In our small county towns, the opening of a new business is a boon for the whole community. Imagine the result for a town opening several in just one year. Canton, the community of roughly 350, has proved itself more than welcoming to economic development with more than seven new businesses opening in one year.
On the west side of town, smack dab along the busy Highway 52 frontage, a once-vacant set of buildings now shines as the hub for four of these new businesses. “I’ve lived in Canton my whole life. I saw the property for sale for quite a while and it intrigued into making something out of an area that wasn’t really being used,” says Jim Davis, who purchased the buildings in September 2018. The main building was just storage.”
Davis purchased the building but didn’t set to filling it immediately. Instead, he took the somewhat dilapidated spaces and completely remodeled the interiors last winter. “I wanted to make it fresh for anyone coming in,” he adds. Once that was done, Davis replaced the sheet metal exteriors on both buildings, also adding overhead doors to accommodate bigger equipment. “It was an investment in the building to make it usable.” In total, he figures he put more than $45,000 into the prime real estate.
“They’re very open to anything they can do. It seems like every week Jim and Tom Davis are doing something here,” says Randy Mayer, one of the tenants. That tenacity to make something out of not much sure seems to be paying off for the community.
The buildings were filled by the start of 2020 with four entirely new businesses. They included JLD Enterprises, Davis’ personal business, in the southwest space. He specializes in lawn care service, snow removal, and not surprisingly, business leasing and storage. To the north office, Mayer Seed & Solutions, owned and operated by Randy Mayer, moved in. Mayer, who opened in October of last year, specializes in Pioneer seed sales of corn, soybeans, and alfalfa, crop insurance, and crop consulting. To the east and larger unit, came Express Pressure Washers, owned and operated by Matt Erickson. The company is an Alkota pressure washer and accessories dealer also selling IPC Eagle floor sweepers and scrubbers, Val 6 radiant heaters, Zep soaps and detergents, and Power Parts washers, as well as servicing all makes and models of pressure washers. Behind the main building, Jake Johnson opened Johnson Farm Repair just in the last three weeks. He specializes in agricultural and automotive repair, including mobile service on-farm.
The businesses seem to be growing both independently and as a cooperative business community for the city. “The residents of Canton were already up and at ‘em trying to draw more business. It all worked out with the timing and availability,” says Davis. “Every one of them are just good people. It’s been a bit chanllenging to get everything figured out, but they’re really good and I’ve known them for years.”
“This was probably the biggest decision I’ve ever made. It was just the right time,” adds Mayer. “It’s right along Highway 52 and I’d heard he was renting it out. I was looking at other places, but this has great exposure. It was almost turn-key.”
“Working with other businesses in the same location benefits everyone,” says Erickson. “We are pretty much all ‘One Man Shows,’ so it’s nice to have others around. Randy has helped my customers numerous times when I’ve been out of the office and they needed a part or to get a hold of me.” That sentiment was also shared by the others of their co-tenants. “It’s also nice to get people coming through the door even if their goal wasn’t to see me,” adds Erickson.
“I’m not always there, but working out of other shops or farms,” notes Johnson. “It’s really working great.”
Likewise, just a way down the road, Mensink Racing is also noticing the benefits of a strong business community. They opened a brick and mortar location this past September adjacent to yet another new business by the city’s gas station, across from Preston Dairy & Farm. “I like the small quiet community and being able to pool resources when necessary has been great,” says Jay Mensink, Jr. “For us, it was location and having a prior relationship to the owner of the building.”
Still, there are challenges to small business ownership. “The last year has really opened my eyes to how difficult it is to compete with the internet,” notes Erickson. “I believe the reason we are able to maintain a successful business is the fact that our customer service is second to none.”
“We need more people to utilize the smaller towns,” agrees Davis, noting customer service provided by small businesses exceeds that of online offerings.
“Small town USA depends on small businesses to bring people to town,” stresses Erickson. “A very important thing to take into consideration is the fact that Amazon will not sponsor your children or grandchildren’s school or sports activities, but many small business owners are more than happy to. Shopping local and supporting neighbors is the key to any small community.”
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