Jon Reed notes: In July, 2007, I published the following interview with Alfredo DiLascia in the Local Buzz. The version that appeared in the publication was a truncated version that I felt lost the impact of the original piece. This web site gives me the opportunity to run the piece as it was intended.

There are two reasons why this piece is important to me. One is because Alfredo is a man of character and this piece is a tribute to the contributions he has made to our community. The other reason is because the theme of this piece – a small town struggling to retain its identity in an increasingly corporate landscape – is an issue that many towns across America are confronting. There aren’t any easy answers in this story, and unfortunately, few happy endings. But we can certainly take time to recognize those who have attempted to buck trends and create businesses that achieve something beyond financial success.

Local Buzz: Alfredo, why did you move from Amherst to Northampton in 2004?

Alfredo DiLascia: It was primarily a business decision. We were in Amherst for eight and a half years and we were very involved there. We really tried to make a go of it. I was on the Board of Directors for the Amherst Chamber for seven years. It was sad for us to leave.

Buzz: Did you have high hopes for Northampton?

Alfredo: Yes we did. We chose Northampton after careful research. It had everything we wanted: an established walking downtown, an arts community with a national reputation, and a great chamber of commerce. Yes, the rents were high - but we knew that going in.

Buzz: Tell us about your Northampton launch.

Alfredo: We moved to Northampton in May of 2004. It was much more of a struggle than we expected. Honestly, we did better in Amherst than Northampton. The Northampton Chamber does a great job of marketing Northampton, but our foot traffic just didn’t lead to sales.

Buzz: That’s surprising.

Alfredo: We thought so too. We did our best to bring art lovers out. I was the Chairman of the Arts Night Out - similar to the Art Walk I helped to found in Amherst. At one point, we had twenty three Northampton galleries participating. A lot of people came out, and they loved our gallery, but the sales were not at the level we wanted.

Buzz: If I’m in Northampton on the weekend, with all the hustle and bustle on the streets, I assume the retail business is thriving.

Alfredo: Well, you have to be careful there. Retail - what does that mean? What you see walking the streets of Northampton are people who will generally buy less expensive items. In proportion to the people you see on the street, the amount of people who will buy is significantly less. When you look at established galleries like Michelson and Baczek, a lot of their clientele is outside the area.

Buzz: But even “knick knack” stores with cheaper prices seem to have a high degree of turnover. The stores that weather the ups and downs tend to be the corporate names with deeper pockets. Over time, isn’t that going to change the face of Northampton away from what drew us to the area in the first place?

Alfredo: That’s an excellent point. The support from the local town has to be there. I have a personal rule that the first place I look for anything I want to buy is in my local community. I’ll even pay a bit more sometimes to keep the business local.

Buzz: We hear people complain about Northampton, that they don’t want to see another donut chain or cell phone provider downtown, but if there were more thriving local businesses, landlords would be less inclined to rent their storefronts to larger chains. The business that had your space before you moved to Northampton in 2004 told us they left because their store in Brattleboro did much better business - which is strange, because downtown Brattleboro seems kind of sleepy compared to Northampton.

Alfredo: Yeah, they told me that too when they moved out. That’s an issue in Northampton - the traffic on the street is deceptive. Amherst has some similar challenges. At one point while I was on the Chamber Board there, within a two to three month period, forty businesses left Amherst. I asked the Chamber, “I’m rather new here, but isn’t this kind of shocking?” Smart businesspeople get fooled. They see the traffic on the street, they hear about all the positives about Amherst and Northampton, and they think it’s a natural winner.

Buzz: And when you moved to Northampton, you didn’t just assume you’d be successful - you got the word out.

Alfredo: That’s true. We were a huge success getting our name out there, not just locally but internationally. Our exhibits on Sinatra and Ali got a ton of exposure. We would get lots of visitors and compliments, but the purchases weren’t there. Sometimes it felt more like a museum - people looked, but they didn’t buy.

Buzz: So was there discussion about these problems at the Northampton Chamber?

