Economic Development
The Energy Crisis & Freeport, Maine–A Time for Big Thinking
Wasilla has been an epiphany for me.
On quite a few measures, the now famous Alaskan town and Freeport, Maine are remarkably alike. Wasilla’s population of 9,780 just passed Freeport’s 8,192 (2007 numbers). Municipal budgets, taking into account they don’t pay for schools, are darn close. Median household income in Wasilla is $53,792 to Freeport’s $52,023. [...]
Looking Back on the Case for an Apple Store in Freeport
As I write this, folks are camped out awaiting today’s opening of Maine’s first Apple Store at the Maine Mall Sprawl. OK, I knew in May when I wrote 6 Reasons Why Freeport is a Better Location for an Apple Store that the odds for Freeport were on the order of a lottery ticket. Still, [...]
The New L.L. Bean Fall Men’s Catalog–This is a Stodgy Company?
It is a big big deal for any company in the formulaic catalog business to make a radical change in their book design. With their new Fall Men’s catalog, L.L. Bean has completely upended their conventional (but clearly time tested) model in favor of a fresh, bold, exciting new design. Speaking from squarely in the [...]
Search Engine Marketing Ideas for Locally-owned Freeport ME Businesses
In addition to being a conversation starter, I want this blog to be useful–to make some tangible impact on the economic future of Freeport, ME.
The post I wrote about strengthening locally-owned businesses in Freeport (A Citizen Marketing Campaign to Boost the Freeport, Maine Economy) clearly struck a chord with people. Lots of great public and [...]
Thanks to all the Commenters
I’ve said a couple times that “a blog is a conversation.” My greatest wish in launching the Future Freeport blog is that it would stimulate a conversation in Freeport, Maine about our town’s future. In a blog, particularly one about a town, the conversation takes place in the comments. It’s where the action is.
A comment [...]
What the World is Saying about Freeport, ME–the Brand Stewardship Challenge of a Town
On Wednesday, we “made” Blogging Stocks, an important, well-read blog that is part of the AOL/Weblogs Inc blog network. It wasn’t exactly a favorable write up. Here’s the post: Big Company, small town: L.L. Bean, Freeport, Maine.
The paragraph that stung me the most was this one:
With the tremendous success of L.L. Bean, Freeport has become [...]
A Citizen Marketing Campaign to Boost the Freeport, Maine Economy
If it wasn’t obvious before, it is clear from the comments and feedback I’m receiving about Future Freeport that this is a town divided on what it means to be economically successful. So I’ve been thinking about ideas and initiatives that can unify us.
One thing I think we can all agree on is supporting locally-owned [...]
Critical Steps to Making Freeport, Maine a Premier Transit-Oriented Destination (TOD)
In early May, a speaker at a USM Corporate Partners meeting called the escalating cost of oil “a looming, impending, rolling catastrophe” for Maine. “We’re in the cross hairs of a disaster,” he said, and if the predictions of $200-300/barrel crude oil are borne out, “Maine essentially will become uninhabitable” in the next dozen years.
Howard [...]
Six Reasons Why Freeport is a Better Location for an Apple Retail Store than the Maine Mall
An Apple Computer retail store is finally coming to Maine. Justin Ellis of the Portland Press Herald broke the story in mid-April (after discovering job postings by Apple), but to date there has been no formal announcement of timing or location. The job posts, unfortunately, indicate the location is the Maine Mall so it’s possible [...]
The most important principle for Freeport’s future–Think Different
One of the things I’m sure to repeat often here is my belief that Freeport’s future economy depends on differentiation.
Freeport’s brand position is the perception people have of us vs. other similar or competitive places. It is whatever is in the heads of someone thinking of moving here, of companies considering locating to town or [...]
