Increasingly, business areas are becoming meeting points and services in different regions of our country. Neighborhoods are also a source of employment and growth for countless small businesses. Realizing the importance of supporting projects, the Business Neighborhoods Program was born in Chile in 2015, under the wing of Sercotec, inspired by successful international experiences in countries such as England, the United States, Canada and Spain, where public sector efforts are concentrated. It was promoted as a strategy to strengthen small businesses in the face of commercial supply. For products and services of large chains.
This program also makes it possible to contribute to the restoration of public spaces and the reorganization of commercial activity, to the neighborhoods, to the promotion of cooperation between them and other public and private actors to enhance their economy, to appreciate the cultural identity of the business district and to improve the quality of life for its residents.
In our region, the Barrio Prat commercial district has been launched, which includes a series of activities to support the revitalization of commerce in this neighborhood. With 21 small merchants from the neighborhood, the Barrio Prat Merchants Association was recently created, an organization led by Mario Drbeck, a merchant and neighborhood neighbour. On this occasion, the launch took place at the Colegio del Barrio Prat, where, together with the fourth and fifth graders, the merchant and the authorities presented the logo of the commercial district, which will designate the various activities that will be carried out in the neighborhood during the development of the program.
The Commercial Neighborhoods Program takes into account the quarters of Avenida España, Cirujano Videla, General Salvo and Juan Guillermo, where about 130 companies of different elements are identified.
During its implementation (2023 – 2025), the program was proposed to develop the following:
- Develop a joint strategy that supports the commercial and urban development of the neighborhood in the medium term.
- Strengthen interconnectedness and organizational tools that empower representative organizations or groups
- from the business district.
- Strengthening neighborhood identity through reinforcement strategies (image, communicative representation, etc.).
- Promote and improve the commercial offer of the neighborhood.
- Increasing corporate sales in commercial areas.
- Promoting resource utilization as an independent and projective practice of commercial areas.
- Promoting sustainability as part of the commercial development of commercial districts.