Alfredo: Oh yeah. I communicated with the Chamber about Arts Night Out and many other aspects of our business. A tone is set in a town. The tone starts from the Mayor’s office, the Chamber, and the larger institutions. It transcends down to the people in the area - what do they want their town to be? Everyone that I just mentioned has a responsibility to set the right kind of tone and support the downtown. It becomes a win-win: if businesses are more successful, they can be more generous in giving to the many worthy causes going on locally. That’s why it’s so important to buy things in your town. When businesses succeed around here, they do give back.

Buzz: Maybe it is worth paying a premium so we don’t end up with a Cracker Barrel/L.L. Bean kind of downtown. Aside from some busy restaurants and a few retail exceptions, that seems to be the direction we are headed. Is there anything business leaders can do to help Northampton avoid this scenario?

Alfredo: The Northampton Chamber does a great job, but there is definitely room for a lot more cooperation amongst businesses in Northampton and Amherst as well. There’s a tendency for businesses to withdraw until they are acting as an island unto themselves. That is a huge disadvantage to the business community as a whole. Of course, some businesses are too caught up in their struggle to survive. In Amherst, I would talk to businesses about taking out co-op advertising, and people would tell me, “I can’t spare the money; I’m worried about paying my heating bill next month.”

Buzz: Did you encounter the same problems in Northampton?

Alfredo: As part of the promotion for Arts Night Out, I visited more than one hundred businesses, until I wore myself out. Through those talks, I learned that there are a lot of businesses struggling in Northampton as well. There’s an assumption that because a business has a long-standing local reputation that it must be doing well, and it just isn’t true. Sure, some businesses are doing well, but the percentage is much lower than people realize. And it becomes an issue, because towns can change, and not always for the better.

Buzz: One thing we’ve taken from this interview is that we shouldn’t assume that our favorite local store doesn’t need our business.

Alfredo: That’s right. Both Amherst and Northampton have to realize that you do compete with shopping centers and malls at some level. When you’re shopping for something, you want to do it in a comfortable, enjoyable way. If you have to go hunting for a parking spot, and you have to drive around the block several times searching for one, and then you have to worry about whether or not the darn meter is going to run out and you’re going to end up with a ticket, you say, “Heck, I’m going to the mall.” Here in Suffield, my customers have no parking issues. They can stay for five hours if they want. Parking is an issue that Northampton and Amherst are still grappling with, and it does impact purchases. When you raise parking rates, you drive people away. I had customers tell me, “I’d like to stay longer, but I’m worried about my meter.”

Buzz: That goes back to your point: creating a good retail environment involves town cooperation on every level.

Alfredo: True. Amherst and Northampton are great towns; you’d hate to see them fall by the wayside. And they can. It’s all economics. Just look at Soho in New York City. It was revived by artists who got locations with dirt cheap rents. But as time went on, rents went up and the artists began moving out. The whole face of the place has changed. If you’re not careful, that’s how things can evolve. You take a combination of high overhead, and people on the streets who aren’t buying, and it’s lethal arithmetic.

Buzz: So was it a dark day when you decided to pull the plug in Northampton?

Alfredo: It wasn’t a dark day, that’s not how I look at things. I take things in stride. I knew that we had given it our all, and it was time to move on. The Suffield location is a good one for us. This is our last stop. Our store is more of a destination point now, with less walk-in traffic, but we’re happy with our new location. We could pursue more Internet sales, but that’s not really what we want. We’re a people-friendly business and people come a long way to see our special collections. No matter where we’ve been based, we care about what we do, and I think that comes across.

About Alfredo’s Gallery
Founded in 1996, Alfredo’s Gallery is located at 116 Mountain Road, Suffield CT, off of I-91. Alfredo’s is known for its Frank Sinatra collection, which includes more than 100 photos personally authorized and selected by the Sinatra family. Alfredo’s also has more than 500 negatives in its collection of Mohammed Ali classics. Alfredo’s web site is AlfredosPhoto.com.