City on hunt for new business

By Staff
Leada Gore, Hartselle Enquirer
A professional study of the market gaps in Hartselle and suggestions on how to fill them could be complete as soon as May.
Hartselle’s City Council approved a contract with The Buxton Company of Ft. Worth, Texas at Tuesday’s meeting. The contract cost is $70,000 with a discount for completing it in 60 days. If the city completes the contract in the two month period, it will pay $63,000. The city is aiming to have the project complete by May, saving the $7,000.
Buxton doesn’t recruit businesses for the city; they provide information on the specific types of businesses that a municipality should seek.
As part of the process, the city will select three locations to be studied by Buxton. Buxton will examine the sites and make a recommendation of the best site for retail development. The company will then compare the offerings of that site with the needs of individual retailers.
Buxton will offer a list of up to 20 potential customers and prepare marketing packages for those retailers. Marketing packages will contain maps of the trade area, including potential customer base, area demographics and comparisons of the site’s characteristics with the prospective developer’s existing sites.
Buxton also contacts the retailers about Hartselle’s location.
For its part, Hartselle is required to provide the information on the three proposed sites, current traffic data, a list of current developments, housing start information and general community information.