Posted on October 25, 2019 at 3:12 PM by Keith Rinehart
For small and rural communities, officially defined as those with populations under 10,000, there are a whopping 16,475 of them in the U.S. Why are some of these considered ‘small’ and others considered ‘rural’? That all comes down to their proximity to other places. A ‘rural’ town is one that is isolated from other communities, amenities, and major metropolitan areas. On the other hand, a ‘small’ town such as Roanoke is definitely not isolated from development. As you can imagine, a ‘rural’ community of 5,000 people in the middle of west Texas likely has VERY different concerns and needs from a ‘small’ community of 5,000 in the middle of DFW. If there isn’t a grocery store in a rural town, residents may need to drive miles and miles to fill those needs. That becomes a serious quality of life issue. On the other hand, if a small town of the same size doesn’t have a grocery store, their next door community likely does.......
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Posted on August 1, 2019 at 1:53 PM by Keith Rinehart
As an economic developer, I get approached with hundreds of great ideas every year from people who love their community and have innovative input about new businesses and quality of life enhancements. In fact, it is one of the most exciting parts of my job! Getting to dream about creative new concepts and then help people draft a plan for realizing those ideas is much more interesting than spending hours sifting through data to determine market trends and evaluate local economic gaps. It is within these ideas brought forward, that imagination and excitement are born and begin to stir.
I believe fully that the individuals within a community.........
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Posted on December 6, 2018 at 3:26 PM by Keith Rinehart
The holiday season is a busy one for business. With shoppers buying in full force following the massive sales phenomena know as “Black Friday” (which has crept earlier into the week of Thanksgiving, despite its name), “Shop Small Saturday”, “Cyber Monday”, and the more recent trend of “Giving Tuesday”, retailers and restaurants are kicked into full speed operations- and their earning potential during this time is explosive.
How explosive? Read more to find out.
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