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2005 Best Of Winners

Discover Mid-America — December 2005

Pick your destinations
by Bruce Rodgers, Editor/Publisher

If you read this column last month, you already know our Best Of competition is history. In its place, we’ve begun Discover Mid-America Destinations — the ballot of which is on page 7 of this issue.

“Readers Choice” and “Readers Favorite” were considered. Ad rep Al Hedrick lobbied hard for Choice and a few advertisers called or emailed with their input. I thank them all.

But after thinking about it a lot, and mulling it over with two marketing professionals, I chose Destinations. Here are my thoughts on that choice.

Overall, most businesses in the business you’re in — what we try to help support and promote through Discover Mid-America — are not going gangbusters when it comes to sales. Almost without exception, every business owner I’ve talked with over the past few months, who sells antiques and collectibles, wishes things were better.

Some shops have closed, some owner/dealers have retired, some have changed locations, and some former shop owners have moved to doing strictly shows and some have gone to the Internet to sell. Whatever the cause, be it gas prices, sparse inventories, fewer quality items, eBay, an aging customer base, more amateurs entering the marketplace, flat prices or consumer fickleness, things are changing. And those business people who love what their doing and want to survive this tough retail market recognize the changes and the challenges.

Up front, I’m not a retail business owner, never have been. I’m a publisher. But in my opinion, two things are affecting business and consumers across the board — and no less when it comes to the antique trade and tourism — cost of energy, or gas, and the Internet.

The days of carefree driving the highways, reading billboards without much of a plan and stumbling across something fun to buy and visit is waning. Gas costs too much and people don’t have the leisure time. They want to be directed, enticed and told about those unique shops and interesting places to visit. This is where Destinations comes in.

DMA Destinations will help direct people interested in antiques and history to those places other people have discovered. It’s not a contest; it’s marketing and it’s a conversation between people telling people where to go to enjoy themselves…because they’ve been there, too.

Take time to fill out the Destinations ballot. We’ll be sending it out in this issue and the next, also to our advertisers, to chambers of commerce, convention and visitor bureaus and tourism offices, and posting it on our web site (www.discoverypub.com). Make your influence known. Thanks.

Contact Bruce Rodgers at publisher@discoverypub.com.

> Editor’s Notebook Archive — past columns