Downtown Benson Businesses Elevate Their Efforts

A new group of community-minded individuals has popped up in Johnston County, this time in Benson. If you’re familiar with Activate Selma, then Elevate Benson will seem familiar in some ways and different in others. On a recent Tuesday night, I attended a meeting of the group, hosted at Salvaged Heirlooms in Downtown Benson.

Around 15 people were in attendance and while the atmosphere was very informal, the printed agenda on topics to cover - which was 2 pages long - alerted any newcomers that the group had already managed to tackle a lot. Especially considering Elevate has been around for just a few months, started by a group of downtown business owners. 



Paul Boucher, owner of Small World Travel and lifelong Benson resident, explained how Elevate came about, “I ran a business for 30 years just 2 blocks from Main Street. I didn’t realize how little I was tapped into what was happening Downtown. But, a year or so ago we renovated a building right on Main St. and moved our offices there. We even opened a retail store in the front.”

Paul said that opening the retail store specifically opened his eyes to how little Benson residents frequent the downtown corridor. He ended up at Salvaged Heirlooms one evening having a beer and a conversation with a few other downtown business owners about what could be done to pull people back downtown. They all agreed that it seemed like people who lived in the greater Benson area, or had just moved to the area, weren’t aware of the reviving and growing downtown district.

So they decided to do something about it. Out of that conversation came the idea to hold a meeting of downtown business owners on what they could collectively do to promote and elevate the downtown. At the end of that meeting, the group had committed to regular meetings, made Paul the Chairmen, and had deemed themselves Elevate Benson. 



During the meeting I attended, their goals were very clear in the agenda and discussions. Focus on events that pull people to the downtown district, and prolong their visit to downtown. Encourage people to discover the charm of downtown. Promote shopping local, but also highlight downtown experiences beyond retail - eating, drinking, art, and other special activities.

The group discussed current initiatives like a Campbell University student discount at local stores as well as window clings for the discount program, direct mail opportunities, a downtown business bingo card program being distributed at local schools, and the completion of recent efforts to get tear maps for the frontdesk staff at local hotels directing visitors to downtown businesses.

The group partners with the Town, the Chamber, the Visitors Bureau, schools, the Arts Council, and other organizations. They don’t discourage anyone from showing up to meetings, they want anyone who wants to be involved to come; but it’s mostly downtown retail-based business owners. It is not member based and there are no dues or fees. 

Paul elaborated, “some of the first ideas we had and projects we completed, like the Downtown Shopping Map, were more retail oriented where it was focused on shopping and food. But some of the later projects, like the Mule Days flier, focused more on welcoming people to downtown and encouraging them to return and we had a more diverse group of businesses participate in that.”



Elevate worked this Fall with the Visitors Bureau and the Town’s Parks and Recreation department to get flyers with QR codes into welcome bags for sports tournaments so that visiting teams and families could navigate where to eat, drink, shop, and explore in downtown Benson. 

This idea led to another idea, still in the works, to get framed maps up around town to orient visitors and residents; the maps will also have a QR code which takes people to VisitBenson.org. The group understands the need to take baby steps with ideas and efforts to create repeat opportunities targeting both residents and visitors. It’s important to always be considering what’s possible, but tackling what’s doable one thing at a time.

“Our focus right now is two-fold: to educate residents and bring awareness to visitors, and to market downtown in a way that turns that knowledge into action,” said Paul. In tourism, we have a saying “heads in beds” that encapsulates the importance of driving overnight stays in your destination. For mainstreet communities like Benson, the saying is more “feet in streets.” Elevate wants people actively involved in the downtown area - walking, shopping, etc. 

The meeting discussion of the framed maps project led to a discussion about future ideas involving sidewalk stencils directing people around town, an idea that was met with positive interest but tabled for a future date. 

I asked Paul why he thinks people don’t take advantage of downtown corridors in their own towns more often and he said, “I honestly think the biggest issue is informing people of what is even available. It’s hard to compete with the brand store marketing, but many of these businesses have the products people are looking for. It's a matter of informing people so they’re aware.” He continued, “what’s always fascinated me is shopping centers and malls replacing downtowns, which is interesting considering that modern shopping centers like North Hills or Southpoint are designed to mimic what naturally occurs in downtowns and along main streets.”



Later in the meeting Angel Sanchez from Salvaged Heirlooms announced the completion, with help from the Visitors Bureau, of a self-guided historic ghost walk tour with 13 stops in the downtown area. It is an audio tour accessible via a unique landing page - bensonghosttours.com. It pairs with Angel’s new Spirits of Benson podcast. The idea is to someday lead guided, ticketed tours of the walk. Angel’s announcement led to another group discussion about the future possibility of building more thematic trails and experiences in downtown - history, sweets, etc. 

Lindsay Tart with Royal Boutique & Co spoke briefly about the upcoming Pink Friday event that she and some of the other retail business owners would be participating in. Pink Friday is a relatively new phenomenon that works to pull shoppers to local stores the Friday before Black Friday instead of waiting until afterwards - which is when Small Business Saturday takes place. 

Paul says they are considering more eventized happenings on Main St., they want everybody and anybody to shop downtown, “What amazed me the most when we opened a retail store on Main St. were the interstate visitors. The amount of people that wander into my store from other places just to explore and are charmed by our little town. We’d like residents to rediscover that charm as well, instead of taking it for granted.”

The meeting concluded with a discussion about looking ahead to Christmas (even though it was not yet Halloween) and discussing the progress of the group’s 501-c3 filing to incorporate. Not to make comparisons to Activate Selma, but it was nice to see another group of involved people in JoCo who care about their town and are invested in slow but steady forward motion. 

The future of Elevate Benson is bright, and the sky is the limit. There’s discussion of working in conjunction with the Town to get more involved with the NC Main Street organization. After the meeting Paul told me, “we don’t really have a formal mission statement but our goal is to create a more vibrant local economy by informing, educating, and encouraging people to shop, eat, drink, play, and stay in Downtown Benson.”

So whether you live in Benson, or in JoCo, or you're just passing through, be sure to visit Benson for yourself! You can find more information on VisitBenson.org.