Mall on Duval Pedestrian Mall – Derubeis Success Story

MALL ON DUVAL FEEL-GOOD STORY

It’s obvious that Mall on Duval Pedestrian Mall can be successful for the restaurants. More table tops out on the sidewalk and street equate to more diners and more revenue. But what about the other stores? Retail, specialty shops and galleries? DeRubeis Fine Art of Metal Gallery has a feel-good story to share.

DERUBEIS LEARNS HOW TO TRANFORM THEIR ENTRANCE

Owner Mr. Cascio recently bought into DeRubeis Gallery currently located at 619 Duval St (until May they were located at 511 Duval but made the move in early June). At both locations, they are within Mall on Duval boundaries. Back in February, DeRubeis HQ’s were seriously considering moving the Duval Street location to another city due to poor sales. Key West is one of four stores on the mainland and in Hawaii. (http://www.derubeisfineart.com/)

Then, Mall on Duval began in mid-February on Friday and Saturday nights. It took a while to get a groove going. Owner Mr. Cascio said, “We had to learn how to set up the sidewalk space to entice people to visit and stick around. Eventually for us, the right formula was to set up expensive brightly-colored seating, a welcoming red carpet, free beverages and hors d’oeuvres  and often-times a special guest artist creating a piece of work real-time.” Plus, leave the door wide-open and stay open until as late as midnight instead of closing at the usual 9PM.

DERUBEIS SEES RESULTS AND SEES THEM FAST

Before, it wasn’t worth staying open beyond 9PM on weekends because in the past they had experienced very low late-night sales. Then came Mall on Duval Pedestrian Mall and suddenly, as Mr. Cascio will triumphantly proclaim, “the 9PM to midnight timeframe on the weekend is responsible for increasing our total monthly sales by over 35%!”

DeRubeis HQ’s noticed the change to the bottom line and it was easy to correlate the turnaround to one thing – Mall on Duval Pedestrian Mall. In fact, they are now lobbying the city council members of their Hawaiian location to experiment with transforming their street into a pedestrian mall to increase business and generate excitement about the area. Their successful case study? Mall on Duval, Key West.

THE COMMUNITY REACTS

Mr. Cascio shared his feel-good story with city staff and community members at a recent Wednesday, 2PM meeting at City Hall which is open to the public. “While every business within Mall on Duval is not realizing such tremendous gains, it’s good to hear how our Mall on Duval initiative was able to save a business from relocating and actually prosper like never before,” said Mayor Teri Johnston.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Soon during the slow summer months, Mall on Duval will be setting up a regular schedule of performers to perform on the 500, 600 and 700 blocks of Duval St. on Friday and Saturday nights. Many will be buskers that already perform at the Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square. Others will be talent from within the community. If you think you have what it takes, we encourage you to send an email to [email protected].

In the meantime, bring your dog, bring your kids, bike on over, corral your out-of-town guests or hobble your sun-kissed bodies over to enjoy Mall on Duval both Friday and Saturday. We are now open as early as 2PM and close at midnight.

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