They say the first step to dealing with a problem is to acknowledge it exists, so here goes. Hi, my name is Travis and I’m addicted to farm and ranch stores. When I travel out of Arizona I love to find these giant “candy stores” made for guys – it might be a Big R in Nevada or Colorado, Murdoch’s in Montana or a Tractor Supply that gets some of my money, but I have to feed my addiction to looking at all that stuff!
The good news is that I no longer have to leave town to get my fix! The wonderful people at C-A-L Ranch Stores have come to Prescott prompting me to consider starting a new support group for people like me who love this place. I know that local businesses will feel the competition but iron-sharpens-iron and we have to acknowledge what this company has done for our region with the creation of new jobs.
C-A-L Ranch came to town with minimal fanfare and, best of all, no requests or demands for municipal incentives. They brought life to a 50,000 square foot space vacated by Kmart a few years ago, put dozens of people to work and introduced a new retail mix to our region. This in contrast to the demands/leverage placed on the city by a high-profile retailer who just squeezed $2 million worth of incentives to build a flashy new building for their latest chain store. Call me old-fashioned, but I have an appreciation for the company who flies under the radar and relies on their own resources to make their business model work.
In addition to selling farm and ranch properties I am a commercial broker who has seen the first-hand impact of C-A-L Ranch Stores coming to Prescott. Later this month we will close one commercial and one residential transaction that are directly tied to a new job created at C-A-L Ranch. It’s one of those great stories we love in real estate where lives are changed for the better, and I am blessed to have been involved. The irony is that two weeks before C-A-L Ranch started hiring it was inconceivable to script the series of events that made it all possible.
I understand that Prescott is just the first of many C-A-L Ranch stores planned for Arizona and I look forward to hearing of positive impacts in other communities. It is the approach taken in Prescott that works in rural communities – no incentive demands, bring life to vacant yet viable retail space and provide new jobs in a down economy. In a future blog I will discuss the pros and cons of retail jobs versus base jobs from an economic development standpoint but for now I have one word of advice - If you are a commercial broker in a rural town keep your eyes open for a regional retailer like C-A-L Ranch. The opportunities they provide can change lives.
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