Survey Says: Lexington Center’s a Shopping and Dining Destination

As part of the Lexington Center Committee’s ongoing effort to figure out how to keep the town center vibrant and viable, the committee engaged a group of Bentley University undergrads to study the downtown central business district.

Part of the students’ study was a 23-question survey made available to Lexington residents and others who visit the center, asking about their likes and dislikes about suburban downtowns in general and Lexington’s specifically.  About 700 respondents completed the survey, about 89 percent were Lexington residents and 77 percent were women, according to the LCC.

“The survey validated some things,” said Jerry Michelson, chairman of the Center Committee. “Some of the information is things we’ve heard anecdotally and the results validated it.”

For instance, respondents indicated their top reasons for visiting Lexington Center include retail shopping, dining, coffee shops and using Cary Memorial Library. Meanwhile, the top wants for Lexington Center included an improved retail mix, more independent retail, improved parking and extended evening hours for shops and restaurants.

Probing deeper into respondents’ vision for Lexington Center, the survey posed specific questions about improving the retail scene and whether building height building height would improve the number and variety of retail offerings.

A bookstore was the top retail suggestion, followed by specialty food, womens clothing, children’s clothing and a hardware store. Opinions were very much split about building height.

Complete results of the survey and the survey data itself will be made available on the town’s website.  Respondents were also asked what words best describe “Lexington Center,” and the Word cloud posted above is the result of that exercise.

Peter Siy, a member of the committee, is a Teaching Executive in Residence at Bentley and one of the professors leading the Integrated Business Projects course engaged in the Lexington Center study. 

His students’ work did not end with the survey.  In fact, other facets of the program have included engaging local focus groups and developing proposals of the various improvements they would recommend for Lexington Center.

The results of the Bentley Students proposed improvements will be made available in an upcoming press release, video and executive memoranda, according to the Lexington Center Committee.