"When I was growing up, you shopped pretty much in a 30-mile radius of where you lived," explained Mary Helmer, president and state coordinator of Main Street Alabama. "But today, you can drive for miles to get to a mall, or shop at 3 a.m. in your fuzzy pajamas. That changed everything."

After seeing this decline across the nation, the National Main Street Center(NMSC), a nonprofit subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, began reaching out with locally accredited Main Street programs that seek to bring life back to downtowns through sustainable economic development and community engagement. 

View Link