Businesses in downtown Kingsburg thriving with community

KINGSBURG, Calif. (KFSN) -- Call it an ode to community -- Kingsburg's downtown district is thriving for that exact reason.

Just ask Berman's Flowers owner Leslie Carpenter.

"I love to come here on Friday nights, see all of the families out and about having a pizza or having a roadhouse and then they stroll," she said.

She's been at the helm of her shop for 22 years and now chairs the Kingsburg Downtown Business Improvement District, a collective of business owners that celebrates collaboration over competition.

In addition to monthly meetings and outreach, the district helps attract the next generation of business owners by encouraging young entrepreneurship.

"We are educating folks in our district on how to make their own money," Carpenter said.

Fondly known as the Swedish village, Downtown Kingsburg has transformed into Santa's village. But that's not the only thing attracting customers to Draper Street.

"We like to call our downtown our living room," says city manager Alex Henderson. "We want it to be welcoming, which it always is."

Henderson says in addition to facade improvement and forgivable loan programs, the city offered an upper-floor rehab incentive.

"We used it to transition a lot of second stories into apartments, and you can get 20k a unit for that," Henderson said.

The Stone Plaza Building is mixed-use with 10 apartment units on top, but it's what's to come on the ground floor that has residents and local business owners excited.

Henderson says the transformation of downtown wouldn't have been possible without the collaborative efforts of the city, chamber, downtown improvement district and a community willing to invest in itself.

"It's nice to look back now to see what the last seven to 10 years has brought us, but it takes a lot of incremental building, it takes individual property owners business owners taking some risk," Henderson said. "Now, you can look back and see that growth over time."

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