind the Downtown Boston BID’s street vending program for the Downtown Crossing district in Boston, MA.
Street vending has a long history in the area. "From a planning perspective, we’ve always felt that it adds vibrancy to the streets and provides a service to our visitors," says Anita Lauricella, senior planner and project manager for the BID.
In 2013, the BID began a process of evaluating its pushcart program with an eye toward the contemporary vendor and customer.
The BID has now replaced its out-dated 1970s-era pushcarts by installing five new retail merchandising units or RMUs. The units are just four feet by four feet in size when closed and locked, expanding to four-foot by eight-foot display areas when fully opened.
The design is meant to compliment both historic and modern structures near which the RMUs are located. "So we can put them in front of historic buildings like the Old State House, or on the street in front of a new tower," Lauricella says.
Under the direction of the BID, RMU vendors are carefully selected and the units are positioned within the district to avoid conflicts.
The next phase of a more modern, unified vending fleet will be to work with food vendors.
Details on the Downtown Crossing districts vending program appear in the August issue of Downtown Idea Exchange.
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