BID Initiatives Bring Shoppers And Diners To Bixby Knolls

By By Alena Maschke

When Blair Cohn joined the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association 12 years ago, the country’s economy was heading toward a dark place. Just months after he was hired to lead the business improvement district (BID), the Great Recession of 2008 hit the nation’s economy with full force, and businesses in Bixby Knolls weren’t spared.

Today, it’s hard to imagine the vacant storefronts and concerned business owners, struggling to stay afloat, that marked the economic decline of the late 2000s. Anyone strolling or driving down Atlantic Avenue will find no shortage of small businesses, big box retailers, franchises and mom-and-pop establishments, ready to host, sell and service.

Cohn looks back at those challenging times as an opportunity to innovate. “That’s when I thought: we have to do something,” he remembered. Tackling a nationwide recession with global ripple effects would have been a stretch, but increasing engagement between local businesses and the community: that seemed possible.

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