HOPEWELL, Va. — A Hopewell nonprofit is betting that a business plan contest can help bring more life back to the city’s downtown. The Hopewell Downtown Partnership has begun accepting applications for its Community Business Launch, an eight-week business plan competition designed to attract entrepreneurs to empty storefronts to a stretch of East Broadway Avenue in the city’s historic district.
Evan Kaufman, director of the organization, said the hope is that a burst of new businesses will result in a more vibrant and supportive place for entrepreneurs.
The goal is to eventually have 10 to 15 storefronts occupied by new businesses by the end of the year.
“They will be able to get in on the ground floor of this revitalization and be part of the grand reopening of Hopewell,” Kaufman said. “We think if we start clustering a group of businesses down here, we can create that space to make it a destination.”
Kaufman said downtown Hopewell was once a thriving retail center but began to decline in the ‘70s and ‘80s when shopping malls and suburban developments rose to prominence.
Today, a two-block stretch of storefronts along East Broadway Avenue between Hopewell Street and Route 10 is about 30 percent empty, Kaufman said. He said there are between 40 and 50 storefronts in the entire downtown Hopewell area.
