Adding a European-style garden and patio last summer to La Crema Caffé boosted business by 25 to 30 per cent. It's just one example of how business can blossom by adopting the city's botanical arts brand, says the chair of the city's branding team.
"When you look around and you see those store fronts that take the effort to dress up their front, versus the ones that don't, it starts to resonate," said Rob LeLacheur, chair of the city's brand leadership team. "You know that the owner cares, they've put more care into their product, their service, all those things."
LeLacheur said La Crema is a good example of how existing businesses in St. Albert can incorporate the city's brand, "The Botanical Arts City," and tagline, "Cultivate Life," which were formally endorsed by city council in February.
Although the brand and tagline have become increasingly more visible throughout the community, the brand leadership team continues to find ways to add elements of the botanic arts and the "Cultivate Life" tagline to existing events.
One recent example is the Rock'n August car show this past summer, which featured posters with the tagline "Cultivate the rocker in you."
Boost business
At the monthly chamber of commerce luncheon Wednesday, LeLacheur told a packed room he's hoping more businesses will find ways to attach themselves to the city's new brand.
While fitting in nicely with the city's new identity, beautification efforts such as La Crema's are also good for businesses, he said. It hasn't gone unnoticed by the café's owners.
"I knew that patios in the restaurant industry will increase your sales 15 to 35 per cent in the summer months," La Crema owner Robert Logue said, when asked why he decided to beautify his business. The project included the addition of umbrellas, an arbour and potted trees and plants.
Logue spent $5,000 on the project and said the City of St. Albert's downtown beautification grant, which covers up to half the cost of certain aesthetic improvements to businesses in the core, was also a good incentive.
The city has also recently launched its winter beautification program, through which downtown businesses can apply for a grant of up to $2,500 for aesthetic upgrades.
LeLacheur says the new brand can serve a number of functions, such as attracting people to the community, increasing the quality of life of residents and it lends itself to the city's focus on sustainability.
He added the brand leadership team looked for a brand that could easily be incorporated into many of the city's existing lures, such as St. Albert Botanic Park, Big Lake, the farmers' market and Hole's Greenhouses & Gardens, which LeLacheur called one of the "staples of the brand."
Hole's new location, the Enjoy Centre, is expected to draw up to 650,000 visitors annually when it's completed next spring.
"The purpose of the brand and the reason why we wrapped it around the Cultivate Life and The Botanical Arts City was knowing that we had these primary lures within our community," he said, "and you really have to look at those primary lures and they are Holes. They are the farmers market, Rock'n August.
"They are unique, you can't find them anywhere else. People will travel distances to come to those."
LeLacheur, who is also the general manager of the Gold Dust Casino, said the challenge will be for businesses, including his own, to attach themselves to the brand.
"I run a casino so I'm a pretty good example of, as much as I'd love to be a primary draw for people, I know that we're not. We work to try and provide things throughout the year that make it so but more times than not, we're not a primary," he said.
As far as beautification efforts go, even the smallest efforts to beautify a business can make a difference, said Logue.
"I think that if we all did a little, even if it's one plant or a tree, it would create a more European atmosphere, it would draw more people," he said.
"We get people from all over coming here so if they go into the downtown and they saw plants everywhere, it makes us unique."
