"With all thy getting, get understanding."
We use this verse from Proverbs to guide a lot of our work. Part of the initial phase of our work in the Village is to get understanding of the current state of the Village, as we begin to think about its future. One of the tools we use to develop understanding is surveys.
In May and June we conducted surveys of business owners and village residents and will be conducting surveys of village property owners. We also intercepted users in the Village to ask questions on what brought them to the Village, where they live and what they thought about different aspects of the Village.
In addition to the surveys, we conducted pedestrian counts, bicycle rider counts and baby stroller counts on two days in May. We have also developed an updated database of all Village businesses.
Some of the things we have found are obvious, such as the fact that the intersection of Carlsbad Village Drive and Carlsbad Boulevard is the busiest in the Village. During a 12-hour period on one Saturday in May, 5,718 pedestrians, 1,108 bicycles and 138 baby strollers crossed that intersection. A total of 23,940 pedestrians crossed at least one of the locations we surveyed during our Saturday count.
When we stopped these pedestrians and asked questions about the Village, we found that of the 204 we surveyed 68 percent were from North County, 17 percent were from other areas of California and 15 percent were from out of state. Of those surveyed, 51 percent visited the Village at least weekly and for 25 percent, this was their first visit.
The top two reasons for coming to the Village were strolling or meeting friends and visiting restaurants or bars, each with about 25 percent. Shopping came in a distant third with 10 percent. Most arrived by car (60 percent) and of those arriving by car, 91 percent thought parking was either very convenient or somewhat convenient. When asked to rate their village experience, 96 percent of those surveyed rated it as either very good or good.
The top issues facing the Village, according to Village merchants are: customer attraction, retail mix and parking.
The merchants would like to see efforts made to improve the perception of the village, increase marketing/events and improve the retail mix. According to the merchants, the two primary users should be retail shoppers and entertainment/dining visitors. When asked to rate the dining experience 50 percent rated the outdoor dining experience either fair or poor.
The Village has 325 businesses. The largest categories of businesses are food and drink, which has 60 businesses (18 percent); beauty, which has 39 businesses (12 percent); health and wellness, which has 36 businesses (11 percent); and Insurance/Financial/Legal, which has 22 businesses (7 percent). The Village also has a hardware store, a pharmacy, a pet hospital, nine businesses that will work on your car and eight jewelry stores.
So what have we learned? There are 33 restaurants, but when we asked about diversity of dining options only 24 percent rated it as very good while 30 percent rated it as fair to poor. Throughout the surveys, we heard that the retail mix was an issue. If the Village is to increase its economic viability the retail/dining mix will need to be improved. We've learned that the Village is a great place to receive beauty and wellness services, but has limited outdoor dining options.
Part of our challenge is to refine the vision of the "Village's offering".
What changes to the mix, and what additions to the business diversity, does the Village need in order to attract more customers and users from North County? Only by attracting more customers from this target audience will the Village become competitive with the other North County cities and ensure its long term economic vitality.
We use this verse from Proverbs to guide a lot of our work. Part of the initial phase of our work in the Village is to get understanding of the current state of the Village, as we begin to think about its future. One of the tools we use to develop understanding is surveys.
In May and June we conducted surveys of business owners and village residents and will be conducting surveys of village property owners. We also intercepted users in the Village to ask questions on what brought them to the Village, where they live and what they thought about different aspects of the Village.
In addition to the surveys, we conducted pedestrian counts, bicycle rider counts and baby stroller counts on two days in May. We have also developed an updated database of all Village businesses.
Some of the things we have found are obvious, such as the fact that the intersection of Carlsbad Village Drive and Carlsbad Boulevard is the busiest in the Village. During a 12-hour period on one Saturday in May, 5,718 pedestrians, 1,108 bicycles and 138 baby strollers crossed that intersection. A total of 23,940 pedestrians crossed at least one of the locations we surveyed during our Saturday count.
When we stopped these pedestrians and asked questions about the Village, we found that of the 204 we surveyed 68 percent were from North County, 17 percent were from other areas of California and 15 percent were from out of state. Of those surveyed, 51 percent visited the Village at least weekly and for 25 percent, this was their first visit.
The top two reasons for coming to the Village were strolling or meeting friends and visiting restaurants or bars, each with about 25 percent. Shopping came in a distant third with 10 percent. Most arrived by car (60 percent) and of those arriving by car, 91 percent thought parking was either very convenient or somewhat convenient. When asked to rate their village experience, 96 percent of those surveyed rated it as either very good or good.
The top issues facing the Village, according to Village merchants are: customer attraction, retail mix and parking.
The merchants would like to see efforts made to improve the perception of the village, increase marketing/events and improve the retail mix. According to the merchants, the two primary users should be retail shoppers and entertainment/dining visitors. When asked to rate the dining experience 50 percent rated the outdoor dining experience either fair or poor.
The Village has 325 businesses. The largest categories of businesses are food and drink, which has 60 businesses (18 percent); beauty, which has 39 businesses (12 percent); health and wellness, which has 36 businesses (11 percent); and Insurance/Financial/Legal, which has 22 businesses (7 percent). The Village also has a hardware store, a pharmacy, a pet hospital, nine businesses that will work on your car and eight jewelry stores.
So what have we learned? There are 33 restaurants, but when we asked about diversity of dining options only 24 percent rated it as very good while 30 percent rated it as fair to poor. Throughout the surveys, we heard that the retail mix was an issue. If the Village is to increase its economic viability the retail/dining mix will need to be improved. We've learned that the Village is a great place to receive beauty and wellness services, but has limited outdoor dining options.
Part of our challenge is to refine the vision of the "Village's offering".
What changes to the mix, and what additions to the business diversity, does the Village need in order to attract more customers and users from North County? Only by attracting more customers from this target audience will the Village become competitive with the other North County cities and ensure its long term economic vitality.