This conversation and these people really blew me away.
First, I am going to borrow some words from one of the panelists, Davon Barbour, President and CEO of Downtown Austin Alliance:
“With now over 1 million residents, the City of Austin is well positioned to offer a diverse, retail and dining product offering anchored by national, regional and of course Austin's unique small businesses. Hosted at Austin Community College Rio Grande Campus, I participated in a discussion with Nina Means, Mason Arnold, Eric Brenner, and Rik Adamski about the local retail landscape and how to best capitalize on these opportunities. We covered a range of topics including omnichannel fulfillment, marketing strategies, access to capital and more. I always benefit from hearing directly from business operators to improve the regulatory climate and to better customize supportive programs deployed by Downtown Austin Alliance.”
To be honest, it turned out even better than I anticipated.
We were able to cover a wide range of topics and get real time alternative viewpoints.
Including,
-The use of public parks and greenways (including the new Waterloo Greenway similar to the Highline in NYC for those unfamiliar) to feature small businesses with pop ups, kiosks and vending.
-Accessory commercial units
-Status of Downtown Austin
-The world of farmers markets
-Pathways for CPG Businesses
-Fashion Industry in Austin
-The importance of branding neighborhoods and districts
-Shared spaces (Coffee in the morning, lunch, wine in the afternoon, full bar at night) among other configurations from a yoga studio and a coffee shop, barber shop/wine/books combo and beyond)
-The need to be proactive with pedestrian strategies to create opportunities for development and small business growth
-How bike lanes can negatively impact retail business districts
The range in expertise and perspectives really allowed us to go deep.
For instance, when I brought up the topic of the impact of having a brick and mortar store on digital/online sales. One of our panelists that focuses on CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) did not think that having a brick and mortar presence was important while the panelist that focuses on fashion related businesses, suggested that a brick and mortar store can positively impact online sales.
More details:
Shared Spaces and Third Spaces
-Shared spaces- i.e. one storefront breaking up an 18 hour day with separate operators-a coffee group in the morning, food in the afternoon and early evening and nighttime bar use for later hours, this is also seen with a different method of sharing such as a barber shop, plant shop and coffee shop combined or records, coffee, wine and cocktails.
Examples
Retreat Yoga + Soulful Fitness and Flora Coffee & Culture
Flat Track Coffee and Dogspeed Cycles
Strangelove-coffee, wine and pop ups
Mum Foods and Talisman Coffee
Third spaces-this is a term that has been around for awhile but it was mostly related to coffee shops and breweries (with some element of games or group gathering bring your own activity) but I am working with a client (I am a commercial real estate broker) that will offer a library of games to be rented or purchased that can be played on site as part of their business model
Districts
The importance of naming Districts and branding neighborhoods is worthy of a separate event all on its own. Many of you may know of my work in the East Cesar Chavez Street area.
The City of Austin created Neighborhood contact teams in the late 90’s/early 2000’s. The purpose of the contact teams were to enact Neighborhood Plans. Neighborhood Plans were micro scale to recognize the uniqueness of each neighborhood and their needs. From my understanding, the East Cesar Chavez and Holly neighborhoods are where the ideas of ADU’s were birthed in Austin because of the traditions of Hispanic families and their fear of the rising housing costs. Families wanted to be able to brig their whole families onto the land they already owned in the event they wouldn’t be able to afford another house in the neighborhood in the future.
I bring this up because there are two neighborhood plans in the area that includes East Cesar Chavez, Festival Beach Park, E 6th St, Plaza Saltillo, Wishbone Bridget, Metz Park, Pan Am Park and beyond from I-35 frontage rd to Chicon and from Town Lake (Ladybird Lake) to E 7th Street is ECC Neighborhood.
From Chicon east to Pleasant Valley and Town Lake (Lady Bird Lake) north E 7th St is Holly Neighborhood.
