‘Hello Warwick Valley

Community2gether (formerly Community 2000) recently launched a re-branding initiative known as “Hello Warwick Valley.”

On Tuesday evening, April 6, in support of that initiative and revitalization effort, Community2gether invited Kathleen Norris, managing principal of Urban Fast Forward in Cincinnati, Ohio, to visit Warwick and be its guest speaker.

Norris, who is a noted speaker on Main Street issues, both nationally and internationally, addressed the revitalization of Warwick business in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She and her team of urban planners and retail real estate experts work with community revitalization corporations, economic development agencies and local governments.

Retailers, landlords, tenants and merchants were invited to the event, which was held the Mulder Chapel at the Warwick Conference Center.

Prior to the event, Lou Marquet, vice president of Community2gether, escorted Norris on a tour of the Town of Warwick, including Pine Island, Florida, Warwick Village and Greenwood Lake, where she had an opportunity to meet with officials and business owners in preparation for her talk.

Before introducing Norris, Marquet reported that Community2gether had put together a fresh web site that would represent everything going on in the Town of Warwick.

He explained that the plan had originally started off to help Main Street businesses, but with the help of the town and villages along with funding by Community2gether, it had developed into a go-to site for both computers and hand-held devices that could find any place or anything happening in all of Warwick.

And there is also a section on participation so that not-for-profits are represented.

“The idea,” said Marquet, “is having everybody in town knowing what everyone else is doing.”

An example, he added, would be not having to travel for an item or service that you may not have known is right here.

During her talk, Norris said that she believes that online shopping, popular during the pandemic, will return to pre-COVID-19 levels in the near future and that customers will return to in location shopping where they can have direct interaction with products along with the experience of what she described as the “personality of the business and friendly customer service agents.”

She added, however, that 65 percent of independent businesses do not have an on-line presence, which is important and not all that difficult to create and operate.

Norris offered several suggestions, especially being friendly and helpful, even recommending a competitor, that would create a positive experience for the shopper and result in building long lasting loyalty.

At the conclusion of her talk, Marquet invited several guests to come forward for a panel discussion on what had been addressed as well has how to best introduce the new web site.

‘Hello Warwick Valley’

To explore and begin using the Website visit “Hello Warwick Valley,” at: https://www.hellowarwickvalley.com/