What National Chains Don’t Tell You About Downtowns
It usually starts with a question.
Sometimes whispered in a city council meeting.
Sometimes said aloud at a DDA board retreat.
Sometimes emailed by a concerned resident with
“Just an idea…”…
“What if we just bring in a [fill in national chain here]?”
And listen, we get it. National chains come with recognizable logos, tidy renderings, and the promise of foot traffic baked into their spreadsheets.
But here’s the thing they don’t tell you:
Chains don’t love your downtown.
They love your numbers.
They love your visibility.
Your car counts.
Your commuter traffic, your adjacent housing stats, your demographic scatterplots.
But they don’t know your locals by name.
They don’t sponsor your chili cook-off.
They don’t hire the barista who lives in the converted loft two blocks away and just launched a pop-up candle brand on the weekends.
What national chains don’t tell you about downtowns is this:
They don’t build community.
They borrow from it.
When you say yes to a chain downtown, it feels like a win.
There’s signage. There’s activity.
There’s a business with a CEO somewhere saying, “Open on Main Street. That fits our expansion map.”
But let’s pull back the curtain a bit.
What actually makes people return downtown?
It’s not familiarity.
It’s connection.
People come back because it feels good to be there.
Because it smells like someone’s baking scones from scratch. Because the window display made them smile.
Because their favorite server asked how their mom is doing.
National brands can’t bottle that. And if they try, it’s usually templated and packaged into a training manual that forgets about real human nuance.
A quick story:
A downtown we worked with had two vacancies in prime locations. One was nearly taken by a national chain sandwich shop.
The other by a locally-owned café.
The sandwich shop projected strong numbers.
The café projected soul.
Guess who’s hosting book clubs, farmers’ market pregame meetups, open mic nights, and offering a “pay-it-forward coffee tab” for the school crossing guards?
Guess who had customers show up during the pandemic just to buy a gift card, “so y’all are still here when this is over”?
It wasn’t the brand with 800 locations.
And then there’s culture.
Let’s be clear: this isn’t about never leasing to a chain.
It’s about asking the better question:
Who do we want to be for the people who live here?
Because when you fill your downtown with brands that get the neighborhood, you don’t just drive sales.
You drive culture.
You build places people linger in.
Take selfies in.
Bring visiting friends to, like “Oh my gosh, you have to see this place.”
Here’s what you rarely hear from a national chain:
“Let’s co-host a back-to-school drive with the high school art teacher.”
“We noticed foot traffic drops after 3pm—want to co-create a midweek happy hour?”
“Our owner lives two blocks away and wants to paint a mural on our back wall.”
But independent brands?
They’re dying to have that conversation.
So, what now?
If you’re in charge of shaping a downtown mix, don’t be afraid to say yes to the brands still finding their footing.
The ones with vision.
Grit.
A bit of magic in their business plan.
We can help you find them. Vet them. Support them so they don’t just open—but thrive.
At Terra Alma, we don’t just lease space.
We build community gravity.
Because the best downtowns aren’t filled with logos.
They’re filled with locals.
💡Let’s Start Here
If you’re a developer, city leader, or business owner and want to create something that matters, that lasts, and that feels alive — we are ready.
→ Let’s talk about your downtown.
→ Let’s bring walkability back.
→ Let’s find space for your story.
This is what we do at terra alma.
Fill out this form for an initial consultation!🚶♀️🏡✨
*Inspired by Ryan M. Allen’s - The School Pickup Line is a National Embarrassment