But when you go visit that area, either people think the whole residential area is Holly or they reference East Cesar Chavez or E 6th St. The area needs a more defined brand. There are a few being thrown around within the circles of community leaders in that area but I discuss this, to make the point, that brands and district are important to the ability for businesses to grow and expand. It provides something to rally around, celebrate and build on.
Home based businesses, Front yard businesses and Accessory commercial units:
It was noted that Accessory Commercial units are not yet approved.
In my discussions with city officials, they view accessory commercial units as a progression from a home based business that more resembles a traditional commercial property that would require more significant investment.
My note as a real estate professional is that accessory commercial units provide an opportunity to add value to traditionally challenging lots, this concept can be applied to finding functionality for buildings as well but I will discuss that later within the subject of alleys.
Alleys
https://www.darngoodplaces.com/east-austin-alley-project
To some an alley is a place to put your undesirables: trash, utility boxes, cardboard boxes and the list goes on.
In some residential neighborhoods, A-B units are shifting from front and back shared driveway to A facing street and B facing alley with no overlapping driveways, spaces at all. So if alleys are now front yards for houses, they are more than just an after thought.
Combined with accessory commercial units, they become a true asset.
More on the Strong Local Commerce Initiative and State House and Senate bills regarding food trucks, home based businesses and Front Yard Businesses
Strong Local Commerce Initiative
Recently, the Texas State Legislature passed HB 2464 and SB 541, which protect the rights of residents to run “no-impact” home-based businesses and cottage food operations. However, these laws mandate that these businesses remain invisible to the neighborhood. The SLC Initiative is Austin’s proactive response. Rather than allowing unregulated, hidden commerce to grow in the shadows, we are pivoting toward impact management.
Some highlights From Texas Food Freedom Act:
Texas Food Freedom Act (Senate Bill 541) The Texas Food Freedom Act (Senate Bill 541),which took effect on September 1, 2025, brought some of the biggest updates to cottage food rules in years and is already reshaping the way home-based food businesses operate.
Higher Annual Sales Cap: The annual cap on gross sales was tripled from $50,000 to $150,000 per year. This limit will be indexed for inflation, protecting sellers from being squeezed by rising prices over time.
Elimination of Local Licensing or Fees: Local governments, including health departments, are now prohibited from requiring cottage food producers or vendors to obtain permits, licenses, or pay inspection fees just for selling cottage foods.
Separate bill last session related to Food Trucks
Change for food trucks and Food Truck Parks
Self sustained-no longer needed a home base kitchen
Ability to provide more services-water, grease trap at food truck parks License with state, instead each individual city, county
In conclusion
All in all, one of my main goals for the event was to high light why Austin doesn’t have more non-food related retail. My opinion is that unlike restaurants, where if the food is good, they can be in an obscure area, no parking, off the beaten path and people will find them and eat there. Retail businesses need to locate in groups. Power in numbers. They need pedestrian foot traffic (walkability) and they need to be in a branded/easily identified district that can spread word of mouth.
There are some barriers to that happening, one is that Austin determines viability for commercial zoning based on vehicle traffic but high volume, high speed vehicle traffic is detrimental to retail. I talk a lot about East Cesar Chavez but it is such a good example because it offers a great opportunity for retail but it suffers from all of the ailments that makes it understandable why there isn’t more neighborhood retail there currently.
The sidewalks are insufficient, there isn’t enough crosswalks and vehicles travel too fast. Even though parking is technically allowed on East Cesar Chavez, people don’t typically park there for fear that they may lose their car door on their way out of the vehicle.
Next steps:
Create more opportunities for small businesses to interact and support each other
Advocate for pedestrian friendly investments in places where neighborhood retail opportunity exists
Put stronger effort into naming and branding neighborhoods/districts
Further development plans that provide incremental development for small businesses (vending/markets/food truck parks in public parks, greenways, Home based businesses, front yard businesses, accessory commercial units and alley activation projects)