Business Owners Making it Big in Small-town Environment
An old adage says big things come in small packages, but does the cliché carry over to the real world of business? A number of entrepreneurs, manufacturers and business leaders maintain that it does, and the proof, they say, can be found in dozens of stores, operations and facilities that are doing big business from the small towns of Southern Illinois.
“Rural communities provide a good home for companies and manufacturing firms,” Jim Nelson, vice president of the Illinois Manufacturers Association, says. “Many times, companies locate in these places because owners prefer their own small-town environments as a place to live and work. Other benefits include easy access to the marketplace, to transportation and to suppliers.”
For owners of many rural manufacturers, location is simply a matter of starting a business where they live or continuing business where it started, but other benefits often become apparent.
