What happens if you throw a two-day promotional event for retail stores, gathering 40 merchants under one roof, and almost no shoppers show up?

Downtown business owners found out last month, and they're angry.

		The state-funded event, "Downtown Shops," took place in the gym of Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) on Friday, June 11, and Saturday, June 12. Eighteen Tribeca retailers and more than 20 merchants from the Financial District, Soho and the Lower East Side set up booths to sell their merchandise. But at best only a few dozen shoppers showed up for the two-day event, they said. "The only people walking around was us," said John Cole, owner of Tribeca Luggage and Leather, at 90 Hudson St. "We'd ask each other, 'Did you see a shopper yet?'" The retailers claim that the event's organizer, the Women's Venture Fund, after recruiting them with promises of a citywide promotional campaign, failed to publicize the event, which they variously described as "a fiasco," "a joke," and "a waste of time and energy."
Some merchants were so disgusted that they did not return on Saturday, and many left early on both days. The Women's Venture Fund, a nonprofit organization based in midtown, is receiving state money for the event, part of a two-year grant of up to $250,000 that it won in 2002 to help Downtown businesses. Merchants could participate for free, though almost all of them paid $125 for an ad in a program that was distributed at BMCC. They said they spent hours packing merchandise, transporting the goods to and from the gym, and setting up their booths. Some hired people to cover their stores or work at the booths, and a few closed their shops in order to attend the event. "We don't need to waste our time," said Monica Abbatemaggio, co-owner of Sorelle Firenze, a women's and children's clothing store on Reade Street. "We need to make a little more money. That's why we participated." On its web site, the Women's Venture Fund said it expected to draw more than 2,000 customers and more than 150 local small businesses. Material given in advance to the businesses said that the event would be "heavily promoted" throughout the city. The material promised a wide ranging ad campaign, with signs and posters throughout Lower Manhattan, "ads and listings in local papers in all 5 boroughs," and public service announcements on radio and television. The Fund said it would also "make pamphlets available at all participating stores and other venues in Downtown." Tribeca merchants said they did not receive pamphlets or posters and were not aware of media advertising beyond one ad in Downtown Express. The Tribeca Trib declined the Fund's request for free advertising, said co-publisher April Koral. Signs that did go up in the neighborhood-on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning-did not clearly indicate where the event was located. Maria Otero, president of the Women's Venture Fund, which specializes in providing training and small loans to women- and minority-owned businesses, said that the event had been publicized on PATH station video screens and on web site calendars and that flyers had been distributed to various city groups, but that the Fund did not have an advertising budget for it. "There were various email blasts that went out to other organizations," she said. Otero blamed the poor Friday turnout in part on the national day of mourning for Ronald Reagan, which closed financial exchanges and many offices. Bonnie Wyper, who was paid by the Women's Venture Fund as a consultant for the event and went door to door signing up businesses, faulted "the lack of public relations and the lack of quality administration and organization" for the event's failure. "I outlined an aggressive PR plan which unfortunately the WVF never followed up on," she wrote in an email. "Repeated requests to meet with their PR person to develop the necessary stories and placements were unexplainably denied." Wyper suggested to the Women's Venture Fund that the event be postponed until the fall to allow more time for planning and promotion, but the Fund rejected the idea. The Fund organized the retail showcase in conjunction with a conference that it held at BMCC for women- and minority-owned small businesses from throughout the city. The Empire State Development Corporation is providing funding for Downtown Shops as part of the Fund's two-year, $250,000 grant, which expires in August, said Chapin Fay, an ESDC spokesman. He could not say how much state money the Fund will get for the event because the organization had not yet submitted its request for reimbursement. The Fund also received $2,500 each from Commerce Bank and Mitel Networks, and additional sponsorship from Independence Community Bank, J.P. Morgan Chase and Cushman Wakefield. Otero said the corporate money was for the business conference.