By Joshua Burd
Hackensack’s Main Street Business Alliance has released its first trend report aimed at highlighting city residents’ preferences and shopping habits, marking another step in the effort to revitalize the central business district.
The organization said the data — which is broken down by age, gender and years lived in Hackensack — comes from survey responses by some 1,400 participants. Among its findings, 18 percent visit Main Street daily, while 53 percent and 18 percent visit weekly and monthly, respectively.
The survey also found that 61 percent of participants want to see more ethnic food restaurants, while 45 percent want more bars and pubs and 56 percent would like more coffee and pastry options.
“Today’s report demonstrates the significant progress we’ve made to gather and evaluate information from residents of Hackensack about what they want to see on Main Street,” said John T. Peters, the business alliance’s executive director. “Working together with our partners at the Johnson Public Library and the Hackensack Regional Chamber of Commerce, we designed a survey that would generate data across multiple segments of residents to find out what people truly wanted to see on Main Street with respect to food, retail and entertainment.
“The city has done a wonderful job bringing thousands of new residents and new life into Hackensack,” he added. “Now, we need to bring even more vibrancy by securing more of what people are looking for on Main Street, be it new restaurants, new merchants, new entertainment or new retail. We’re first using this data to help determine who next to approach from the retail and restaurant view. On top of that, we collected some wonderfully informative data about how residents want to continue to use the award-winning Johnson Public Library.”
The Main Street Business Alliance conducted the survey in partnership with the Johnson Public Library and the Hackensack Regional Chamber of Commerce. Other highlights include:
- 41 percent have a dog or cat, with 19- to 29-year-old respondents representing the largest age group of pet owners at 61 percent
- 60 percent of respondents would like Main Street to have some sort of comedy club
- 86 percent of respondents want to see Main Street establishments stay open late, to roughly 9 p.m.
- 70 percent of respondents prefer to attend events on weekends
“This trend report and the related data analysis project is incredibly informative,” said Edward Decker, chairman of the MSBA. “We’ve never had such a detailed analysis of resident preference data. We’re all excited to see what’s next.”
“Property and business owners and operators will find this report extremely useful,” said Jerry Lombardo, owner of CJ Lombardo Co. and former chairman of the MSBA. “The intrinsic value of a report like this has never been higher as we now have thousands of new residents who are looking to Main Street for eateries, services, retail shopping and entertainment.
Charles Muldoon, president of JP Management, added: “This data, and analysis provides insight to the business community and helps us provide better services to the Hackensack residents. The survey information validates the positive trends and growth we see in North Jersey.”
