After 35 years of leading the Great Neck Plaza Business Improvement District, Executive Director Ron Edelson will be stepping down to shepherd in a new generation of business leaders to cater to changing business demographics.
“We had a lot of successes over the years,” Edelson said. “But it was time for a change and maybe taking it in a different direction.”
Edelson was a founding member of the business improvement district when it was established in the early 1990s.
Edelson, co-founder of ZE Creative Communications who was raised in Great Neck, said he took up the chance to launch the Great Neck Plaza BID due to a love for his community and a desire to promote it. While that love remains, Edelson said it’s time for new blood to step in to prevent their actions from becoming stale.
The Great Neck Plaza BID was the first of its kind established outside of local cities, Edelson said, in response to state legislation that permitted villages to create a business improvement district.
At the inception of the organization, Edelson said the focus was addressing local business vacancies by attracting businesses and shoppers to the downtown. Advertising campaigns resulted in success, Edelson said.
“Stores started filling up again,” Edelson said.
Also launched were numerous street festivals and car shows, designed to bring people into the downtown shopping area and promote local businesses via festivities and entertainment.
Local businesses have faced many challenges over the years, Edelson said, previously competing with direct mail catalogues and now facing the constant growing online shopping market. He said the competition with online shopping became exponentially greater in light of the pandemic when individuals relied on it and businesses were closed.
“Retail stores are not what they used to be,” Edelson said. “The downtown foot traffic isn’t what they used to be.”
But over the 35 years, Great Neck has changed.
Now Great Neck is home to an increasing Asian and Persian population, and Edelson said the Great Neck Plaza Business Improvement District needed to respond to that.
Changing community demographics also confront business owners. Edelson said this has posed challenges for the BID, including language barriers they have to overcome.
Faced with questions on how to engage new shop owners of different demographics, Edelson said he felt it was time for the BID to change its directions – including himself as leader.
“Maybe to bring people in who are from the Asian community or from the Persian community who know how to reach out directly to those communities and bring them more into the fold,” Edelson said.
Stepping down with Edelson is also promotions manager Maria Coscia-Montanez, who has been with the Great Neck Plaza BID for more than 20 years.
“Maybe now it gives a chance for the BID to basically look for those connections, create those connections and start doing things in a slightly different way,” Edelson said.
Edelson said the BID is seeking out a new executive director, who will likely be announced within the next month or two.
