Commerce Department and Community Design Collaborative Hold Storefront Challenge 2014

Located on Disston Street and Longshore Avenue, Computer Guy improved its storefront from the Commerce Department. Image via Tacony CDC

A partnership of the Community Design Collaborative and the Philadelphia Commerce Department, the Storefront Challenge 2014 is now accepting nominations for the best storefront facade improvements made in the last two years throughout Philadelphia.

Storefronts can be nominated in any one of the following categories:

• Creative Sign – most unique sign
• Window Display – best window display; may be a temporary installation
• Green with Envy – improvements that are also examples of sustainable construction
• Honor the Past – best historical restoration
• Bang for the Buck – biggest impact for the lowest cost
• Extreme Makeover – most transformative improvement
• Best Overall – best complete package

The Community Design Collaborative helps integrate good design into community development by doing pro-bono design work for cash-strapped nonprofits and community organizations.  The Center City-based group has worked on improving storefronts in commercial corridors across the city, from East Falls to Frankford Avenue.

“One of the things we’re always pushing is that by improving your facade or buying a new sign or improving your display, all of this is geared toward improving your business and creating more business,” said Robin Kohles, project associate at the Community Design Collaborative.

Kohles said that good storefronts express the personality of the business in a clear and creative way, while also fitting into the context of the neighborhood.

The Commerce Department has also played a role in improving small businesses and commercial corridors through its Storefront Improvement Program, which offers grants to small businesses for facade improvements.  (Generocity profiled this program last spring).

The Commerce Department and Community Design Collaborative will work together to select the winners. Nominations are due by Monday September 15, 2014, and more information is available here.