{"id":244084,"date":"2026-04-24T01:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T01:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/244084\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T01:08:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T01:08:07","slug":"winter-garden-considers-hiring-consultant-to-help-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/244084\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Garden considers hiring consultant to help businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. \u2014 Leaders with the city of Winter Garden are taking steps to help small businesses after a recent sale of several downtown properties resulted in businesses having to close down after their leases were not renewed.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

A recent sale of downtown Winter Garden properties led to several small businesses closing or relocating when leases were not renewed
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City leaders are proposing a $50,000-per-year, three-year contract with consulting firm Retail Strategies Inc. to support small businesses
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The consultant would provide marketplace analysis, policy and incentive recommendations, and small business support services in year one
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In years two and three, the firm would help with recruitment, retention, property-owner roundtables, progress reports and online training for small businesses<\/p>\n

Several small, locally owned businesses have been disrupted, including Polka Dotz, a boutique on Plant Street.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t change what happened. They can\u2019t control who buys what. But we, as residents, this is my thing. We can control where we spend our money. So it\u2019s up to us now. Let\u2019s, you know, if you want to support your small businesses, come and support your small businesses,\u201d Polka Dotz owner Heidi Hardman said.<\/p>\n

In a meeting scheduled for Thursday night, officials were expected to present an idea to bring a consultant that could help business owners with recruitment, retention and taking their businesses online, among other resources.<\/p>\n

According to the city\u2019s proposal, they plan to hire a consulting firm, Retail Strategies Inc.<\/a> to help with marketplace studies and recommendations. It will cost the city $50,000 annually for a three-year term.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have mixed thoughts on it. I mean, yes, is it reactive versus proactive. But then again, who would have seen this coming as like you don\u2019t know there\u2019s a problem until it\u2019s a problem. Sometimes you just can\u2019t plan for every single thing to happen. I am happy that they\u2019re doing something,\u201d Hardman said.<\/p>\n

According to the city, the consulting firm has a 15-year track record of helping communities across 25 states, including small towns like Winter Garden.<\/p>\n

In year one, the consultant will produce actionable policy and incentive recommendations based on marketplace analysis and stakeholder workshops, including small business support services.<\/p>\n

And in years two and three they will provide support with recruitment, retention, biannual property-owner roundtables, quarterly progress reporting and access to an online small business training platform.<\/p>\n

Spectrum News 13 reached out to the City of Winter Garden about this proposal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe City of Winter Garden has a longstanding commitment to supporting small businesses, which are central to preserving our community\u2019s small-town charm. In continued alignment with this focus, the City is bringing a proposal to the CRA Board to partner with the consulting firm Retail Strategies, Inc., a company with a proven track record of helping small businesses thrive in similar communities through marketplace studies and target policy recommendations,\u201d Director of Economic Development Marc O. Hutchinson said.<\/p>\n

Hardman said she is open to the idea of working with the consulting firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this consulting firm can help, from what I understand, they\u2019re going to help some of the small business merchants too, to get together and have some resources. That always helps. And, you know, if there\u2019s tools that they\u2019re giving us great. It\u2019s up to us to use them,\u201d Hardman said.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s hopeful things will work out to have the best outcome for the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time to pivot. Let\u2019s move forward,\u201d Hardman said.<\/p>\n

And she has moved forward, Hardman says they have already found a new location for the store. They will lease a space on Main Street in Winter Garden, just steps away from the current location.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the ceilings and the brick wall. This is what I love. That\u2019s just a piece of the history of Winter Garden,\u201d Hardman said as she showed the new location.<\/p>\n

They plan to open in July.<\/p>\n

Since Spectrum News 13 first reported on the story on February<\/a>, the landscape on Plant Street has undergone several changes.<\/p>\n

Three Birds Caf\u00e9 has since closed its doors and moved to a new location. Polka Dotz will be closing its store in June, and according to staff at the Writer\u2019s Block Bookstore, the store will be closing down on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s terrible. I think it\u2019s tragic because that\u2019s what makes this town. It gives it so much. It\u2019s what attracts so many people to come here. It\u2019s so unique,\u201d The Villages resident Carol Daunis said, who frequents downtown Winter Garden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WINTER GARDEN, Fla. \u2014 Leaders with the city of Winter Garden are taking steps to help small businesses…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2031,558,766,115,1335,139,141,140,14104,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-244084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-app-local-business","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-massiel-leyva","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-orange-county","13":"tag-orlando","14":"tag-orlando-headlines","15":"tag-orlando-news","16":"tag-topic-latest-local-business-stories","17":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}