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Roanoke Rapids Main Street

Uptown. Downtown. Your Town.

Free Online Workshop | Hosted by SCORE

Thinking about opening a business on Main Street, growing an existing shop, or adapting to what customers want next? This free, one-hour online workshop is a great place to start.

SCORE is hosting a live session focused on what’s ahead for small businesses in 2026, with practical insights you can use whether you’re in the idea stage or already open.

Event Details

  • Date: January 29, 2026

  • Time: 1:00 pm

  • Format: Live, online

  • Cost: Free

  • Duration: 1 hour

  • Registration: Hottest Business Ideas 

What You’ll Learn

This session breaks down big trends in a way that makes sense for local businesses, including:

  • How America’s changing demographics affect small and Main Street businesses

  • Why Gen Z is now a major consumer force and what that means for retail and services

  • What motivates today’s customers to buy

  • Business ideas that tend to perform well even during economic slowdowns

  • Emerging retail concepts worth watching

  • Smarter ways to reach and connect with modern customers

Featured Presenter

The workshop is led by Rieva Lesonsky, a nationally recognized small business advocate and founder of Small Business Currents, a company focused on entrepreneurship and independent business success.

About SCORE

SCORE is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping small businesses start, grow, and thrive through free mentoring, workshops, and resources. SCORE is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.


Learn more by visiting SCORE at Hottest Business Ideas 

Main Street America Affiliate Roanoke Rapids    mslogo


 

 

 

As a Main Street America™ Affiliate, Roanoke Rapids is part of a national network of neighborhoods and communities that share both a commitment to creating high-quality places and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development. Roanoke Rapids is a North Carolina Main Street community, designated by the N.C. Department of Commerce Main Street & Rural Planning Center.  Main Street Roanoke Rapids is charged with administering the program at the local level and building public-private partnerships to spur economic development that achieves measurable results such as investment, business growth, and job creation.

North Carolina Main Street Rural Planning Center 
The NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center is a Main Street America™ Coordinating Program. Main Street America™ is a program of the nonprofit National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. As one of the first Main Street America™ Coordinating Programs designated in 1980, NC Main Street inspires placemaking through building asset-based economic development strategies. The NC Main Street staff is charged by the NC Department of Commerce to facilitate downtown economic development using the Main Street America Four-Point Approach. The Main Street Approach™ focuses on economic development strategies to transform downtown. These strategies articulate a focused path to revitalizing or strengthening a downtown economy. Designated NC Main Street community's work is organized around the Four-Point Approach: Economic Vitality, Design, Promotion, and Organization. 


Learn more about the NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center. 

 

The National Main Street Program | Main Street America™ 
Main Street America™ has been helping revitalize older and historic commercial districts since 1980. Today it is a network of neighborhoods and communities, rural and urban, that share both commitment to place and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development. Main Street America is a program of the nonprofit National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. 

Main Street America™ is a movement. It is the leading voice for preservation-based economic development and community revitalization across the country. Made up of small towns, mid-sized communities, and urban commercial districts, Main Street America represents the broad diversity that makes this country so unique. Working together, the programs that make up the Main Street America network help to breathe new life into the places people call home. 

Learn more about Main Street America.