In the 1989 Hollywood film “Field of Dreams” the main character was told by a voice, “If you build it, he will come.”

The main character listened and built a baseball field right in the middle of his farm field.

Miraculously ghosts of early 20th century professional baseball players showed up and started playing. Eventually so did throngs of people.

In the real world, however, the people come first, then the building begins.

Many civic, business and government leaders are scratching their heads trying to understand how to improve the retail business base in Natchez.

A March workshop has been scheduled to get all involved parties at the table together. We think such a discussion is a good one to have.

However, the bigger issue facing the area’s retail base — which includes downtown, the mall, the highway bypass area and others — is that the population of the area is shrinking.

Most national retailers will not open new stores in an area when the population is in decline. They seek to be in a growing market where their own customer base and thus profits will grow over time as the population rises.

When the 2010 U.S. Census numbers came out, whether or not we wanted to admit it at the time, the numbers foretold a large challenge ahead for retailers.

The best way to increase the number of residents here is to market ourselves to industry and continue to play to our strengths — available timber resources and the proximity to the Mississippi River.

With much hard work, the decline can be turned, but the community’s leaders must remain steadfast in bringing jobs that not only service local residents, but that produce products that are sold and shipped elsewhere. That kind of commerce is what will bring more people here and with more people, more retail will follow.