Every small town has some empty windows downtown. Some are empty buildings, some are buildings being used for storage, and some are service businesses that just don’t have a lot to put in their windows. Here are three ideas I saw on my trip through Cowlitz County, Washington.
Make a mini-museum.
Work with the local museum to make a temporary display in the windows. This works even for tiny outdoors display cases, which you sometimes see on old jewelry store buildings. The photo at the top is a mini-museum display I saw in Castle Rock, Washington.
Put in a white picket fence
This picket fence was also in Castle Rock. The service business inside didn’t have a lot to put in their windows, so they filled them with this attractive alternative.
Doodle on the windows
An artistic person with some window chalk put these wonderful vines in the window in downtown Kelso, Washington. Much better than just an empty window.
If you’re interested in filling empty buildings, have you thought about dividing them up into shared spaces?
New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.
- Community engagement planning: old way vs. Idea Friendly way - October 3, 2021
- Boost your maker economy with a “Made in” day - September 17, 2021
- How a ghost town made something from nothing with a folk festival - September 3, 2021
- Rural business idea: sell foraged fruits and more - August 3, 2021
- Best practices for rural housing - July 19, 2021
- How to be more open to new ideas #IdeaFriendly - July 3, 2021
- Market your small town as a movie filming location, attract movie and game fan tourists - June 28, 2021
- Survey of Rural Challenges 2021 results, analysis of themes from 2015 through today - June 7, 2021
- What makes a small town a micropolitan or nanopolitan? - May 22, 2021
- Improving Rural Housing: turning blighted dilapidated houses into new homes - May 7, 2021
