Helping Local Businesses Through Construction -City of Englewood's Countermeasure that Reversed the Slump

Englewood, Colorado is a vibrant city with a rich history dating back to the 1858 gold rush. But like many established communities, Englewood's continuous progress comes with a necessary hurdle: major infrastructure projects that are vital for the city's long-term health, yet often spell frustration for local businesses dealing with disrupted roadways and shrinking foot traffic.

For Englewood, this current hurdle is the massive Old Hampden project. Designed to transform the corridor into a safer, more welcoming space, the project tackles two main phases. The first phase, which kicked off in January 2025, involved tearing up the street to replace aging 1950s underground water, sanitary sewer, and stormwater pipes. Following these utility upgrades, Phase 2 (projected for 2026-2027) will redesign the above-ground infrastructure into a "Complete Street" with ADA-compliant upgrades, wider sidewalks, and traffic-calming measures.

While these improvements are essential, the street closures, detours, and heavy machinery have severely disrupted the local economy along the Old Hampden corridor. Recognizing the extreme burden this placed on their local merchants, the City of Englewood decided to take proactive measures. Leveraging their existing Open Rewards program, the city devised a targeted initiative to help these businesses stay afloat.

The Construction-Impact Support Initiative

To give residents a powerful, monetary incentive to navigate the orange cones, restricted turns, and road closures to continue spending locally, Englewood significantly increased the financial reward. While the city's standard shop-local program offers 5% cashback, the city tripled the rewards to 15% specifically for businesses affected by the Old Hampden project.

This bold move provided immediate, tangible relief:

• Targeted Enrollment: Since April 2025, Englewood has proactively enrolled 25 businesses impacted by the construction into this special 15% rewards promotion.

• Broadening Support: Crucially, the city didn't just limit the promotion to traditional retailers. They intentionally included service-based businesses (such as personal services) within the construction zone in the promotion—even though those businesses typically do not generate retail sales tax for the city.

  
  

By utilizing the flexibility of the Open Rewards platform, Englewood's economic development team was able to rapidly deploy a solution tailored strictly to a localized crisis. Residents simply shop at these 25 eligible Old Hampden businesses, submit their receipts or link their payment cards, and earn 15% cashback to spend at other eligible local merchants. The fully city-funded rewards ensure there is no hit to the businesses' margins during an already precarious time.

Did It Work?

To answer this question, we took the sum of total $ amount spent at the 25 impacted businesses and computed its % share against $ spent at all Englewood businesses through Open Rewards. The evidence is a resounding yes.

In early 2025 around the time the construction began, the % share spent at the impacted businesses was on a significant downward trajectory - at its lowest point, only 4% of all purchases were made at the 25 businesses, showing the severe impact of construction. As soon as the City turned on the 15% promo in April 2025, the comeback was immediate - in Q2, the ratio recovered to 9% and by Q3 it had returned to the pre-construction baseline.

But it did not stop there. In the following quarters, the % share continued to climb and surpass pre-construction norm. In the current Q1 2026, 17% of all dollars spent are at these 25 businesses. This is a remarkable proof of the rewards promotion's effectiveness in driving substantial, long-term, consumer behavioral change.

During a presentation at the 2025 annual EDCC conference, Will Slate, the City of Englewood's Economic Development Manager, highlighted the purpose behind the initiative. He especially noted their decision to include non-sales-tax-generating businesses in the promotion because it "wasn’t just about sales tax; it was about goodwill and survival during a long, messy construction period."

"It's been very successful and well received. There're definitely still headaches about the construction, I don't think we will ever overcome that, but it's a much more wholesome interaction because the businesses see that we are there with them, that we are putting the money where our mouth is and trying to support them."

Delivering a Real Change to Impacted Businesses

As City of Englewood looks to the future, this success provides a powerful blueprint for the next infrastructure projects to come. Providing real, meaningful assistance to impacted businesses during a prolonged construction is a must-have, and leveraging Open Rewards provides a turn-key, low-maintenance and high-impact way to achieve it. At the end of the day, the best gift one can give to impacted businesses is real customers through the door.

To see how Open Rewards can be deployed for your city's infrastructure projects, schedule some time here.