Business
DMI promotes sidewalk sales to get shoppers downtown again
Lots of shoppers apparently are not ready yet to return to brick-and-mortar stores, following weeks of COVID-19 related shutdowns.
But bringing customers to the sidewalks outside stores might be an important first step.
Robin Moses of the Downtown Mainstreet organization in La Crosse is lobbying for regular sidewalk sales this summer, instead of saving the outdoor displays for holiday weekends.
Moses believes businesses could sell items on the sidewalks Thursdays through Saturdays without special permits.
Serving alcohol on the sidewalk still would require a license.
Moses doesn’t expect every downtown business to take to the sidewalks, perhaps only one or two stores on each block.
The Wisconsin transportation department wants to be sure that business owners leave at least 4 feet of sidewalk space for disabled people to use the walks.