Customer Interviews No. 1

The opportunity I identified is an improvement to the downtown area of Jacksonville. I personally believe there is a large amount of red tape that is hindering the growth of our downtown area, caused mainly by the religious groups in the area and their ownership of much of the land downtown which gives them a majority say in what does and does not go on. Jacksonville has Riverside, which is on the outskirts of the heart of downtown, which hosts more arts and culture festivals, however the vibrant energy in Riverside is mostly kept out of the center of downtown.

The individuals I interviewed were from a wide demographic, but all of my questions asked were geared towards their view of the downtown area.

The questions I asked were:
1) Do you visit Downtown Jacksonville frequently?
2) Do you only go down there for large events (concerts, plays, circus, holidays, sports, etc) or do you go there more frequently to socialize (bars, restaurants, clubs)?
3) What stops you from visiting downtown more frequently?
4) What features would make you want to live downtown (more restaurants, more shops, more space, cheaper, safer, more events, parking, etc.)?
5) What features would you like to see added to downtown?

I learned things from these interviews that I mostly expected already (which is likely a good thing). Many others shared my sentiment of a lack of arts activities (festivals, art exhibits, concerts) and that more events would give them the motivation to go downtown often. My conversation with Jacksonville's newcomer provided a lot of insight that our local chamber of commerce is definitely making strides into making Jacksonville an inviting place for foreign businesses. Our discussion made me realize that steps are definitely being taken to improve the downtown landscape and hopefully this trend will continue over the next few years and returns Jacksonville to its former glory of a thriving center of business and arts.

As for interviewing customers in general, I found it extremely uncomfortable. Since I live by the rule of "do unto others", I generally don't enjoy people invading my personal space, so I tend to not impose that on others. The video recording was frustrating, as it became difficult to find people willing to be on camera. I think just being able to audio record would have been acceptable to convey the same issues. Many people were willing to help out, but did not want to be video recorded to be published on the internet. Ultimately, everyone was cordial even though it was extremely awkward and nerve wracking.