Roane Alliance Kicks Off Major New Initiative - - Retail Recruitment
Tuesday August 28, 2007
Roane Alliance Kicks Off Major New Initiative -- Retail Recruitment
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Kingston, TN. - The Roane Alliance kicked off a major new initiative this week, launching a full court press to recruit retail into Roane County.
"We have been starting to enjoy quite a bit of success lately in our efforts to recruit industry and tourism into the county and now we are ready to take advantage of our newly-found status as a ‘hot property' and parlay that into some similar successes in the retail recruitment field," Leslie Henderson, President and CEO of The Roane Alliance said.
"Roane County has been chosen for a number of significant large retail projects in last few years - Lowe's, Kroger's, a Gateway supermarket, a Gondolier restaurant, a Buddy's Barbecue, a Walgreen's and most recently a Starbucks," Henderson continued, "so we know we can offer a successful business climate for retail in Roane County...We just need to get more aggressive and proactive, and start telling our story to others who may not be as familiar with what we have to offer here."
Handling this new initiative is the Alliance's newest staff member, Marshall Ramsey, who came to the Alliance recently after working several retail recruitment projects in Cocke County.
"The Roane Alliance is ready to recruit retail from almost all sectors," Ramsey said. "But when you look at the gaps in Roane County, you can see that we have a lot of opportunity in specific areas. A recent study showed that millions of Roane County dollars are being spent elsewhere in such areas as restaurants; clothing; home furnishings and electronics."
"I am pleased that the Alliance is launching this effort to bring new retail into Roane County," Roane County Executive Mike Farmer said. "We need to keep as many of our dollars in the county as we can, both for our businesses, as well as for our government to be able to provide good quality services to our residents."
The initiative was formally kicked off this week at a meeting of the Alliance's retail team members. The members of this retail recruitment team include: Roane County Executive Mike Farmer; Rockwood Vice Mayor Darryl Meadows; Roane County Commission Chairman and Kingston Mayor Troy Beets; United Way Director and Chamber Board Member Diana Knobloch and Chamber Board Member and Chamber Economic and Community Development Co-Chair Vickie Watts.
The retail team is partnering in this initiative with TVA, through their Consumer Connection program that helps communities be able to recruit more successfully, by showing where business gaps exist and where opportunities lie when recruiting retail industry to a county. It also provides leakage reports that outline where consumer dollars are leaving the county. This data can be a powerful tool in recruiting.
The retail recruitment initiative will also be identifying key areas within Roane County for development, targeting interstate exits, downtowns, and other property throughout the county, including empty existing commercial buildings.
##
Contact:
Marshall Ramsey
865-376-2093
