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Downtown is your town’s core: How to make your case

By Becky McCray

Why does downtown matter? I’ve been asked why downtowns matter to small towns. Why should you invest your time and money into revitalizing your downtown? What makes it more important than any other area of town? What about that highway frontage? Or the edge of town where the discounters locate? In our Survey of Rural […]

February 22, 2021 Filed Under: community, economic development, rural, shop local Tagged With: building community, community development, downtown, economic development, Joe Borgstrom, main street, opinion, Place and Main, rural

Zoom Towns: attracting and supporting remote workers in rural small towns

By Becky McCray

Zoom Towns: Remote Work Ready from SaveYour.Town

People have been saying for years that they would prefer to live in rural areas. Trulia research in 2014 showed 7% more people wanted to live in rural places than did then. In 2018, Gallup asked people where they preferred to live. Rural came out on top for all age groups except for 18-29 year olds. With the 18-29 […]

December 10, 2020 Filed Under: economic development, entrepreneurship, rural, trends, workforce Tagged With: attraction, economic development, entrepreneurs, remote work, rural, rural sourcing

Video: How to fill empty car dealership buildings for the holidays

By Becky McCray

Empty buildings during the holidays are a drag on local shopping Who wants to shop downtown when it looks so empty? Car dealerships are an especially tough type of building to fill. Not many businesses need such a large space, and the layout of the space can make it tough to find a good fit. […]

November 6, 2020 Filed Under: community, economic development, rural, shop local Tagged With: holiday shopping, local, retail, shop local

Why “Small Town” Might Become the Sexiest Brand In the World

By Chris Brogan

Small Town Buildings

Guest Post by Chris Brogan The COVID-19 quarantine has crushed so many small businesses and the economy at large. It’s truly been the worst financial crisis unfurling in this country since the 1930s. And while some measures are in place to help this not reach that level of despair, many people are finding themselves out […]

August 7, 2020 Filed Under: economic development, entrepreneurship, rural, shop local, trends Tagged With: Chris Brogan, coronavirus, COVID, covid-19, COVID19, entrepreneurship, guest post, recession, recovery, recruiting, remote work, rural, rural sourcing

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