The Village of La Jolla Merchants Association spent much of its December meeting talking about the future — the near future with a shopping holiday window decorating contest, the not-so-distant future with a health-themed bingo game and wellness planned for January, and the long-term future of the organization.
Window decoration competition
The LJVMA has appointed a secret panel of judges who will be walking the Village between now and Christmas Day, December 25, to look at the holiday decorations of area merchants. Judges will choose their three favorite windows based on overall holiday cheer, aesthetics and effectiveness in attracting attention.
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LJVMA Executive Director Jodi Rudick said the board has held the window decorating contest in the past, but is stepping it up this year.
“We started a little while ago [the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020]but we stepped it up during COVID because people weren’t going to the stores that first year,” she said. “So this year, we have an artist, a gallerist, a former retail executive who specializes in merchandising and an interior designer, who will walk the village in his own time and let me know their top three choices.”
Winners will be announced at a future LJVMA meeting.
Health and Wellness Bingo
This is a preview of the wellness bingo card that the La Jolla Village Merchants Association will launch next month.
(Ashley Mackin-Solomon)
Noting that 40 per cent of people make New Year’s resolutions – around half of which focus on health – the board will launch an initiative next month to promote health and wellness businesses by creating a bingo-style board of health-based activities for participants to complete.
So far, 11 local businesses have agreed to participate, Rudick said this week, and she’s looking for more. The board features 25 activity squares that include “Take a yoga class” and “Eat a healthy meal with a friend” at participating businesses.
“This is a very exciting project for us… because [health and wellness] it’s a segment of our community that hasn’t gotten the same amount of love as maybe our restaurants or retailers,” Rudick said.
Strategic planning
While it is customary for the LJVMA to devote its December meeting to its annual strategic planning session, which provides the blueprint for the board’s initiatives in the coming year, this year’s effort was more refined to produce fewer ideas and more realism. .
As in the past, the December 13 session included whiteboards located throughout the room on which participants could write ideas under the main categories of organizational excellence, business engagement and professional development, promotions, arts and culture/Art Walks of first friday and advertising and social/digital media.
But this year, Rudick said, only 10 to 15 minutes will be spent in a brainstorming session, followed by groups prioritizing ideas. “Then we will look at the feasibility of these ideas,” she said. “Do we have the resources and the time to do it, or do we have to find another way to do it?”
She said that only one or two main ideas that are considered the most feasible will be included in the long-term plan. Between now and the January meeting, key ideas will be posted and shared for additional feedback, and the board will vote on whether to adopt and integrate them into the annual plan at the next meeting.
She said the board is too continuing her efforts to attract people who visit area landmarks like La Jolla Cove to the Village to shop or dine and has been looking for new ideas on how to do that.
Next meeting: The La Jolla Village Merchants Association meets next at 4:00 PM on Wednesday, January 11, at the La Jolla/Riford Library, 7555 Draper Ave. Learn more at lajollabythesea.com. ◆
