A big trend in urban real estate is coming to small towns, to create a new opportunity to retain more young people. Young real estate buyers have made an epic shift, away from big suburban homes, and toward smaller spaces in walkable neighborhoods. I read about this first in Grist: Millennials not looking for McMansions…
[My friend Gayle Machetta from Henryetta, Oklahoma, sent me the story of how one local merchant has created a sales event that packs hundreds of people into their downtown twice a year. –Becky] Burnett Furniture getting ready for the big sale.Photo by Gayle Machetta. Sending you an invite to come to Henryetta and see what…
[Reader Joel Bennett got really excited over last week’s post on, Is it time to rent office space? That’s because he is a big force behind a co-working space in a small town, called Veel Hoeden. I asked him to share some of what he has learned chasing that dream. -Becky] Guest Post by Joel…
Rural sourcing is like outsourcing, except to rural areas with lower costs of doing business. It’s like off-shoring, only it’s on-shoring. We’ve talked about it before, most recently in “Rural sourcing can replace outsourcing.” Two more rural outsourcing firms to watch: Saturn Systems celebrated 20 years in 2010. Rural America OnShore Outsourcing has a collection…
Every small town downtown has some unused buildings and others used just for storage. They aren’t adding anything to the downtown economy. What can you do with them, besides ignore them? Use the storefronts to advertise other businesses. Yes, it will take cooperative building owners. And this only works if the front windows are in…
Need some new small town tourism ideas? Borrow some. It’s the rural tradition: swipe from the best. The Rural Information Center at the USDA has links to tons of resources and ideas on rural tourism. It can take a while to figure out their menu structure, but trust me, there is great info linked from there. It…
[When Mike Rizzo explained the Refresh Kitanning story to me, I knew you would want to learn about it. Here is how people in one small town are taking an active approach to economic and business development. – Becky ] My name is Mike and I created a community website to hopefully inspire growth and…
If you can sew, there is demand for alterations. As hand crafts of all sorts make a come-back, this is one opportunity you might not have thought of. My local sew-er just told me she is swamped with business, always. People bring all sorts of clothing needing a hem, or sleeves shortened, or holes patched,…
Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.
We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.
Meet our authors on the About page.
Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.
Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.
We partner with campaigns and organizations that we think best benefit rural small businesses.
Copyright © 2006–2026 Becky McCray • Site by Webdancers