Best Practices for Small Town Development Workshop Recruiting Retail Businesses:

Maximum Class Size: 50

Maximum Participants Per Community: 3

If your small town is interested in getting the tax revenue, new jobs, additional services, and development activity generated by businesses such as gas stations, variety stores, restaurants, and other retail businesses operated by national chains, you may be interested in this workshop. Participants will learn best practices and receive tips for: (1) evaluating the local market to determine the types of businesses to target for recruitment; (2) identifying property suitable for commercial development; and (3) communicating with prospective businesses.

The workshop will provide smaller communities who may have limited resources (staff, time, funding, etc.) with some simple, straightforward, tools and advice to help them recruit businesses. The workshop will feature Michael Dougherty, Economic Development Director for the City of Eden, NC. Michael has worked at the local level to recruit businesses for more than 16 years and previously worked for 17 years in the private sector in sales and marketing. He has been instrumental in putting together retail business development projects in Eden, including the successful recruitment of national chains such as Sheetz, Dollar General, Tractor Supply, Save-A-Lot, and Sally’s Beauty Supply that have helped grow the local tax base, create jobs, and provide needed goods and services to his community.

Target Audience: Small Town: Manager/Administrators, Planners, Economic Developers, and elected Officials

Location:

Biscoe Town Hall

110 West Main Street Biscoe, NC 27209

Time:

10 am – 12 noon

Date:

November 29, 2018

Contact:

Karen Smith, Coordinator, Rural Solutions

ksmith@nccommerce.com

828-747-1585