Empty Building idea: Make a Zen-like space for your people

At the Main Street Now Conference in Boston, I joined a trolley tour of the six Dorchester Main Streets.

We got a chance to walk through The Guild‘s expansive building. While this space is only one of many projects of The Guild, it was the one that caught my attention as useful for small towns.

The building was furnished and opened in less than 5 months for less than $100,000. It’s intended as a healing space, a calm space where anyone from the neighborhood can come in and relax for a time. They also hold special events for the community. Not weddings or parties, but more community oriented gatherings.

The art is from local artists. Many of the earth-toned wall hangings are dyed with the actual dirt from this neighborhood, that’s how rooted this is in the community.

• You could pop-up a similar community healing space temporarily, and for a lot less money. I bet small towns could borrow just about everything they’d need, including the building.

Which feels better downtown: a calming space or an empty building?

Vacant buildings, especially formerly significant ones, are reminders of loss, Trinity Simons Wagner of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design said at the Placemaking Conference.

That empty building as a reminder of loss adds negative weight to everyone’s perception of your downtown. Your people deserve a calming space like this much more than yet another empty building.

This also ties into the Wellness Travel trend we’ve mentioned. Wellness appeals to both locals and visitors. maybe pop this up around the time of a big event.

Photos by Becky McCray.

What do you think about doing this in your community?

Subscribe to SmallBizSurvival.

About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.

• Empty Building idea: Make a Zen-like space for your people – August 2, 2023
• Support small business to pull your community together (video) – July 19, 2023
• Eye-popping Main Street employment stat – July 13, 2023
• How to start a laundromat in a small town on a budget – June 23, 2023
• How small town businesses can market to remote workers and turn them into new customers – May 15, 2023
• Survey of Rural Challenges 2023 results – May 8, 2023
• Rural and small town ideas from the OU Placemaking Conference IQC 2023 – April 5, 2023
• Rural tourism trends say small towns are still cool – March 27, 2023
• Move Your Money and Bank Local – March 22, 2023
• Using a building as a warehouse or storage in a small town? Put up a sign – March 13, 2023